CRT: original colors behind scanlines, bloom and chromatic split
CRT is the only dither preset that keeps your image's own colors. The Original palette is cut to 4 Levels and stitched together with a coarse Bayer 2 × 2 checker, which mimics the low color depth of an old video signal. Then the screen effects pile on: Scanlines at 55, Bloom at 30 so highlights bleed, Chromatic split at 25 for color fringes, and a Vignette at 35 that darkens the corners like curved glass.
Make it yours
Dial it back for product shots
All four screen effects are fairly strong. For a UI mockup or a product photo, halve Scanlines to about 25 and drop Chromatic split to 8, which keeps the monitor flavor while the subject stays readable.
Add a rolling scan bar
This preset leaves Motion on Still. Set Motion to Scan and a bright band sweeps down the picture like a refreshing tube, with Speed, 40 by default, deciding how fast it travels.
FAQ
How do I make an image look like an old CRT screen?
Three things sell it: visible horizontal lines, light that bleeds, and color channels that do not quite line up. This preset covers them with Scanlines, Bloom and Chromatic split, and adds a Vignette for the darker corners of curved glass. Reducing the color depth to 4 Levels with Bayer dithering finishes the illusion of a low-bandwidth signal.
How it works
Upload an image
Add a PNG, JPG or WebP up to 20 MB and keep the original ratio or crop to 1:1, 4:5, 3:2, 16:9 or 9:16.
Choose a mode
ASCII with 8 character sets including Braille, Blocks, Binary, Matrix and your own characters; Dither with 14 algorithms; or Shapes with pixels, dots, lines and diamonds.
Style and use it
Set a palette such as 1-bit, Game Boy, Terminal or CGA, add scanlines, bloom or grain, then sign in with a free UX Pilot account to use it on the canvas or export it.