simple-ascii-renderer.luau

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")

local client = Players.LocalPlayer
local camera = workspace.CurrentCamera

local frame_size = UDim2.fromScale(0.025, 0.025)

local screen_gui = Instance.new("ScreenGui")
screen_gui.IgnoreGuiInset = true
screen_gui.Parent = client.PlayerGui

local cols = math.ceil(1 / frame_size.X.Scale)
local rows = math.ceil(1 / frame_size.Y.Scale)

local ascii_chars = {
	" ", ".", "`", "'", ",", ":", ";", "\"", "-", "_",
	"~", "^", "+", "=", "<", ">", "i", "!", "l", "I",
	"?", "/", "|", "\\", "(", ")", "1", "t", "f", "j",
	"r", "x", "n", "u", "v", "c", "z", "X", "Y", "U",
	"J", "C", "L", "Q", "0", "O", "Z", "m", "w", "q",
	"p", "d", "b", "k", "h", "a", "o", "*", "#", "M",
	"W", "&", "8", "%", "B", "@"
}

local frames = {}
for row = 0, rows - 1 do
	frames[row] = {}
	for col = 0, cols - 1 do
		local label = Instance.new("TextLabel")
		label.Size = frame_size
		label.Position = UDim2.fromScale(col * frame_size.X.Scale, row * frame_size.Y.Scale)
		label.BackgroundColor3 = Color3.new(0,0,0)
		label.Text = ""
		label.TextColor3 = Color3.new(1,1,1)
		label.Font = Enum.Font.Code
		label.TextScaled = true
		label.Parent = screen_gui
		frames[row][col] = label
	end
end

local function color_to_brightness(color)
	return (0.2126 * color.R) + (0.7152 * color.G) + (0.0722 * color.B)
end

local function map_to_ascii(value)
	value = math.clamp(value, 0, 1)
	local idx = math.floor(value * (#ascii_chars - 1)) + 1
	return ascii_chars[idx]
end

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function()
	local cam_cf = camera.CFrame
	local fov = math.rad(camera.FieldOfView)
	local aspect_ratio = cols / rows

	for row = 0, rows - 1 do
		for col = 0, cols - 1 do
			local x = (col / (cols - 1)) * 2 - 1
			local y = (row / (rows - 1)) * 2 - 1
			y = -y

			local dir = (cam_cf.LookVector +
				cam_cf.RightVector * x * math.tan(fov / 2) * aspect_ratio +
				cam_cf.UpVector * y * math.tan(fov / 2)).Unit

			local result = Workspace:Raycast(cam_cf.Position, dir * 500)
			local char = " "
			local color = Color3.new(1, 1, 1)

			if result then
				local mat_color = result.Instance.Color
				local color_brightness = color_to_brightness(mat_color)

				local dist_norm = math.clamp(result.Distance / 500, 0, 1)
				local dist_brightness = 1 - dist_norm

				local combined_brightness = color_brightness * dist_brightness

				char = map_to_ascii(combined_brightness)
				color = mat_color
			end

			frames[row][col].Text = char
			frames[row][col].TextColor3 = color
		end
	end
end)