Film Grain
Add filmic grain to any layer in your Cavalry projects. From fine, subtle texture to heavy, soft photographic emulsion — with control over where the grain falls in the image, how it blends, its color, and how it animates over time.
Grain Character
Dial in the look with Amount, Grain Size, and Softness. Amount sets the strength, Grain Size sets how fine or chunky the grain is, and Softness blurs the grain into a soft, photographic emulsion rather than a sharp digital speckle.
Luminance Response
Choose where grain is most visible based on image brightness — Uniform (everywhere), Midtones (the classic film look), Shadows, or Highlights. This keeps grain feeling natural instead of flat across the whole frame.
Blend Modes
Composite the grain over the image with Overlay (preserves midtone contrast), Add (linear, brightens), or Screen (softer, lifts shadows).
Color
Run grain as monochrome luminance, or switch to independent color grain with a Saturation control to dial the chroma from gray to full RGB.
Animation
Animate the grain over time, with a Time Step control to hold each grain field for several frames — the classic lower-frame-rate "grain stutter" look. Time is connected to the scene frame automatically.
Features
- Band-limited (smooth) grain that softens cleanly without aliasing or streaking
- Amount, Grain Size, and Softness for full control of grain character
- 4 luminance response modes (Uniform, Midtones, Shadows, Highlights)
- 3 blend modes (Overlay, Add, Screen)
- Monochrome or color grain with Saturation control
- Animated grain with Time Step for frame-holding / reduced grain frame rate
- Multi-pass blur for softening, with auto-padding
- Alpha-gated so transparent regions stay clean