ASCII Video Typing Animation with Color Bleed Effect

Transform your videos into captivating ASCII art animations with this ComfyUI workflow! This setup showcases the power of my new ComfyUI_ASCIIArtNode custom nodes, creating a unique "typing" effect that reveals your video content, enhanced by a striking color bleed visual.

Workflow Breakdown:

This workflow leverages a two-stage process to generate an engaging animation:

1. ASCII Typing Animation (Two-Pass Node): The input video first passes through the Sequential Two-Pass Color Typing node. This node progressively "types out" the video's content as ASCII characters. Initially, the characters will appear in a single color, which can be changed, and then, in a second pass, they transition to colors sampled from the corresponding parts of the original video frames.

2. Color Bleed Effect: The output is then processed by a "colour bleed" node, adding an effect where colors appear to spread or "bleed" into adjacent character areas.

3. Base Video Integration: The animated ASCII output, now with the color bleed effect, serves as a creative lead-in to the original input video.

Exploring the ComfyUI_ASCIIArtNode Pack

Beyond the two-pass typing animation node used in this specific workflow, the ComfyUI_ASCIIArtNode pack offers a versatile suite of tools for various ASCII art effects:

• ASCII Art Generator (Static):

  • What it does: Converts a single input image into a static ASCII art image.

  • How to use: Input an image, and it outputs a single ASCII art version. You can set a uniform text color.

• ASCII Typing Animation Generator:

  • What it does: Takes a single image and creates an animation of its ASCII art being typed out character by character, in a single specified color.

  • How to use: Input an image, define the text color and the number of new characters to reveal per frame. Outputs an image batch for video/GIF creation.

• Color ASCII Typing Animation:

  • What it does: Similar to the above, but each typed character takes its color from the corresponding area of the original input image.

  • How to use: Input an image and set the characters revealed per frame. Outputs a colored animated image batch.

• Realistic Color ASCII Typing Animation:

  • What it does: Enhances the "Color ASCII Typing Animation" by adding a flashing cursor at the current typing position for a more realistic effect.

  • How to use: Input an image, and configure characters per frame, cursor character, blink speed, and cursor color.

• Video to Color Static ASCII Art:

  • What it does: Converts an input video (batched images) into an ASCII art video. The ASCII characters are determined from the first frame and remain static throughout, but their colors change frame-by-frame based on the input video.

  • How to use: Input a video (image batch). The node will analyze the first frame for the ASCII structure and then apply colors from subsequent frames.

• Video to Dynamic Color ASCII Art:

  • What it does: Converts an input video into an ASCII art video where both the ASCII characters and their colors are dynamically updated for each frame based on the video's content.

  • How to use: Input a video (image batch). Each frame is independently converted to colored ASCII art.

• Two-Pass Color Typing (Concurrent):

  • What it does: Creates an animation from a single image. As new ASCII characters are typed in an initial color, previously typed characters concurrently transition to their image-sampled colors. Includes a flashing cursor.

  • How to use: Input an image, define initial text color, characters per frame, and cursor parameters.

• Sequential Two-Pass Color Typing: (Used in this workflow)

  • What it does: An animation where the entire ASCII art is first typed out in an initial color, and then a second pass "colors in" the characters with their image-sampled colors.

  • How to use: Input an image, set the initial typing color, and coloring parameters.

General Usage Tips for these Nodes:

• Inputs: Most nodes will take an IMAGE (for static images or the basis of animations) or IMAGE batch (for videos) as input.

• Parameters: Pay attention to parameters like text_color, initial_text_color, chars_per_frame, font_size_reduction_factor, charset_name, and cursor settings. These allow you to fine-tune the appearance and speed of the ASCII generation and animation.

• Outputs: The nodes typically output an IMAGE or IMAGE batch which can be connected to preview nodes, save image/video nodes, or further image processing nodes.

• Experimentation: The best way to understand these nodes is to try them out with different inputs and settings! Combine them with other ComfyUI nodes to create even more complex and unique effects.

• Key Note chars_per_frame: This setting set to a low number can create incredibly long animations and comfy is likely to struggle when setting it to a low value. If you set it to 1 it will type out 1 character per frame, for an image size of 1024x1024 you could be looking at thousands of characters each one making a new frame. I have found setting this to 48 chars_per_frame to be a good amount but play around with this setting and watch you don't set it too low unless you have an incredibly good computer that can handle thousands of frames in comfy.

To use this specific workflow:

1. Ensure you have an up to date ComfyUI installed.

2. Download the workflow and load it in to comfyui, you can then install the custom nodes via the comfy manager (recommended) or by following the instructions at https://github.com/LamEmil/ComfyUI_ASCIIArtNode.

3. Set your input video path in the designated Load Video node.

4. Queue the prompt and watch the magic happen!

Experiment with the settings within the ASCII art nodes and any color bleed/effect nodes to customize the animation speed, character sets, color intensity, and effect strength to achieve your desired look. Enjoy creating!