ASCII Art Maker

ASCII Art Maker is a small software application developed specifically for helping you create ASCII art files out of images from your personal collection. It can be deployed on all Windows versions out there.

Portable running mode

The utility is portable so you may opt for keeping it saved on USB flash drives or other portable devices so you can carry it with you all the time. Plus, you do not have to be an administrator to run it. The tool can be opened straight from the storage device.
It does not leave entries in your Windows registry and create additional configuration items so you may uninstall it by removing the file that you have downloaded from the Internet. A double-click on the executable file is all it takes to gain access to its GUI. No installation process is required.

Clean and simple looks

You are welcomed by a plain design that incorporates only a few configuration settings. Images can be imported in the working environment using only the built-in browse button (the drag-and-drop support is not implemented).

Create ASCII files

ASCII Art Maker offers you the possibility to add a single picture from your computer and preview it in the main window. The tool works with BMP, WMF, and ICO file format. The ASCII drawing is revealed directly in the primary panel, and you are allowed to copy the results to the clipboard so you can quickly paste data into other third-party programs.
A few configuration settings are hidden under the hood for helping you adjust the ASCII drawing based on several editing parameters. You are allowed to choose between several ASCII palettes, such as ‘Black & White,’ ‘Digits Only,’ and ‘Letters Only,’ as well as pick the preferred conversion method (e.g. red, green, blue). Plus, you can specify the number of columns and rows.
Tests have pointed out that the application needs extra time to process a photo. It is not quite friendly with system resources so the overall performance of the computer may be affected.

Final observations

All in all, ASCII Art Maker comes packed with several basic features for helping you convert photos to ASCII files, and is suitable especially for beginners.