gml2mt

gml2mt is a program that draws tags on a Minitel terminal. Details and the source code are available on GitHub

What is GML ?

GML file uploded by anon-67cd4

GML (for Graffiti Markup Language) is a file format that allows graffiti artists to store tags as computer files. Because these files record the motion of a tag being drawned, they can then be reused in a variety of ways, like tagging robots, large scale projections and a a bunch of other neat stuff. The open repository #000000book allows users to share their work and even though the whole project have been inactive for some time, people still upload new tags every day.

The Minitel

Because of its relative availability (at least in France) and very low-resolution screen, I figured using a Minitel to display street art would be an interesting project. There already are programs that display images on these devices (like this one by phooky), but they usually draw rasterized images. I wanted the Minitel to animate the tag being drawn stroke by stroke. Which meant that I had to write my own code to convert a GML file into drawing instructions that the Minitel could recognize.