🌌 ASCILINE Engine

ASCILINE is a high-performance, real-time ASCII video rendering engine. Our core objective is to transform the web into a highly dynamic and interactive typographic canvas. By moving away from traditional video players, ASCILINE streams visual data from a Python backend directly into the browser at 60 FPS as raw, manipulable text.

Output	Details
	Original Source Standard MP4 video file.
	ASCII Mode Showcases rendered using Mode 3 (32K Colors) from a 30 FPS source video. The engine naturally synchronizes up to 60+ FPS depending on the source material.
	PIXEL Mode Showcases rendered using Mode 3 (32K Colors) combined with --pixel. Replaces characters with colored blocks for ultra-high performance. At higher grid resolutions, The visual quality approaches standard 360p video streaming.

🎯 Strategic Vision & Core Capabilities

1. Pure Typographic Manipulation: The visual stream is not a standard media file—it's raw HTML/Canvas text. This makes the impossible possible: you can apply real-time CSS filters (neon glows, text shadows) to a playing video, dynamically manipulate colors, or let users literally copy a moving visual element with their cursor.
2. Local AI & LLM Ready: By reducing complex pixel streams into structured logical strings, ASCILINE acts as a perfect bridge for AI. Instead of feeding heavy computer vision models, lightweight text blocks can be fed directly to Local LLMs. Analyzing visual changes becomes as simple as taking a "diff" between two text strings.
3. Ultra-Low Bandwidth & IoT Compatibility: Standard codecs (H.264/VP9) choke microcontrollers and weak networks. ASCILINE processes the heavy lifting once on the backend, streaming only a few kilobytes of String packets per second via WebSockets. It enables zero-latency live streams on satellite connections, embedded systems, and extreme low-bandwidth environments.
4. Bypassing Browser Constraints: Modern browsers aggressively throttle autoplay videos, and ad-blockers restrict traditional media frames. To the browser, ASCILINE is simply "JavaScript updating text on a page." This circumvents traditional restrictions, allowing for immediate, unblockable visual streams.

🚀 Technical Features

• Real-Time ASCII Streaming: Low-latency video-to-ASCII conversion.
• Real-Time pixel Streaming: Close visual quality to 360p video streaming it uses ▮ characters.
• High Performance: Uses HTML5 Canvas for rendering instead of heavy DOM elements, enabling 60 FPS playback.
• Binary Protocol: Frames are encoded into Uint8Array (binary) for efficient bandwidth usage.
• Multiple Color Modes: Supports everything from classic B&W to 16M color ultra-fidelity.
• Flexible Video Management: Supports JSON playlists (per-video mode & volume), folder-based auto-queuing (filesystem order), single-file mode, and infinite loop playback — all controlled via CLI arguments.

🛠️ Architecture

1. Backend (Python/FastAPI): Decodes video using OpenCV, maps pixels to ASCII characters via NumPy, and streams binary data.
2. Frontend (Vanilla JS): Receives binary frames via WebSockets, manages a jitter buffer, and renders to a Canvas grid.
3. Communication: Optimized WebSocket protocol with a custom INIT handshake for dynamic resolution/FPS adjustment.

📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/YusufB5/ASCILINE.git
cd ASCILINE

2. Install dependencies

pip install fastapi uvicorn opencv-python numpy websockets

🔈 Audio Support (FFmpeg Required)

To enable server-side audio processing (Volume 1-5), you must have FFmpeg installed.

Option 1: Package Manager (Recommended)

• Windows: winget install ffmpeg
• macOS: brew install ffmpeg
• Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg

Option 2: Manual Installation (Windows) If you get a FileNotFoundError or don't want to modify system variables:

1. Download FFmpeg ZIP.
2. Extract ffmpeg.exe from the bin folder.
3. Drop it directly into your ASCILINE project folder alongside stream_server.py.

3. Run the Web Server

Single video:

python stream_server.py video.mp4 --cols 240

Folder mode — drop your videos into videos/ and run:

python stream_server.py --folder videos --cols 200
python stream_server.py --folder videos --cols 230 --loop          # infinite loop
python stream_server.py --folder videos --mode 5 --pixel --cols 320 --vol 2  # all videos same settings

Videos play in filesystem order (top to bottom as they appear in the folder, not alphabetically). Just add/remove files from the videos/ folder to control the queue.

JSON Playlist — full control per video:

python stream_server.py --playlist playlist.json --cols 220
python stream_server.py --playlist playlist.json --cols 220 --loop

Use playlist.json when you need different --mode or --vol settings for each video.

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser.

4. Run directly in Terminal (Standalone)

If you prefer to bypass the web interface, you can render the video directly inside an ANSI-supported terminal (zero-flicker, true color):

python ascii_video_player2.py video.mp4 --cols 220 --quality 0

🎨 Customization

You can easily customize the look and feel of the engine:

Styling

Edit style.css to change the accent colors and typography using CSS variables:

:root {
    --accent-color: #00ff41; /* Classic Matrix Green */
    --bg-color: #050505;
}

Rendering Modes

The engine supports different fidelity levels via the --mode flag:

• 1: Black & White (DOM mode)
• 2: 512 Colors
• 3: 32K Colors
• 4: 262K Colors
• 5: 16M Colors (Ultra)

python stream_server.py --mode 5 --cols 240 --rows 100

📐 Resolution & Auto-Scaling

By default, you only need to specify the width (--cols). ASCILINE will automatically calculate the correct --rows based on the source video's aspect ratio to prevent stretching.

• ASCII Mode Recommended: --cols 200 to --cols 240 (Best balance of text detail and 30-40 FPS performance).
• Pixel Mode Recommended: --cols 320 to --cols 400 (Extremely fast, easily hits 60+ FPS,close to 360p video stream).

python stream_server.py video.mp4 --mode 5 --cols 240
# Terminal will show: [AUTO] 1920x1080 → grid 240x67

Server-Side Volume Control

Volume is controlled at the server level via the --vol flag (scale 0–5). When set to 0, the audio engine (FFmpeg) never runs, saving CPU and bandwidth.

--vol	FFmpeg Multiplier	Description
0	—	Muted (no processing)
1	1.0×	Normal (default)
3	1.5×	Loud
5	2.0×	Double volume

python stream_server.py video.mp4 --pixel --cols 330 --vol 0   # Silent
python stream_server.py video.mp4 --cols 220 --vol 3   # Loud

Playlist Format (playlist.json)

Each entry can override the global --mode and --vol defaults:

[
    { "video": "intro.mp4",  "mode": 1, "vol": 1 },
    { "video": "main.mp4",   "mode": 5, "vol": 3 },
    { "video": "outro.mp4",  "mode": 3, "vol": 2 }
]

Video paths are resolved automatically — the engine checks the project root and the videos/ subfolder, so you can write just the filename.

📜 License & Ethical Guardrails

MIT License (with Anti-Ad Restriction)

ASCILINE is distributed under the MIT License, but with a strict ethical guardrail. Because this engine bypasses standard browser constraints and ad-blockers (by rendering pure text instead of video), we strictly prohibit its use by ad-networks to serve unblockable advertisements.

See the LICENSE file for the full text, which includes the ANTI-ADVERTISEMENT RESTRICTION clause.