I was looking at three.js a while back, and came across this example

https://threejs.org/examples/?q=ascii#webgl_effects_ascii

This inspired a couple of experiments.

Browser-based ASCII Webcam

My first attempt was making something work in a browser. Turns out it’s possible!

https://github.com/ThatOrJohn/ascii-cam

You can play with it here https://ascii-cam-time.netlify.app/

OpenTUI ASCII Webcam

Emboldened by my small in-browser win, I decided to try a macOS terminal version using OpenTUI. It too worked!

https://github.com/ThatOrJohn/tui-cam

Demo video in this X post https://x.com/TheJohnWalley/status/2017284602981708004?s=20