CRT Converter | Update 1.5
I made CRT Converter back in 2020, and other than a glow refresh in 2021, I've mostly left it alone. Meanwhile, a bunch of really impressive CRT plugins came out, most of them chasing incredible levels of accuracy and fidelity with things like beam simulation, phosphor decay, and the whole nine yards. It left me wondering– Where did CRT Converter fit in anymore?
It took a small journey of self-discovery, but I finally remembered... I don't really care about realism! When I approach creative work, I find that a truly accurate depiction often falls short of how I remember things in my mind's eye. So, I say to hell with it!
I have no idea if this update made CRT Converter more or less realistic, but I know for a fact that CRT Converter has never looked as good as it does now. And since this is the version I wish I had been able to release from day one, it's a totally free update for existing purchasers.
For more details on what changed, keep reading, and I'll walk you through the nitty-gritty on how my little effect plugin sausages get made. It's dirty work, but someone's gotta do it.
Enhanced Rendering
Highkey, but possibly lowkey– CRT Converter 1.5 is pretty much a completely new plugin under the hood. Some of the main rendering pipeline survived my massive, cutthroat refactoring. But, for the most part, I completely reworked the visual engine into the new "Enhanced" render mode, which has finally brought CRT Converter into the 21st century. Instead of hard-edged pixel blocks, every phosphor is now a soft dot with real falloff. Noice.
However, because I'm a big sucker for backwards compatibility and ensuring that old projects are never locked out by aging software, the old rendering engine is still fully available by selecting "Classic" in the Rendering Mode drop-down under Advanced. Projects saved with 1.4 open on it automatically, looking exactly how you left them.
But hear me when I say this and know that I say it with love... don't ever do that. The new rendering mode is absolutely gorgeous, and it looks nearly a billion times better (I measured that, it's hard science). But in the rare case that you really do know better than me, I wanted to include it so you still had the option.
Screen Curve
Along with the rendering improvements, I decided to add a built-in screen curve module to make life easier. It's subtle, but it really helps sell the overall effect. By default, it's a gentle slope that shouldn't distort your base image too much while still giving it that extra little charm. It also comes with a Convergence control for that slightly misaligned RGB fringing old tubes had. But, of course, you can fully disable the whole section if you prefer.
Advanced Parameters
Finally, the Advanced section got a few QOL parameters: Blend with Original, a Rendering Mode selector, Phosphor Softness, and Render Quality. Plus, Smooth Scaling was moved down here to help simplify the number of top-level parameters.
Phosphor Softness (Enhanced mode only) lets you adjust how sharp the individual RGB phosphors appear. If you want a really crispy image, you can try playing with that. And Render Quality gives you a few quick options for the overall fidelity of your image. If you're noticing any moiré or visual quirks, try bumping that up to Ultra when you render.
Glow Overhaul
The Glow module got some love too. This whole update was really about tuning everything to produce better and more consistent visuals across the board. So, for Glow, that meant dialing in the curves of how the system reacts to luminance values, tweaking blurs to be faster/more performant, and a smoother falloff for the vignette as well.
Available Now
CRT Converter Update 1.5 is a free update for existing owners. Download the new version from your MEGAKRUNCH account. Or, if you don't own CRT Converter, you can check out the full product page to learn more here.
CRT Converter is compatible with After Effects and Premiere Pro on Mac and Windows.
