Pixelary A Real-Time ASCII Art Studio Built from Scratch
Nuzair Ibrahim
Overview
Pixelary is a real-time ASCII art studio that runs entirely in the browser. Drop in an image, video, text, or even a 3D model, and it renders as ASCII art live — with adjustable effects and one-click export.
Pixelary studio — real-time ASCII rendering with live controls
The Challenge
ASCII rendering is computationally heavy: every frame means sampling pixels, mapping luminance to characters, and redrawing — at interactive frame rates, in the browser, across media types as different as video streams and 3D geometry. The engineering problem was keeping it real-time without dropping frames; the design problem was making a technical tool feel like a creative studio.
What I Built
15+ custom render engines — different character sets, densities, and styles, each producing a distinct visual signature
Multi-format input pipeline — images, video, text, and 3D models all normalized into a single rendering path
Real-time effects — live parameter tweaking with instant visual feedback
One-click export — take your output anywhere
Pixelary — convert images, text, and 3D models to ASCII art
Tech Stack
Next.js, GSAP, Tailwind CSS
🔗 Live: https://www.pixelary.studio
Like this project
Posted May 18, 2026
A high-performance browser studio that converts images, video, text, and 3D models into ASCII art using 15+ custom render engines — with real-time effects and one-click export. Built from scratch with Next.js, GSAP, and Tailwind CSS.
