I have a TIFF image file(image size: 256x256 pixels, 8-bit grayscale)
Now I want to convert this file into a ASCII file of 256x256 matrix,
and each character of the matrix is a the grayscale level of the
related pixel of the TIFF image.
My question: Does any software or programs can do such job?

Hello bigcakelin,

Thank you for your question. 

There are a number of ways to do this. One such is an online
converter:

www.text-image.com

Here you can convert images to both ascii and html. I did have
difficulty with .tif files here, but it may have been because of the
file size. I converted in Photoshop to .jpg and had no difficulty.
Many programs are available to convert from tif to jpg or bmp, and you
may already have a program that will do this for you.

The DMOZ has an entire directory of ASCII art converters:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Visual_Arts/ASCII_Art/Software/

There are some excellent programs here, but you will find that most
require a bmp or jpg file for input. I searched to find free
converters for you. I happened across a program that is not free, but
will convert tifs to other formats AND does ASCII art in the same
program. It sells for $29.95.

http://www.keksoft.com/
Magic Converter makes it easy to get, view, convert, optimize, enhance
and share digital photos. It will allow you to convert image files
using scripts and optimize interactive web graphics. With batch
converting functionality, it can generate output formats including
BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF, WMF, EMF, TGA, ICO, and so on. Other more, it
can create self-running(.EXE) file from formats BMP, JPG and GIF. It
even converts images to ASCII art picture with TXT(monochrome) or
HTM(color) file.

Major Features 

Convert image files using scripts. 
Optimize interactive web graphics. 
Supports screen capture. 
Create ASCII Art Picture with TXT or HTML formats. 
Compress and Create self-running of image. 

Create ASCII Art Picture

ASCII Art Picture can be useful since many people's e-mail programs do
not view graphics files without the help of another program. Using
ASCII characters to create your picture will allow you to have a
picture included on the screen with your message. ASCII covers
letters, numbers, and certain control codes. It doesn't cover
graphics. Essentially, ASCII artwork denotes artwork that is created
without using graphics at all.

With Magic Converter, you can create ASCII Art Picture easily and
fast! You can see sample on the left!

They have a trial version available at the site above.


You will find another Windows based freeware application to convert to
ascii here:
http://www.aolej.com/free.html

Characterizer 
 
Characterizer is freeware "One form" application for converting images
to ascii text (ASCII art). Characterizer support JPG, BMP and WMF
source images. Result is plain text file.

You can set result size (width x height in characters), destination
font size. There is implemented more render methods like photo, shape
or contour blur. User can define own character set for rendering.

Characterizer support four rendering modes, color inverting and adding
random noise.
 
Once again, native tif is not supported and must be converted.

So we have a variety of choices for converting bmp or jpg to ascii,
let's find the last piece of the puzzle for you.

SoftPile offers this program free:
http://www.softpile.com/Multimedia/Image_Editors/Review_13830_index.html

Image Converter .EXE  
 
Description:

Image Converter .EXE is a fast and flexible image conversion program,
which allows support for converting to over 15 formats...

Image Converter .EXE supports conversion to any of the 15 supported
formats, here are a few of the common types to convert: BMP to JPG,
BMP to GIF, BMP to PNG, BMP to TIF, TIF to BMP, TIF to JPG, TIF to
GIF, JPG to GIF, GIF to JPG, PIC to JPG, DCX to JPG, DIB to JPG, JIF
to JPG, PBM to JPG, PCX to JPG, PGM to JPG, PPM to JPG, TGA to JPG,
and WPG to JPG.


Perhaps one fo the best freeware converters is XnView:
http://www.xnview.com/

Come to discover XnView, a software to view and convert graphic files,
really simple to use ! Support of more than 400 graphics formats !
It's free, so do not hesitate !

The latest version (1.50) exists for Windows, Linux x86, Linux ppc,
FreeBSD x86, OpenBSD x86, NetBSD x86, Solaris sparc, Solaris x86, Irix
mips, HP-UX, AIX !

So, convert your tif to either jpg or bmp and using one the uitilities
above, then converting to ascii with an online or downloadable
converter will accomplish your goal.

I did an example just to verify my strategy. Unfortunately, I was
unable to paste into this answer box due to the nature of Google
Answers formatting, but these programs will do an excellent job of
converting to ASCII once you have converted your tif to jpg or bmp.


I did search one more time to see if I could find ONE program to do
the conversion from tif to ascii that was free and was successful:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~wardog/html/about.html

ASCII Generator Beta

The ASCII Generator (ASCGEN) is a 32-bit Windows text editor that
allows anyone to easily convert images into artwork created from text
characters.
  
  
Features currently include: 

-A unique system to quickly produce impressive conversions
-Conversions are now optimised for the specified font
-Create a text banner, created out of text characters
-Doubles as a text editor
-Convert from any: rla, rpf, pic, cel, cut, eps, fax, gif, jpg, jpeg,
jpe, jfif, pcd, psp, pdd, psd, pbm, pgm, png, ppm, bw, rgb, rgba, sgi,
tif, tiff, icb, tga, vda, vst, win, ico, emf, wmf, bmp, dib, rle, scr,
pcc or pcx image
-Save to a TXT, RTF, or as a HTML Web Page created from a template
-Capture the source image directly from any TWAIN device
-Paste and convert an image from the clipboard
-Export the text image as a bitmap
-Crop the input picture
-Modify brightness and contrast
-Modify RGB colour levels
-Solarize the image
-Convert to greyscale using a choice of four different algorithms
-Edit the text by hand with all the usual text editing functions
-Apply various effects to the text
-Use your own character ramp or select from the most common ones
-Extensive options for tweaking the output
-Print the text image directly from the program
-Custom print preview/page layout hybrid
-Compiled as a stand-alone exe - no extra files required

This may well be a good single program solution for you to experiment
with and seems to produce excellent results.

Search Strategy:

convert to ascii art

convert tif OR tiff to jpg OR bmp +free


I trust my research has provided you with a selection of programs to
solve your need. If a link above should fail to work or anything
require further explanation or research, please do post a Request for
Clarification prior to rating the answer and closing the question and
I will be pleased to assist further.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

---

Request for Answer Clarification by bigcakelin-ga on 16 Mar 2003 01:20 PST

Thank you very much for your professional and excellent anwsers.
Excuse me that my question may not be clear.
I explain my question again..
Now I have a image file of 256x256 pixels.It's also grayscale and the
grayscale level is 256.
And then, for example, the grayscale level of the pixel at
position(10,10) is 30.
I hope to convert this image file into a ASCII file of 256x256 matrix,
and the character at matrix(10,10) is a number of 30.
This is the function I want but not ascii art converters.

Thank you very for your kind anwsers.

Best regards,

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 16 Mar 2003 07:47 PST

Hello bigcakelin,

First, let me apologize for misinterpretting your question. On first
glance, it appeared what you were seeking is to convert a tif image
into ASCII "art". I now understand that you are seeking to take this
image of 256 x 256 pixels, and create a numerical matrix where each
point will correspond to the gray level of the pixel it represents.
Obviously, this is very different and something I have not yet come
across.

However, I will be searching actively for this answer and have also
enlisted the assistance of my fellow researchers. I will post again
today to keep you informed of my search progress.

And thank you so much for the kind rating and tip. I shall endeavor to
earn both and find the information you desire.

-=clouseau=-

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 16 Mar 2003 10:12 PST

Hello again,

I have a number of inquiries ad searches going on this at the moment,
but wanted to briefly give you three resources I have found that might
be of interest in this matter.

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~baxter/projects/imdebug/

""The Image Debugger" is a programmer's utility to make debugging of
Win32 applications that use images and grid data easier.  Examples of
such applications include 3D games and visualization applications, as
well as grid-based numerical PDE simulation codes. "The Image
Debugger" could even conceivably be used to debug dense matrices.  
The code is for Windows only, and actually probably only works on Win
NT or higher...."

As you will see, this code would need to be itegrated in another
program to be useful for you. They mention Matlab:

http://www.mathworks.com/products/imageprocessing/

I have emailed their support to see if this function is native in any
of their applications and should have a reply tomorrow.

Last (for now) I found an interesting Adobe pdf file here:
http://cs.oregonstate.edu/~enm/publications/CVPR_99/toboggan_scissors.pdf

You will note that this does what you seek, and much more. I have not
yet located a program that utilizes this tool.

Do let me know if any of the above is useful for you.

-=clouseau=-

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 16 Mar 2003 18:10 PST

Hello again bigcakelin,

I enlisted the help of my fellow researchers and one of them actually
wrote a small utility to accomplish what you desire!

Thanks you so much seizer-ga!

Here is what you need to do:

1. Go to the following url and download the Microsoft .Net
Redistributable files. This is a large downlaod of about 20MB, but is
required to run this utility.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D7158DEE-A83F-4E21-B05A-009D06457787&displaylang=en

Install this program on your Windows computer.

2. Go to the following url and download imagething.exe

http://www.lucidmatrix.com/uploads/imagething.exe 


Note the location where you have place imagething.exe

3. Ready a test tif file

4. Open an MSDOS prompt

5. Navigate to where you have imagething.exe - such as cd .. to get to
the c:\ prompt, then cd c:\downloads, if that is where imagething is.

6. use this format to create your text file:

at the prompt, type:

imagething yourtiffilename.tif >yourtextfilename.tx


for example:

c:\downloads imagething test.tif >testtext.txt


I have tested this and I think it is exactly what you desire.

Do post a request for clarification if any of the above is unclear, or
to let me know that this has worked and is what you desired.

Kind regards,

-=clouseau=-