ASCII Webcam

Real-time ASCII-art webcam viewer for Windows
Captures frames from your webcam, converts them into ASCII characters, and displays the result in a simple Win32 GUI. Built entirely with native Win32 API, Media Foundation, and WIC — no external dependencies.

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Features

• 🎥 Live capture from MJPEG-compatible webcam
• 🧮 Real-time grayscale-to-ASCII conversion
• 🪟 Native Win32 window and UI (Start/Stop button + ASCII preview)
• 🔒 Thread-safe buffer handling and clean shutdown

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Requirements

• Windows 10+
• A webcam that supports MJPEG output
• MSVC (Visual Studio) or compatible compiler
• Windows SDK

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Build Instructions

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ascii-webcam.git
   

2. Open the .sln file with Visual Studio or compile manually:

   cl /EHsc /std:c++17 ascii_webcam.cpp /link Mfplat.lib Mfreadwrite.lib Mf.lib Mfuuid.lib windowscodecs.lib Shlwapi.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib ole32.lib
   

3. Run ascii_webcam.exe and click Start to begin capturing.

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Notes

• ASCII resolution is fixed to 59×48 characters
• Frame rate is ~30 FPS with adjustable delay in ConvertLoop()
• Designed for educational and nostalgic purposes