Convert Your Videos to ASCII Art with This Cool Resolve Plugin

Let this be a lesson in why — despite many of the downsides of social media platforms — it never hurts to be a part of some Facebook community groups where you can engage, share ideas, and learn from other video creators. (Like our Soundstripe Creator Community fyi.)

However after browsing a DaVinci Resolve User Group on Facebook the other day I stumbled upon a post by YouTuber Igor Riđanović which showcased a new Resolve plugin which he created for his company Metafide which converts video to ASCII art.

It’s called Computer Vision and it’s free to download and easy to use — plus really quite fun and cool to mess around with. Let’s check it out.

A free ASCII art plugin for DaVinci Resolve

For a brief bit of background, for those unfamiliar with the term ASCII is an abbreviation for American Standard Code for Informational Interchange and is a character encoding standard for various forms of electronic communication. You’ve probably seen the familiar string of code points and characters many times before, but might not have simply known the name for it.

What this cool plugin developed by Riđanović does though is it helps video editors and creative professionals turn their video footage into this character code for various looks and effects (plenty of which you can see in the video above).

Designed as a plugin for DaVinci Resolve, Computer Vision is a simple and easy-to-use effect which you can literally drag-and-drop onto any clip of your choosing. Instantly creating some very cool retro tech looks which allow for plenty of customization and further doctoring.

How to use and download

To get started with this effect all you need to do is follow the link to Metafide and download the Computer Vision plugin. You can also browse some other cool plugins for DaVinci Resolve including a Timeline Loader, L2 Generator and Projector.

It’s a simple install and should immediately be available in DaVinci Resolve in both the edit page and the fusion page. From there you can find the plugin under the effects page in the toolbox effects → fusion effects section where you can literally just drag-and-drop it onto your footage of choice.

Riđanović did a great job with this plugin’s customization as well as after you’ve added the effect to your footage you have plenty of settings to mess with including different fonts, sizes, styles, and more.

You can watch more in-depth in the video walkthrough above, but once you get the Computer Vision plugin into your project and onto a clip of your choosing, you can really go wild with adding as many more effects and looks as your heart desires.

Other video editing plugins and resources

With DaVinci Resolve quickly climbing the ranks of NLEs with both beginner and seasoned video editors, finding new tools, resources, and plugins like this ASCII art Computer Vision plugin can provide both a practical and creative spark.

If you’d like to find other helpful tools and resources for you DaVinci Resolve editing workflows, be sure to check out some of the different community groups online. As well as stay tuned to the Soundstripe blog and our Soundstripe YouTube channel for more news, features, and insights.