Man Linux: Main Page and Category List

NAME

       hasciicam - (h)ascii for the masses!

SYNOPSIS

       hasciicam [ -hvq ] [ -m mode ] [ -d device ] [ -i input ] [ -n norm ] [
       -s size ] [ -o output ] [ -f :user%pass@host:/dir ] [ rendering-options
       ]

DESCRIPTION

       hasciicam  makes  it  possible  to  have live asciivideo on the web. It
       takes video from a capture device (like  tv  cards  or  quickcams)  and
       renders  it  into ascii, formatting the output into an html page with a
       refresh tag or in a live ascii window or in a simple text file as well,
       giving  the  possiblity  to  publish  on the web a live asciivideo feed
       browsable without any need for browser’s plugins.

       hasciicam grabs frames using Video4Linux api, renders them  into  ascii
       using  AA-lib  engine  and  is  capable  of  armoring  them  with auto-
       refreshing HTML code. It’s  being  used  also  jpeglib  for  optionally
       refresh a small jpeg image, so that it can work also as a simple webcam
       (or showing both, jpeg and asciivideo).

OPTIONS

       -h --help
              Display a help text and quit.

       -v --version
              Display version and quit.

       -q --quiet
              Be quiet and don’t show hardware detection.

       -m --mode
              Selects the mode in wich hasciicam will run:
              live will use the  console  (or  eventually  open  one  under  X
              display) to show full speed ascii video.
              html will write html formatted ascii video every refresh seconds
              into file aafile.
              text will write plain text ascii  video  every  refresh  seconds
              into file aafile.
              Default mode is live. Mode selection is XOR’ed.

       -d --device
              Use specified capture device. Default is /dev/video.

       -i --input
              Selects  the  device’s  input  channel  to  be used for grabbing
              frames. Default is 1.

       -n --norm
              Selects video format to be used on tuner: pal | ntsc |  secam  |
              auto. Default is auto.

       -s --size
              Sets rendered ascii frames size to WxH characters. Grabbed frame
              size is computed from this value, resulting into  (W<<1)x(H<<1).
              Default  is 96x72, or the minimum grabbing size supported by the
              device if greater.

       -o --aafile
              Defines the file where to save rendered ascii, overwrited  every
              refresh  seconds.  Default  is hasciicam.html when in html mode,
              hasciicam.txt when in text mode (unuseful when in live mode).

       -f --ftp
              Ftp pushes the selected output file to an ftp account  specified
              within an expression like :user%pass@dyne.org:/home/user/www. If
              the password is not specified (omit %pass) hasciicam asks for it
              on  stdin  (hidden  while  typing).  If  the  directory  is  not
              specified it is assumed to be the first ftp directory where user
              logs  in. Remote file is refreshed depending on refresh rate and
              connection bandwidth, a scolopendro temporary file is created to
              keep clients on the other side refreshing smooth.

       -D --daemon
              Forks to background and runs in daemon mode.

RENDERING-OPTIONS

       -S --font-size
              Selects  a font size from 1 to 4 used in html rendering. default
              is 1 (only useful when in html mode).

       -a --font-face
              Selects a font face to be used in html rendering, it  should  be
              fixed  size  for better results. default is courier (only useful
              when in html mode).

       -r --refresh
              Specifies the refresh interval in seconds between  each  grabbed
              frame. Default is 2 (unuseful when in live mode).

       -b --aabright
              Specifies  brightness  level  for  the aa_render, from 0 to 100.
              Default is 60.

       -c --aacontrast
              Specifies contrast level for  the  aa_render,  from  0  to  100.
              Default is 4.

       -g --aagamma
              Specifies  gamma  correction  level for the aa_render, from 0 to
              100. Default is 3.

       -I --invert
              Invert and render the resulting negative ascii.

       -B --background
              Specifies the background color to be used in the form of  a  hex
              RGB triplet (without the leading #). Default is 000000 for black
              (only useful when in html mode).

       -F --foreground
              Specifies the foreground color to be used in the form of  a  hex
              RGB triplet (without the leading #). Default is 00FF00 for green
              (only useful when in html mode).

EXAMPLES

       hasciicam -m html -o watchme.html
       puts your html formatted ascii into watchme.html
       hasciicam -m text -s79x24 -o ~/.plan
       puts your ascii into your local .plan (fingercam) hasciicam -m html  -S
       2 -o index.html -f :jaromil%sasuchen@dyne.org:korova
       generates  an  hascii video with font size +1 and uploads the frames in
       ftp passive mode on the dyne.org server,  with  user  jaromil  password
       sasuchen, inside the korova directory

NOTES

       When  using  a  usb webcam, a supported size needs to be specified. The
       minimum or maximum detected size should work, also a  size  of  160x120
       mostly  gives  good  results,  with  unsupported  sizes  you  will  get
       unexpected results.

BUGS

       Report bugs to hasciicam@dyne.org. Please  include  a  complete,  self-
       contained   example   that   will  allow  the  bug  to  be  reproduced,
       informations about which version of  hasciicam  you  are  using,  which
       operative system and the complete device detection output.

AUTHOR

       jaromil [aka Denis Roio] <jaromil@dyne.org>

COPYING

       Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Denis Roio <jaromil@dyne.org>
       Permission  is  granted  to  copy, distribute and/or modify this manual
       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version  1.1  or
       any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. Permission
       is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this  manual  page
       provided  the  above  copyright  notice  and this permission notice are
       preserved on all copies.

AVAILABILITY

       The most  recent  version  of  hasciicam  sourcecode  and  up  to  date
       documentation     is     always    available    for    download    from
       http://ascii.dyne.org.

SEE ALSO

       info aalib