About RetroDither

RetroDither, from BGRA Entertainment, provides retro‑style dithering for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. The plugin includes 20 preset palettes such as C‑64, Apple II, CGA and ZX Spectrum, and 12 dithering algorithms covering error‑diffusion (Floyd‑Steinberg, Jarvis‑Judice, Stucki, Atkinson, Burkes, Siera, Stevenson‑Arce) and ordered Bayer matrix methods. Users can apply 0‑8× downscaling, adjust a threshold slider for Bayer dithering and 1‑bit palette mapping, convert to grayscale before palette application, and enable serpentine scan for alternative error‑diffusion results. The effect runs entirely on the GPU and supports After Effects versions from CS6 through 2024 and Premiere Pro versions from CS5.5 through 2022. Version 1.8 adds native Apple Silicon support.

Features

• 20 color palettes including C-64 and Apple II; adaptive palettes work similarly to Photoshop’s Save for Web, while hardware-named palettes such as CGA, ZX Spectrum and C64 mimic original hardware limitations
• 12 dithering methods spanning error diffusion (Floyd-Steinberg, Jarvis-Judice, Stucki, Atkinson, Burkes, Siera, Stevenson-Arce) and ordered dithering with a Bayer matrix
• 0 to 8x downscaling for a more stylized look
• Threshold slider to alter Bayer dithering and manage 1-bit color palette mapping
• Grayscale conversion applied before the palette, mapping shades of gray to the output palette’s colors
• Serpentine scan that alters all error-diffusion (non-Bayer) algorithms for a slightly different result
• Fully GPU accelerated

Best for

Adding authentic retro‑computer or classic video‑game visual styles to motion graphics or video footage.