# ASCII & retro looks — how to make it with code and an AI agent

> **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://skills.varg.ai/api/search?q=<what the person wants>"` returns the matching use case and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://skills.varg.ai/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the use-case page.

Footage or type re-rendered as ASCII, CRT, VHS, halftone or pixels.

**Output:** Any · **Input:** Footage or text

## Skills that make it end to end

- [ASCII Humanist Collage](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/want-ascii-humanist-collage.md)
- [Lemo-Opuscar Film Styles](https://skills.varg.ai/skills/lemo-opuscar.md)

## Recipe, beat by beat

Each beat lists components that build it; install any with its command, then fill its slots.

**Source** (Galleries & carousels)

- [Card Catalog Explainer](https://skills.varg.ai/component/varg.card-catalog-explainer.md) — A 56 s explainer: a wall of code-made videos, then one request travels through a card catalog to the finished MP4. Point config.json at any  · `git clone https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates && cd code2video-templates/card-catalog-explainer && bash make.command`
- [Stamp Carousel](https://skills.varg.ai/component/varg.stamp-carousel.md) — An iPhone swiping through your pictures as perforated postage stamps, the screen colour following each stamp. MP4 on a background or with al · `git clone https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates && cd code2video-templates/stamp-carousel && bash make.command`
- [Camera Shake](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.camera-shake.md) — Procedural handheld, telephoto and rig camera shake for any wrapper: nine measured profiles with per-lens projection, closed-form and seek-s · `npx hyperframes add camera-shake`

**Treatment** (Generative & ASCII, Textures & overlays, Filters & grades)

- [ASCII Render Pass](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.ascii-render-pass.md) — A slotted scene renders as live ASCII: a canvas samples the source's luminance grid (rasterized once at mount) and draws glyphs from a densi · `npx hyperframes add ascii-render-pass`
- [ASCII Trail Reveal](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.ascii-trail-reveal.md) — An authored S-curve sweeps through a deterministic ASCII grid, flipping cells away to reveal a labeled panel. · `npx hyperframes add ascii-trail-reveal`
- [Code Shader Dissolve](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.code-shader-dissolve.md) — The code compiles into existence: a GPU fragment shader resolves it out of seeded noise with a chromatic dissolve front and edge glow, then  · `npx hyperframes add code-shader-dissolve`
- [Camcorder HUD](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.camcorder-hud.md) — Responsive REC, battery, editable date placeholder, and timeline-driven counter overlay for creator-camera and camcorder treatments · `npx hyperframes add camcorder-hud`
- [Glitch RGB](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.caption-glitch-rgb.md) — RGB chromatic aberration with CRT scanline overlay · `npx hyperframes add caption-glitch-rgb`
- [Blur In](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.blur-in.md) — An Operator Black word-level content reveal that resolves its own text from controlled blur · `npx hyperframes add blur-in`
- [Blur Out Up](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.blur-out-up.md) — Words arrive clean and depart upward with increasing blur for airy exits. · `npx hyperframes add blur-out-up`

**Title** (Kinetic type)

- [Anime JP Subtitles](https://skills.varg.ai/component/varg.anime-jp-subtitles.md) — Japanese captions in four anime styles from one subs.json: fansub lines with a karaoke sweep, TV telop with popping letters, a vertical tate · `git clone https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates && cd code2video-templates/anime-jp-subtitles && bash make.command`
- [Liquid Thorn Logo](https://skills.varg.ai/component/varg.liquid-thorn-logo.md) — Any word as a black-metal chrome logo that a cursor smears with a WebGL fluid. · `git clone https://github.com/vargHQ/code2video-templates && cd code2video-templates/liquid-thorn-logo && bun render.ts --text "WORD"`
- [Apple Money Count](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.apple-money-count.md) — Apple-style finance counter that counts from $0 to $10,000, flashes green, and bursts money icons with sound. · `npx hyperframes add apple-money-count`

## Generated footage, voice and music

Code renders the layout for free. Anything generated — AI shots, voiceover, music, lip-sync — runs on varg with one key: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai`, the Claude Code plugin `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`, or the MCP `https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp`.