durdraw

ASCII/ANSI art editor with animation support

TLDR

Launch the ASCII/ANSI art editor

$ durdraw

Open a file (.dur or ASCII/ANSI) for editing

$ durdraw [filename.dur]

Create a new canvas with specific dimensions

$ durdraw -W [80] -H [25]

Use the maximum canvas size that fits the terminal

$ durdraw -m

Play a .dur animation and exit

$ durdraw -p [animation.dur]

Loop an animation a fixed number of times

$ durdraw -p -x [3] [animation.dur]

Force 16- or 256-color mode

$ durdraw --256color

Export loaded art to .ansi and exit

$ durdraw --export-ansi [input.dur]

durdraw is a versatile curses-based ASCII, ANSI, and Unicode art editor for drawing in Linux, Unix, and macOS terminals. It supports 16- and 256-color palettes, CP437 and Unicode, customizable themes, mouse input, and frame-by-frame animation with adjustable delay.Files are saved in durdraw's native JSON-based `.dur` format, which preserves animation frames and metadata. Static art can be exported to `.ansi` for sharing on traditional ANSI art boards. Animations can be played back in the terminal with durdraw -p or the durview companion tool.

PARAMETERS

FILENAME

A .dur, ASCII, or ANSI file to load.

-p, --play

Play .dur file(s) then exit.

-x, --times N

Play N times (requires -p).

--startup

Show the startup screen.

-w, --wait

Pause on the startup screen.

--256color

Force 256-color mode.

--16color

Force 16-color mode.

-b, --blackbg

Use a black background instead of the terminal default.

-W, --width N

Set canvas width.

-H, --height N

Set canvas height.

-m, --max

Use the largest canvas that fits the terminal.

--nomouse

Disable mouse support.

--cursor STYLE

Cursor style: block, underscore, or pipe.

--notheme

Disable theme support.

--theme FILE

Load a custom theme file.

--cp437

Use Code Page 437 encoding (beta).

--export-ansi

Export loaded art to an .ansi file and exit.

-u, --undosize N

Number of undo history states (default: 100).

-V, --version

Show version and exit.

-h, --help

Display help and exit.

KEYBINDINGS

Arrow keys

Move cursor

Space

Draw with selected brush

Tab

Switch between foreground/background color

Color picker mode

Brush selection

Flood fill

Ctrl+S

Save file

Ctrl+Q

Quit

PgUp/PgDn

Navigate animation frames

Play/preview animation

CAVEATS

Requires terminal with proper ANSI support. Animation playback depends on terminal capabilities. Large animations may consume significant memory. Some export formats require additional dependencies.

HISTORY

durdraw was created by Sam "cmang" Foster as a modern successor to DOS-era ANSI editors like TheDraw and ACiDDraw, bringing terminal art creation to Linux, Unix, and macOS with features such as 256-color support, Unicode, and frame animation.