A shaded ball with red, yellow and blue panels turning on a tilted axis, with a bright glint and a soft floor shadow.
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Paste two lines into any page, play it in a terminal, or put a GIF in a README. The code follows the look you pick above.
<script type="module" src="https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/ascii.js"></script>
<ascii-art piece="lit-sphere"></ascii-art>// copy lit-sphere.js and kit.js into your project, then:
import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";
import create from "./lit-sphere.js";
export function Piece() {
const ref = useRef(null);
useEffect(() => {
const draw = create(), t0 = performance.now();
let raf;
const tick = () => {
const f = draw((performance.now() - t0) / 1000);
ref.current.textContent = f.text ?? f;
raf = requestAnimationFrame(tick);
};
tick();
return () => cancelAnimationFrame(raf);
}, []);
return <pre ref={ref} style={{ lineHeight: 1, fontFamily: "Menlo, Consolas, monospace" }} />;
}npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz lit-sphere<!-- Download GIF below, commit it, then: -->
<p align="center">
<img src="assets/lit-sphere.gif" alt="Lit Sphere, animated ASCII art" width="720">
</p>Pause on the frame you like, pick a look, then download it at an exact size.
MIT licensed. It imports one small helper file, kit.js.
/* lit-sphere: a shaded ball with a rotating striped surface, a glint and a soft floor shadow. */
import { Grid, palette, gradient, KEYS, TAU } from "../lib/kit.js";
/* tiny 3D kit for this piece: view space has +z away from the viewer. */
const LIGHT = (() => { const v = [-0.72, 0.55, -0.42], l = Math.hypot(v[0], v[1], v[2]); return [v[0] / l, v[1] / l, v[2] / l]; })();
/** Lambert plus a specular glint, 0..1, for a unit view-space normal. */
function lightOf(n, amb = 0.1, spec = 0.55, pw = 18) {
const d = n[0] * LIGHT[0] + n[1] * LIGHT[1] + n[2] * LIGHT[2];
const rz = 2 * d * n[2] - LIGHT[2];
const s = d > 0 && rz < 0 ? Math.pow(-rz, pw) : 0;
return Math.min(1, amb + Math.max(0, d) * (1 - amb) * 0.78 + s * spec * 0.6);
}
/** Filled triangle in screen cells with a depth test; points are [x, y, depth], larger depth is nearer. */
function tri(g, a, b, c, ch, co) {
const area = (b[0] - a[0]) * (c[1] - a[1]) - (b[1] - a[1]) * (c[0] - a[0]);
if (Math.abs(area) < 1e-6) return;
const x0 = Math.max(0, Math.floor(Math.min(a[0], b[0], c[0]))), x1 = Math.min(g.cols - 1, Math.ceil(Math.max(a[0], b[0], c[0])));
const y0 = Math.max(0, Math.floor(Math.min(a[1], b[1], c[1]))), y1 = Math.min(g.rows - 1, Math.ceil(Math.max(a[1], b[1], c[1])));
for (let y = y0; y <= y1; y++) for (let x = x0; x <= x1; x++) {
const px = x + 0.5, py = y + 0.5;
const w0 = ((b[0] - px) * (c[1] - py) - (b[1] - py) * (c[0] - px)) / area;
const w1 = ((c[0] - px) * (a[1] - py) - (c[1] - py) * (a[0] - px)) / area;
const w2 = 1 - w0 - w1;
if (w0 < -0.02 || w1 < -0.02 || w2 < -0.02) continue;
g.setZ(x, y, w0 * a[2] + w1 * b[2] + w2 * c[2], typeof ch === "function" ? ch(w0, w1, w2) : ch, co);
}
}
/** A depth-tested line between projected points, nudged toward the viewer by bias. */
function seg(g, a, b, ch, co, bias = 0) {
const n = Math.max(1, Math.ceil(Math.max(Math.abs(b[0] - a[0]), Math.abs(b[1] - a[1])) * 1.5));
for (let i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
const f = i / n;
g.setZ(a[0] + (b[0] - a[0]) * f, a[1] + (b[1] - a[1]) * f, a[2] + (b[2] - a[2]) * f + bias, typeof ch === "function" ? ch(f) : ch, co);
}
}
/** Character for a line drawn in screen direction dx, dy (tall cells). */
function slopeChar(dx, dy) {
const a = Math.atan2(dy * 2, dx), s = Math.abs(Math.sin(a)), c = Math.abs(Math.cos(a));
if (s < 0.38) return "─";
if (c < 0.38) return "│";
return (dx > 0) === (dy > 0) ? "╲" : "╱";
}
const rx = ([x, y, z], a) => { const c = Math.cos(a), s = Math.sin(a); return [x, y * c - z * s, y * s + z * c]; };
const ry = ([x, y, z], a) => { const c = Math.cos(a), s = Math.sin(a); return [x * c + z * s, y, -x * s + z * c]; };
const rz = ([x, y, z], a) => { const c = Math.cos(a), s = Math.sin(a); return [x * c - y * s, x * s + y * c, z]; };
const sub = (a, b) => [a[0] - b[0], a[1] - b[1], a[2] - b[2]];
const cross = (a, b) => [a[1] * b[2] - a[2] * b[1], a[2] * b[0] - a[0] * b[2], a[0] * b[1] - a[1] * b[0]];
const unit = (v) => { const l = Math.hypot(v[0], v[1], v[2]) || 1; return [v[0] / l, v[1] / l, v[2] / l]; };
/** Draw a mesh: V in view space, F as index lists (fans), each face lit flat. Normals face away from the origin when orient is set. */
function mesh(g, V, F, P, paint, edgeCo, orient = true) {
const S = V.map(P);
for (let f = 0; f < F.length; f++) {
const idx = F[f];
let n = unit(cross(sub(V[idx[1]], V[idx[0]]), sub(V[idx[2]], V[idx[0]])));
const c = [0, 0, 0];
for (const i of idx) { c[0] += V[i][0] / idx.length; c[1] += V[i][1] / idx.length; c[2] += V[i][2] / idx.length; }
if (orient && n[0] * c[0] + n[1] * c[1] + n[2] * c[2] < 0) n = [-n[0], -n[1], -n[2]];
const [ch, co] = paint(lightOf(n), f, n);
for (let i = 1; i + 1 < idx.length; i++) tri(g, S[idx[0]], S[idx[i]], S[idx[i + 1]], ch, co);
if (edgeCo) for (let i = 0; i < idx.length; i++) {
const a = S[idx[i]], b = S[idx[(i + 1) % idx.length]];
seg(g, a, b, slopeChar(b[0] - a[0], b[1] - a[1]), edgeCo, 0.012);
}
}
}
const H1 = gradient(["#2a0608", "#8a1a1e", "#e8443c", "#ffb0a0"], 8);
const H2 = gradient(["#2a2200", "#8a6a00", "#f2c230", "#fff0b0"], 8);
const H3 = gradient(["#061428", "#14407a", "#2f86e0", "#a8d4ff"], 8);
const WH = gradient(["#26262a", "#7a7a80", "#d8d8dc", "#ffffff"], 8);
export const meta = {
slug: "lit-sphere",
name: "Lit Sphere",
category: "solids",
note: "A shaded ball with red, yellow and blue panels turning on a tilted axis, with a bright glint and a soft floor shadow.",
tags: ["3d", "sphere", "ball", "loader", "hero"],
cols: 60, rows: 30, fps: 30,
palette: palette([...H1, ...H2, ...H3, ...WH, "#141418", "#1e1e24"]), // 0-7 red, 8-f yellow, g-n blue, o-v white, w x shadow
};
const RAMP = ".:-=+*#%@";
export default function create() {
const { cols, rows } = meta;
const g = new Grid(cols, rows);
const cx = cols / 2, cy = 13.5, RR = 12.2, RC = RR * 2;
const tilt = 0.42;
const ct = Math.cos(tilt), st = Math.sin(tilt);
return (t) => {
g.clear();
// floor shadow
const sy = cy + RR + 1.6;
for (let y = Math.floor(sy - 2); y < rows; y++) for (let x = 0; x < cols; x++) {
const d = Math.hypot((x + 0.5 - cx - 3) / (RC * 0.85), (y + 0.5 - sy) / 2.2);
if (d < 1) g.set(x, y, d < 0.6 ? "▒" : "░", d < 0.6 ? "x" : "w");
}
const spin = t * 0.9, cs = Math.cos(spin), ss = Math.sin(spin);
for (let y = 0; y < rows; y++) for (let x = 0; x < cols; x++) {
const nx = (x + 0.5 - cx) / RC, ny = -(y + 0.5 - cy) / RR;
const r2 = nx * nx + ny * ny;
if (r2 >= 1) continue;
const nz = -Math.sqrt(1 - r2);
const l = lightOf([nx, ny, nz], 0.24, 0.9, 30);
// into the ball's own frame: undo tilt (about z), then spin (about y)
const px = nx * ct + ny * st, py = -nx * st + ny * ct, pz = nz;
const ox = px * cs - pz * ss, oz = px * ss + pz * cs;
const lat = Math.asin(Math.max(-1, Math.min(1, py)));
let lon = Math.atan2(oz, ox); if (lon < 0) lon += TAU;
let base;
if (Math.abs(lat) > 1.15) base = 24;
else base = [0, 8, 16][Math.floor((lon / TAU) * 6) % 3];
const edge = Math.abs(((lon / TAU) * 6) % 1 - 0.5) > 0.47 && Math.abs(lat) < 1.15;
if (edge) base = 24;
const ch = edge ? "░▒▓█"[Math.min(3, Math.floor(l * 4))] : RAMP[Math.min(8, Math.floor((0.1 + l * 0.9) * 9))];
g.set(x, y, ch, KEYS[base + Math.min(7, Math.floor((0.08 + l * 0.92) * 8))]);
}
return g.frame();
};
}
/YOUR OWN
The pieces here are hand-built animations. To turn your own photo, logo or video into animated ASCII, use the ASCII Magic editor.