Print effects on video
To apply a halftone, ASCII or dithering to a video for free, drop it into Kinema, Mote’s video mode. Mote is a free Windows app that applies the engines of its other modes (Spora, Puncta, Linea and Glypha) to a video, frame by frame, and exports MP4 or WebM with no watermark.
Kinema looks like an editing program: a timeline, effect tracks above the clip, and keyframes to animate every setting. A screen can swell then tighten, a circle of ASCII can sweep across the frame, a pattern can change every four frames.
Examples
Renders made in Mote. Hover an image for the 1:1 loupe.Puncta · Quotidien · échelle 5 → 1,2 → 3
Glypha · Source colour
Spora · Fingerprints · variation 4
Spora · Gold on night · animated ellipse
Every frame screened, then put back together.
A video is 24 to 60 frames per second. Kinema decodes them one by one, applies the chosen screen or ASCII, then re-encodes everything with the original sound. Frames are precomputed for smooth playback, then rendered again on export. Online halftone and dithering tools are almost always stills only; the ones that handle video are rare, often paid, or capped in length and watermarked.
Every setting animates with keyframes and five easing curves (linear, smooth, ease-in, ease-out, step): intensity, scale, zone, position, speed. An oval or rectangular zone can confine the effect to part of the frame and move. Output sizes cover social media: source up to 4K, 1080p, 720p, square 1080 × 1080 and vertical 1080 × 1920.
How to do it in Mote, in three steps.
- 01Drop your video into Kinema. MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV or AVI. The video lands on the timeline.
- 02Add an effect track. Pick the engine (Puncta for halftone and dithering, Glypha for ASCII, Spora, Linea) and a style. Animate scale or zone with keyframes if you like.
- 03Export. MP4 (H.264), WebM or a PNG image sequence, with sound. For a standalone ASCII loop, Glypha also exports GIF.
- Engines
- Spora · Puncta · Linea · Glypha
- Animatable
- intensity · scale · zone · position · speed
- Sizes
- source (up to 4K) · 1080p · 720p · square · vertical
- Sound
- kept, variable speed
- Export
- MP4 (H.264) · WebM · PNG
In your browser, nothing to install.
Mote Web does not handle video, but it shows what one frame will look like: it opens on Puncta, “CMYK Ben-Day” style. Video needs the app.
Open in Mote Web →Questions
- Which video formats can I open?
- MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM, MKV, AVI and OGV. A still image can also be used as a clip.
- What resolution and length?
- Up to the source size, capped at 4K. No imposed length limit: a long high-definition video simply takes longer to render.
- Is the sound kept?
- Yes, and it follows the clip’s speed changes.
- For an Instagram loop or a website background?
- Export square or vertical for Instagram, WebM for a website background (lighter). Glypha also exports complete ASCII loops as MP4, WebM or GIF.
- What about risograph or VHS on video?
- Not in Kinema for now: Chroma and Prisma work on still images. Prisma can, however, export the animation of its effects (VHS, grain) on an image as video.
Related effects
- 02Turn any image into ASCII art
An image or a video rebuilt from characters. - 03Free dithering effect for photos and video
Pixel dithering: Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Bayer. - 01Free halftone effect: turn a photo into dots
A photo turned into dots, like a newspaper or a comic. - 07VHS and glitch effects, free and watermark-free
Tape, CRT screen, corrupted file, in real time. - M07See the mode Kinema
All of the above, on video, setting by setting, frame by frame. - M02See the mode Puncta
The printer’s screen in every form: offset dot, Ben-Day, engraving, error diffusion, Bayer, noise. - M05See the mode Glypha
The image in characters: blocks, braille, katakana, PETSCII, teletext. Animated if you like.