A friend once sent me an email with a curious attachment.
It was a MS Word document, apparently consisting of nothing but random characters.
But there were accompanying instructions: one was to highlight the
text, change the font, change the font size, etc. etc.
And, if you followed all the instructions precisely, there was --
Presto! -- a hitherto unsuspected picture of Jesus staring you in the face.
Anyhow, I would basically like to know how to do this with my own
pictures or text. Can anybody direct me to a website that has
instructions for making a puzzle like this, or very similar to this?
It's for a romantic surprise: I want my beloved to have to go through
a series of steps, after which POOF! a secret message is revealed.
Thanks. |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
23 Jul 2006 14:01 PDT
gnossie...
The trick is to find what's called ascii art (search on Google),
such as this picture of Michelle Pfeiffer:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$R$$$$$$$$$$$XM$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$R$%<:.'#"XTTF"!~!T$$$$$$?#$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$*!~ ' '~!!XRt8$$$k#M$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!>> ' ` ` :!~#$$$$$i?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$# <! : ~#*$$$$kR$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$#T!:~ < ~~`~~ <!! '$#R!$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$R?" !!~~~~~ ~~~~~:! ~!~ <H$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$!< <:!~ ~. ~!~~ !~ <~~ #$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$!K! `: : `~ ~~~' : :~ : !$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$B?~< <<!!!~:~~~~:< <~ ~ ~ '~ .< <@hX?$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$R! <~~!<:< ~~:~~ ' < ~!<:: `!X@$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$E~ <~~~ ~ :~: <~!~~!<: `.~?$M$$$$
$$$$$$M~ ~~~~~~~::!:!!!!!!!!!!:~: ~~~~~~: !H!XX$$$$
$$$$$X! !:~<!!!!!XXHHHHMM8MMMX!!!<~> `<!!~! `!MM$$$$
$$$$$!!~ ~~~!!!!!!XMM$$$$$$$$$MMMM!!!!:~: `!:!! ~! !:@$$$
$$$$MM!~~~ ~~!!!!!XMM$$$$$$$$$$RMMMM!!!!!:~ ~!!!~~!!<~~!$$$$
$$$$R%!> ~~!!!!!!MMM$$$$$$$$$$BMMM!X!!!!!~~!!!`!~!!!: R$$R
$$$5$5~~ <~~!!!!!!?M8$$$$$$$$$$RMMM!X!!!!!~~~~~ ~~~!!~: !#R$
$$$M$M!~ ~ <!!!!!M!X$$$$$$$$$$$RMMMX!!!!!!~`:: '`~!!>~~~~!$
$$$M$$!:~:: ~ '!!!!!!!X$$$$$$$$$$$$$$MMMH!!!!!~ ~!!~~~~~~~9
$$$$$MX~~~ '!~~:::~~!!MM$$R$$$$$$#?!!!!!!!!!!~ !!X~ ~~~~~ ~
$$$$$$!~~~ :!~!!!!!!!:~!?MM$$$R!!!!!XMMM!!~!!! ~!!~<~!<~!~ '
$$$$$R! > : ~ ~/!!!!M$$M!!!!!!!~!!!!!!!! ~~ '~ !!~XW
$$$$$! : !/!!!!X!!M$$MXX!!X!~:. ~!!!!!! '~<~ ~~<!M!R$
$$$$$!~ ~:!!!!!!XXMRX!M$$MM$H!!!!!!~:!!!!!! : ~!!! ~!!$$$$
$$$$$<~ <!!!!MMMMMMM!!M$MMMM8MMHHHHX!X!!!!!~!!~:~!:!!t!9$$$
$$$$$! ~ <!!!MMMM8$M!!!M$MMMM$$$MR5MMMM!!!!!!!!:!!:4!X$!!$$$
$$$RR!~ ~ ~!!!MMM$$$M!!XM$MM?M$$$$$MRMM!!!!!!X!!~!!!t$%~~!$$$
$$$$WX!!: ~~ ~!!!!MM$$$$!!M$$MMMX$$$$$$MM!!!!\!XX!`~~!~~~`!!!$$$
$$$$$$$M! ~~ ~!!!XM8$$M!!!?M~?MX$$$$MMMM!!!!!!"~ ~~!X~ X7I$X$$$
$$$$$$$$k~~ `< ~~!!!MMMMMXX!!!XMW8$$$$MMX!!!!!! ~~~!~!X$$$M$$$$
$$$$$$$$R!:::~~~~!!!!??HMMMM$$$$$$$MMMMMX!!!!!! ` ~~~!~W$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$R@W$$$$M:~!!!!!!!!???*##RMMMMMMMMX!!!!!!~!!:~~~@$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$RW$$$$$$$?X~!!!!!!.~<!!!!!!!!!!?MMM!!!!!!~~~~~:~!$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$X$$$$$$$!$$$X!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MMMM!!!!!!:< ~!!!$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$X!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XMMMM!!!!!!$$X! <!M!X$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$X$$$$$$$$$W~!!!!!!MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!~X$$F!~:.!!M!$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!9$ <X~tMW!~X$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$! ~!!!MMMMMX!!!!!!!!!!MF'XH<M$$!:$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$! ~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~! ~$$$~!!H$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$> :~<!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<`X!!RX!!X$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ '~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! `X~:9$WW$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$# '~~~<!!!!!!!!!!!HHX!!!!~`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$#~ < '!!!!!!!!!!!!!MMMMMXX!!<!!T$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$*T"~~~~ ~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!XMMMMMMMX!:!X!!!?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ ~::~~!!!!!!!!!!MMMMMMMMM!!!XMMMX!!!#$$$$$$$$$$$
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <<!!!!!!!!!!!!!MMMMMMMMM!X!MMMMMMX!!!!?*$$Gilo94
That was found on The Great Ascii Art Website under People -> Famous
People:
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Marina/4942/ascii.htm
Once you find such an image, or create one, you can then paste it
into MS Word and alter its appearance until it's unrecognizable,
by changing fonts and size. Then email the result along with the
instructions for the changes in reverse. Presto! Your own hidden
message or picture.
My thanks to probono, without whose comment, mentioning my name,
I probably wouldn't have noticed this question.
Let me know if this satisfies your interests, and I'll post it
as a formal answer...
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
gnossie-ga
on
23 Jul 2006 22:12 PDT
Thanks for your effort.
We're getting closer, but that's still not exactly what I want.
See, basically, I want to scan a picture of MYSELF into the computer,
and have some program render it as a bunch of ASCII characters.
Then, using MS Word, I'll make the image further unrecognizable, at
least upon first examination.
So how do those guys get their pictures of Michelle Pfeiffer as ASCII
characters? Don't tell me they sit up all night playing with the
space bar and the "+" key!
|
Request for Question Clarification by
cynthia-ga
on
24 Jul 2006 12:53 PDT
gnossie,
You can use something like this:
Ascii Art Generator - Upload your picture.
http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/
..."This little program converts your picture to ASCII text art - a
jumble of letters, numbers and symbols that do not appear to have any
significance until you step back and look at the whole picture. It has
no practical purpose, other than the neat factor..."
There's a few of these online tools available.
|
Clarification of Question by
gnossie-ga
on
24 Jul 2006 22:01 PDT
Thanks, guys, those two little programs are exactly what I needed.
In other news, I must say (RE: remarks by Probono) that I'm mildly
spooked by the Google researchers' apparently ability to go back in a
user's history and see all of his past questions.
I apparently cannot do the same for the Google researchers, or at
least I can't see how.
Using this method, one could go back over my posts for the last couple
of years and, by extrapolation, piece together how my life is going
intellecutally, financially, and romantically.
Isn't there a way for me to delete past answered posts?
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