What It Does
CRTX Lite applies a CRT tube-screen look to footage in After Effects and Premiere Pro without requiring you to build the effect from scratch. Pick a preset, adjust a small set of macro controls, and render. The plugin handles scan structure, CRT mask texture, bloom, glow, analog softness, signal noise, color smear, and subtle instability under the hood.
It sits between a basic overlay effect and the full CRTX plugin. The core rendering engine is the same as the more expensive sibling, but the interface is stripped to the decisions that matter most for fast turnarounds.
Key Features
Preset dropdown. Six starting points cover the main CRT families: Clean Monitor, Consumer TV, Arcade, Vintage Tube, Broadcast Fail, and RF Damage. Each preset sets the underlying engine state so you start from a recognizable reference rather than neutral zero.
Focused macro controls. Rather than exposing every technical parameter, CRTX Lite surfaces a short list of high-impact controls grouped into Light, Screen, Tone, Signal, Motion, Frame, Phosphor, and Performance. You can dial glow, scanlines, screen texture, color bleed, curvature, and render quality without opening any expert panel.
GPU-accelerated rendering. The plugin runs on CUDA, DirectX, Metal, and OpenCL-capable GPUs. GPU mode is recommended for interactive previews and 4K timelines. CPU mode is available for lighter jobs and non-GPU setups.
Premiere Pro support. CRTX Lite works in both After Effects and Premiere Pro, covering editorial and motion design workflows from the same license.
Free trial available. A trial download is listed on the product page, so you can test it on your footage before buying.
Who It’s For
CRTX Lite suits editors and motion designers who need a convincing CRT finish without spending time in technical panels. It works well for retro title sequences, music video grades, social content with a lo-fi aesthetic, and broadcast package elements that call for an analog reference. If you need deep control over phosphor persistence, geometry keystone, audio-reactive hum, or custom preset export workflows, the full CRTX plugin is the step up.
Pricing
CRTX Lite is a one-time purchase at $44.99 for a single-user license. Floating server and render-only license options are also available at checkout.