[Tex/LaTex] ASCII-Art Flower to a thesis in LaTex? How to make it nicely from front to back

thesis

Thesis can have some sort of thank you thing in the beginning and perhaps something at the end. Instead of writing something specific, I would like to start a thesis with a flower-top and end it to its flower-end in ASCII art. I would like to make the flower from some lyrics in the following shape

enter image description here

so the reader would require almost a microscope to read the lyrics — and it would be cool also to write something hovering in some point. Is this possible to do this kind of creative thing in LaTex and is there something already builtin to embed ASCII art to formal papers?

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  1. How to compose figure from text with latex?

Best Answer

Why not just find your ASCII art by using an external package and include it verbatim, perhaps using listings's \lstinputlisting:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents,listings,graphicx,varwidth}% http://ctan.org/pkg/{filecontents,listings,graphicx,varwidth}

% Source: http://www.chris.com/ascii/index.php?art=animals/birds%20(water)
\begin{filecontents*}{duck.txt}
                                       .;;;..
                                    ;<!!!!!!!!;
                                 .;!!!!!!!!!!!!>
                               .<!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                              ;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
                            ;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
                           ;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''
                         ,!!!!!!!!!!!!!'` .::
                  ,;!',;!!!!!!!!!!!'` .::::''  .,,,,.
                 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'`.::::' .,ndMMMMMMM,
                !!!!!!!!!!!!!' .::'' .,nMMP""',nn,`"MMbmnmn,.
                `!!!!!!!!!!` :'' ,unMMMM" xdMMMMMMMx`MMn
             _/  `'!!!!''`  ',udMMMMMM" nMMMMM??MMMM )MMMnur=
,.... ......--~   ,       ,nMMMMMMMMMMnMMP".,ccc, "M MMMMP' ,,
 `--......--   _.'        " MMP??4MMMMMP ,c$$$$$$$ ).MMMMnmMMM
     _.-' _..-~            =".,nmnMMMM .d$$$$$$$$$L MMMMMMMMMP
 .--~_.--~                  '.`"4MMMM  $$$$$$$$$$$',MMMMMPPMM
`~~~~                      ,$$$h.`MM   `?$$$$$$$$P dMMMP , P
                           <$""?$ `"     $$$$$$$$',MMMP c$
                           `$c c$h       $$$$$$$',MMMM  $$
                            $$ $$$       $$$$$$',MMMMM  `?
                            `$.`$$$c.   z$???"  "',,`"
                             3h $$$$$cccccccccc$$$$$$$$$$$=r
                             `$c`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$??$$$$F"$$ "
                           ,mr`$c`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$c 3$$$$c$$
                        ,mMMMM."$.`?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$h,
;.   .               .uMMMMMMMM "$c,`"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$C,,,,cccccc,,..
!!;,;!!!!> .,,...  ,nMMMMMMMMMMM.`?$c  `"?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$h.
!!!!!!!!! uMM" <!!',dMMMMMMMMMMPP" ?$h.`::..`""???????""'..  -==cc,"?$$P
!!!!!!!!'.MMP <!',nMMMMMMMMP" .;    `$$c,`'::::::::::::'.$F
!!!!!!!! JMP ;! JMMMMMMMP" .;!!'      "?$hc,.````````'.,$$
!!!!'''' 4M(;',dMMMP""" ,!!!!` ;;!!;.   "?$$$$$?????????"
!!! ::. 4b ,MM" .::: !''`` <!!!!!!!!;
 `!::::.`' 4M':::::'',mdP <!!!!!!!!!!!;
! :::::: ..  :::::: ""'' <!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;
!! ::::::.::: .::::: ;!!> <!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;.
!! :::::: `:'::::::!!' <!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;;.
! ::::::' .::::' ;!' .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'`!!!!!!!!!!!;.
; `::';!>  ::' ;<!.;!!!!!!!''''!!!!' <!! !!!!!!!!!!!>
\end{filecontents*}
\newsavebox{\asciiart}
\newcommand{\duck}{\raisebox{.8\height}{\resizebox{1.5ex}{!}{\usebox{\asciiart}}}}

\begin{document}
\begin{lrbox}{\asciiart}
\begin{varwidth}{\maxdimen}
\noindent\lstinputlisting[basicstyle=\ttfamily]{duck.txt}
\end{varwidth}
\end{lrbox}%

We love to see \duck{} duck.

\end{document}

Zooming in reveals...

enter image description here

There seems to be a number of ASCII generators out there...

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