visual.af
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ASCII for Affinity

Turns any layer into characters based on its luminance. Four styles, original colors or a single ink, bloom and a transparent background, with live preview.

Download ASCII .afscripts · 9 KBSign in to download for free

Free, with your Visual.af account.Your Visual.af account takes two clicks with Google.

Already have the Visual.af category? Download the .afscript and import it from that category’s ≡ menu.

  • Free
  • Affinity 3.3 or later
  • Windows and macOS
  • Version 1.0 · September 23, 2026
Before After: ASCII for Affinity BeforeAfter
Visual.af sample illustration, processed with the script.

6 presets to start from

Pick one in the dialog and tweak from there. Every control can still be adjusted.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Default

    Default

    Classic characters in your image’s own colors.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Terminal

    Terminal

    Green phosphor on black, like an old console.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Matrix

    Matrix

    Glowing green digits.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Blocks

    Blocks

    Blocks that fill up with the light, in the original colors.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Journal

    Journal

    Dark ink on cream paper, with inverted luminance.

  • ASCII for Affinity: Mono

    Mono

    Large light gray characters on black.

Every control, explained

The same names you see in the script’s dialog.

Style
The character set: classic (. : * o & 8 @ #), blocks, digits or symbols.
Cell size px
The size of each character, in document pixels.
Gap
The breathing room around each character inside its cell.
Contrast
Stretches the luminance to use more distinct characters.
Bloom
A soft halo behind the brightest characters.
Original colors
Each character takes the average color of its area of the image.
Invert luminance
For light backgrounds: dark tones get more ink.
Ink
The character color when you’re not using the original colors.
Background
The background color. With “no color”, it stays transparent.

Tips

  • Logos and typeWith small cells and high contrast, shapes read far more sharply.
  • Ready to overlayWith the background set to “no color”, the ASCII sits on transparency and blends with any design.
  • Light backgroundsTurn on “Invert luminance” and pick a dark ink, as in the Journal preset.

Install

Ready in a minute

Scripts are imported once into Affinity’s library and stay there for good, one click away.

  1. Download the script

    Pick the dialog language, sign in with your account and download the .afscripts file.

  2. Import it into Affinity

    Open Window › Scripting › Scripts Library. In the panel’s ▾ menu, choose Import Scripts… and select the file.

  3. Select a layer and run it

    Click the script inside the Visual.af category. The first time, Affinity asks you to confirm that you trust it.

Adding a second effect?

To keep it in the same category, download the .afscript and import it from the Visual.af category’s ≡ menu with Import Script…. If you import another .afscripts, Affinity creates “Visual.af 2”: drag the script into the first one and delete the second.

Requirements

Affinity 3.3 or later, on Windows or macOS. The scripts don’t use the internet or touch your files: everything happens inside Affinity.

Frequently asked questions

Can I choose my own characters?

For now there are four styles: classic, blocks, digits and symbols. Each one orders its characters from least to most ink.

Does it work with text, vectors or groups?

Yes. The script takes the selected layer exactly as it looks, whether it’s a photo, a pixel layer, a group, text or a whole artboard.

Is the result editable text?

No: it’s an image layer with the characters drawn in, with smooth edges. You can scale it, recolor it with adjustments or use it as a mask.

How fast is it?

Very fast: on social media sized images each change takes a few hundredths of a second, and on 24 megapixel photos, about half a second.

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