I just started programming as a hobby three weeks ago, and I’m amazed at what I can do. I exclusively use Rust.

Before I try making a game with a GUI, I want to create a simple one in the terminal. However, I plan to incorporate Pixel Art for context in that game.

I’ve seen some ways to display pictures in the terminal, but since I’m limited to a font size, I specifically want to try displaying 4×8 pixels within each font space. This means, for example, a 120×120 pixel art would appear in a 30×15 font space.

I don’t want to use average colors; I want the authentic picture to be displayed.

I tryed a method that can divide a font space in 2 (1×2) but:

1. It’s not exactly good enough
2. It use average colors so there is no detail.

use image::GenericImageView;
use crossterm::{terminal::{self, ClearType}, ExecutableCommand};
use std::io::{stdout, Write};

// Function to get the average color of a sub-region
fn average_color(img: &image::DynamicImage, x_start: u32, y_start: u32, width: u32, height: u32) -> [u8; 3] {
    let mut r_sum = 0;
    let mut g_sum = 0;
    let mut b_sum = 0;
    let mut count = 0;

    for y in y_start..y_start + height {
        for x in x_start..x_start + width {
            let pixel = img.get_pixel(x, y);
            let [r, g, b, _] = pixel.0;
            r_sum += r as u32;
            g_sum += g as u32;
            b_sum += b as u32;
            count += 1;
        }
    }

    [
        (r_sum / count) as u8,
        (g_sum / count) as u8,
        (b_sum / count) as u8,
    ]
}

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Load the image
    let img = image::open("path_to_file.jpg")?;
    let (width, height) = img.dimensions();
    
    // Check the size of the image
    if width != 54 || height != 54 {
        eprintln!("L'image doit être de taille 50x50 !");
        return Ok(());
    }

    // Initialize the terminal
    let mut stdout = stdout();
    terminal::enable_raw_mode()?;
    stdout.execute(terminal::Clear(ClearType::All))?;

    // Define the size of each sub-region
    let sub_width = 1;
    let sub_height = 2;

    // Display each pixel
    for y in (0..height).step_by(sub_height as usize) {
        for x in (0..width).step_by(sub_width as usize) {
            // Get the average color for the top half of the character cell
            let top_color = average_color(&img, x, y, sub_width, sub_height);

            // Get the average color for the bottom half of the character cell
            let bottom_color = average_color(&img, x, y + sub_height / 2, sub_width, sub_height / 2);

            // Print the top half color
            print!("x1b[38;2;{};{};{}mx1b[48;2;{};{};{}m▀", bottom_color[0], bottom_color[1], bottom_color[2], top_color[0], top_color[1], top_color[2]);
        }
        // Move to the next line
        print!("x1b[0mrn");
    }

    // Reset colors
    print!("x1b[0m");
    stdout.flush()?;
    
    // Keep the terminal open until a key is pressed
    std::io::stdin().read_line(&mut String::new())?;

    // Disable raw mode in the terminal
    terminal::disable_raw_mode()?;

    Ok(())
}

If that matter, I use Linux.

I’m not sure if I’m asking too much, so thank you for your help.