Re: Video to ASCII effect

If your video layer is named "target", you can apply an expression like this to a text layer:

density = " .'`,^:" + '";~-_+<>i!lI?/|()1{}[]rcvunxzjftLCJUYXZO0Qoahkbdpqwm*WMB8&%$#@';
target = thisComp.layer("target");
cols = 80;
rows = 60;
w = thisComp.width/cols;
h = thisComp.height/rows;

s = ""

for (var i = 0; i < rows; i++){
for(var j = 0; j < cols; j++){
center = [w/2 + j*w, h/2 + i*h];
sample = target.sampleImage(center,[(w-1)/2,(h-1)/2]);
s += density[Math.round(linear(sample[0],0,1,0,density.length - 1))];
}
s += "r";
}
s


You'll have to fiddle with the font size, tracking, leading, etc. Edit the cols and rows variables to suit your needs

Dan