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ascii-backdrop

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Turn any subject into an animated ASCII backdrop behind a UI, like a dark prompt page with jellyfish drawn in drifting characters, or a swarm of colour-tile bodies that veer away from the cursor. The subject is open-ended: creatures, objects, particles, smoke, a word or logo, an image or video, a per-pixel field, a shaded 3D solid, or your own canvas draw function. Six print modes can be mixed: brightness glyphs, edge-following glyphs, shape-matched glyphs, braille dots, ordered-dither dots and colour tiles; plus cursor glow, click ripples, a CRT terminal finish, and two page helpers (text decode and image-to-ASCII dissolve). Ships a dependency-free JS engine with HTML and React wiring. Use when the user asks for an ASCII background, ASCII art animation, glyph or braille backdrop, text scramble/decode, or an ASCII image reveal, or says 'ASCII 背景' / '字符画动效'.

skills/ascii-backdrop/SKILL.md

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290
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Nov 4, 2026
License
MIT

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# ASCII Backdrop

A subject paints brightness or colour on a small canvas; the engine prints every character cell as a glyph, dot or tile. Anything that can paint on a canvas can be the subject.

## How it works

Every frame, each layer's subject draws itself on a small offscreen canvas (a few pixels per character cell). The engine reads those pixels and prints them in the layer's `mode`. A lower `depth` dims a layer, which gives depth for free; a `clear` zone fades output around the UI so headings and inputs stay readable. Changing the subject means changing one draw function; the engine does not change.

| Print mode | Layer setting | Look | Frame cost at 1440×900 (measured) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightness glyphs | default `mode: 'glyph'` | Glyph from the density ramp; the brightest cells print as filled boxes | ~8 ms |
| Edge glyphs | `glyph: { edges: true }` | `/ \ \| -` follow strong edges | ~8 ms |
| Shape matching | `glyph: { match: 'shape' }` | Samples a 2×3 grid per cell and picks the glyph whose shape fits best, for crisper outlines (after Alex Harri) | ~5 ms (cached) |
| Braille | `mode: 'braille'` | 2×4 dots per cell, twice the resolution, optional Bayer dither | ~6 ms |
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