Realtime glyph art webcam filter with virtual camera output for Linux.
Use it as an artistic effect or a privacy alternative to blur filters.
- Customizable colors: Preconfigured themes (Light, Matrix, Cyberpunk, Hacker) or manual RGB hex for person, scene, and background
- Person segmentation: Realtime person/scene separation using MediaPipe (ONNX Runtime)
- Multiple glyph sets: ASCII, Russian, Katakana, Thai
- Adjustable detail: Variable scale to control character density (8×8 to 64×64 pixel blocks)
- Preview: SDL2 window to monitor the output in realtime
./install.sh # Standard install
./install.sh --force # Redownload segmentation modelThis automatically:
- Installs dependencies (cmake, v4l2loopback, SDL2, etc)
- Installs ONNX Runtime
- Compiles and installs DimVeil
- Downloads the MediaPipe Selfie segmentation model
- Configures the virtual camera
Install packages:
- Arch:
sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake pkgconf wget sdl2 linux-headers v4l2loopback-dkms - Fedora:
sudo dnf install gcc make cmake pkgconf wget SDL2-devel v4l2loopback akmod-v4l2loopback kernel-devel-$(uname -r) - openSUSE:
sudo zypper install gcc make cmake pkgconf wget sdl2-compat-devel v4l2loopback-kmp-default
Download from the official releases (tested with v1.24.3):
wget https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime/releases/download/v1.24.3/onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.3.tgz
tar -xzf onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.3.tgz
sudo cp -P onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.3/lib/libonnxruntime.so* /usr/local/lib/
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/include/onnxruntime
sudo cp onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.3/include/*.h /usr/local/include/onnxruntime/
echo "/usr/local/lib" | sudo tee /etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf
sudo ldconfigFor aarch64, replace x64 with aarch64 in the commands above.
TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
wget -q -O "$TMP_DIR/resources.tar.gz" https://s3.ap-northeast-2.wasabisys.com/pinto-model-zoo/109_Selfie_Segmentation/resources.tar.gz
tar -xzf "$TMP_DIR/resources.tar.gz" -C "$TMP_DIR"
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/dimveil
ONNX=$(find "$TMP_DIR" -type f -name '*Nx3x256x256*.onnx' 2>/dev/null | head -1)
[ -z "$ONNX" ] && ONNX=$(find "$TMP_DIR" -type f -name '*.onnx' 2>/dev/null | head -1)
sudo cp "$ONNX" /usr/local/share/dimveil/selfie_segmenter.onnx
rm -rf "$TMP_DIR"With segmentation (requires ONNX Runtime):
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DENABLE_SEGMENTATION=ON ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make installWithout segmentation:
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install# Fedora only: build the kernel module if not already compiled
sudo akmods --forcesudo modprobe -r v4l2loopback 2>/dev/null || true
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback devices=1 video_nr=10 card_label="Virtual Cam" exclusive_caps=1To load on boot:
echo "options v4l2loopback devices=1 video_nr=10 card_label=\"Virtual Cam\" exclusive_caps=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/dimveil.conf
echo "v4l2loopback" | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/dimveil.confInput:
-e, --enumerate Enumerate available cameras
[device] Input device (default: autodetect)
Output:
-o, --output DEVICE Virtual camera (default: /dev/video10)
-s, --scale N Block scale 1-4: 8x8, 16x16, 32x32, 64x64 (default: 1)
-l, --less-resolution Use 8x8 glyphs (default: 16x16)
-g, --glyph-table N Glyph table: 0|ascii, 1|russian, 2|katakana, 3|thai (default: ascii)
-F, --font FILE Custom font file (default: per glyph table)
-i, --invert Invert brightness mapping (recommended for low light environments)
-t, --theme N Color theme: 0|default, 1|light, 2|matrix, 3|cyberpunk, 4|hacker
-c, --color RRGGBB Foreground color (default: DEDEDE)
-b, --bg-color RRGGBB Background color (default: 0F0F0F)
Segmentation:
-S, --segment Enable person segmentation (MediaPipe Selfie)
--scene RRGGBB Scene color (default: 999999)
--interval N Frames between inference (default: 1)
Display:
-p, --preview Show SDL2 preview window
-f, --fps Print FPS counter
-q, --quiet Suppress verbose output
-h, --help Show help
# Default (white on black) and preview window
dimveil -p
# FPS display and red glyphs
dimveil -p -f -c FF0000
# Katakana glyphs with light theme
dimveil -p -g katakana -t 1
# Segmentation with custom scene color
dimveil -p -S --scene 0000FF
# Theme with foreground (person with segmentation enabled) color override
dimveil -p -S -t cyberpunk -c 00FF00
# Less frequent segmentation (lower CPU usage)
dimveil -p -S --interval 3| Option | Foreground (Person) | Background | Scene |
|---|---|---|---|
-t 0 or -t default |
#DEDEDE | #0F0F0F | #999999 |
-t 1 or -t light |
#000000 | #DEDEDE | #999999 |
-t 2 or -t matrix |
#DEDEDE | #006300 | #00DE00 |
-t 3 or -t cyberpunk |
#00DEFF | #0F0F0F | #DE00DE |
-t 4 or -t hacker |
#DE0000 | #0F0F0F | #00BB00 |
Individual color flags (-c, -b, --scene) override theme colors.
| Option | Name | Default Font |
|---|---|---|
-g 0 or -g ascii |
ASCII | FreeSans |
-g 1 or -g russian |
Russian | Georgia |
-g 2 or -g katakana |
Katakana | M PLUS 1 Code |
-g 3 or -g thai |
Thai | Umpush |
Each table contains 64 characters ordered by visual density for the associated font.
To create custom glyph tables for other fonts, feel free to use densort.
- Capture - V4L2 grabs frames from the webcam
- Convert - Frames become grayscale (plus RGB when segmentation is enabled)
- Segment - ONNX Runtime infers a person mask (optional)
- Render - Grayscale block averages map to glyph characters (Y plane)
- Color - UV planes apply foreground/background colors (person vs scene with segmentation)
- Output - YUV420 frame writes to the v4l2loopback virtual camera
- Preview - SDL2 window displays the output (optional)
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/dimveil*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/dimveil
sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/dimveil.conf /etc/modules-load.d/dimveil.conf
sudo modprobe -r v4l2loopback 2>/dev/null || trueIf ONNX Runtime was installed manually:
sudo rm /usr/local/lib/libonnxruntime.so*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/onnxruntime
sudo rm -f /etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf
sudo ldconfigIf ONNX Runtime was installed via apt:
sudo apt remove libonnxruntime-devSystem dependencies (v4l2loopback, SDL2...) are left installed.
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