Are there programs that convert PowerPoint block diagrams to ASCII text diagrams?

Question

I'm looking for a program to convert PowerPoint block diagrams to ASCII. I found Ditaa, which does the exact opposite of what I want done.

+--------+   +-------+    +-------+
|        | --+ block2+--> |       |
|  block |   +-------+    |block3 |
|        |   |       |    |       |
|        |   |       |    |       |
+---+----+   +-------+    +-------+
    :                         ^
    |       Lots of work      |
    +-------------------------+

I also found FossilDraw, which does exactly what I want, but its speed perf leaves something to be desired.

Answer 1

JavE - Java Ascii Versatile Editor

JavE - Java Ascii Versatile Editor is a great ASCII art editor. It's cross-platform and it is really convenient.

It can also convert bitmap images to ASCII art.

Answer 2

I've been looking for something similar. I realize this question is a bit old, but since it features high on the Google results I might as well answer it:

Back in the day I've used CodePlotter which worked very well, but it is Windows only.

The tool App::Asciio also allows you to draw ASCII diagrams. It's a Perl application using Perl-GTK. On my Linux machine (Fedora 12) it installed quite easily with the command:

sudo cpan App::Asciio

I don't know of anything that can work directly with Powerpoint slides, however.

Answer 3

In the good old DOS days, TheDraw was all the rage for making your own ASCII drawings - admittedly, not automatically. The program's still available - see link.