Smooth Threshold is a simple replacement for the default Threshold effect plugin in After Effects that adds a Smooth control to feather the boundary between white and black with some grey tones. At the minimum setting it functions just like the classic Threshold effect. At the maximum setting, you'll get a completely greyscale image. But in between, you can still get all of the crunch of Threshold with a little bit more depth.

Smooth Threshold can also help you to achieve the super-contrasty tones of some black and white 35mm film stocks like Kodak Tri-X, especially if you add some noise or grain before it in the layer stack. Since Threshold can be the basis for many other effects and looks, this simple change makes an already useful effect even more useful. It's perfect for building mattes too.

This is a GPU accelerated plugin—meaning if you are on software only mode, it won't work properly.