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Braille Canvas

A high-performance Braille canvas for terminal graphics in Python. Uses Unicode Braille characters (U+2800-U+28FF) to achieve 2x4 pixel resolution per character, allowing for detailed graphics in the terminal.

Features

• High Resolution: Each Braille character represents a 2x4 pixel grid, providing excellent detail
• 8-Color Palette: Supports standard ANSI terminal colors (Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Magenta, Cyan, White)
• Efficient Rendering: Optimized for performance with direct buffer manipulation
• Line Drawing: Bresenham's algorithm for fast, accurate line drawing
• Batch Plotting: Plot multiple points at once from any iterable

Installation

No external dependencies required! Uses only Python standard library.

Usage

Basic Example

from braille_canvas import BrailleCanvas

# Create a canvas (width and height in pixels)
canvas = BrailleCanvas(80, 40, default_color=0)

# Plot individual points
points = [(10, 10), (11, 10), (12, 11)]
canvas.plot(color=1, points=points)  # Red points

# Draw a line
canvas.line(x0=0, y0=0, x1=79, y1=39, color=2)  # Green diagonal

# Clear the canvas
canvas.clear(color=0)  # Clear with black

# Render to terminal
print(canvas.render())
# or simply
print(canvas)

Drawing Shapes

import math
from braille_canvas import BrailleCanvas

canvas = BrailleCanvas(80, 40, default_color=0)

# Draw a circle
center_x, center_y = 40, 20
radius = 15
circle_points = []
for angle in range(0, 360, 2):
    rad = math.radians(angle)
    x = int(center_x + radius * math.cos(rad))
    y = int(center_y + radius * math.sin(rad))
    circle_points.append((x, y))

canvas.plot(1, circle_points)  # Red circle
print(canvas)

API Reference

BrailleCanvas(width: int, height: int, default_color: int = 7)

Create a new Braille canvas.

• width: Canvas width in pixels (not characters)
• height: Canvas height in pixels (not characters)
• default_color: Default color index (0-7), defaults to white

plot(color: int, points: Iterable[Tuple[int, int]])

Plot multiple points with the given color.

• color: Color index (0-7)
• points: Iterable of (x, y) coordinate tuples

line(x0: int, y0: int, x1: int, y1: int, color: int)

Draw a line using Bresenham's algorithm.

• x0, y0: Starting point coordinates
• x1, y1: Ending point coordinates
• color: Color index (0-7)

clear(color: int = 7)

Clear the canvas with a single color.

• color: Color index (0-7) to fill the canvas with

render() -> str

Render the canvas to a string with ANSI color codes.

Returns a string that can be printed to the terminal.

Color Palette

Index	Color	ANSI Code
0	Black	\033[30m
1	Red	\033[31m
2	Green	\033[32m
3	Yellow	\033[33m
4	Blue	\033[34m
5	Magenta	\033[35m
6	Cyan	\033[36m
7	White	\033[37m

How It Works

Braille Characters

Braille characters in Unicode use a 2x4 dot pattern:

0 3
1 4
2 5
6 7

Each dot can be individually controlled using bit positions in the Unicode range U+2800-U+28FF. This allows for 256 different patterns per character.

Performance

• Direct Buffer Access: The canvas stores Braille patterns and colors in a 2D array for O(1) access
• Efficient Line Drawing: Bresenham's algorithm draws lines without floating-point arithmetic
• Color Optimization: Only emits ANSI color codes when the color changes

Running the Demo

python demo.py

The demo showcases:

• Plotting points to create shapes
• Drawing lines with the star pattern
• Multi-colored sine waves
• Grid patterns
• Clear functionality

License

MIT