Blender - Depth of Field (simple setting, great results)

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Here is something really useful. This is a quick explanation of how to get started using Depth of Field effects.

In the following images, the middle cube is where the focus is set. As you can see from the images, the center cube is in-focus, while objects closer/further from this focal point are progressively blurred. The only change from image to image is the setting for "f-stop" in the Defocus Node of the Composite Node Editor.

As cameras and your own eyes show this effect, this can really help in making your images look more "real world." The variety of settings possible allow you to get it just right or as they say "to taste."

(Generally, this is a relatively subtle effect [and should be used sparingly], so you'll have to look at the following images full-size in order to really see the difference from image to image. Looking at the ground plane also shows it more obviously than the softening of the edges of the other cubes...)









Here is a screen-grab showing the settings in the compositor (and the camera setting) necessary in order to get Depth of Field effects happening.



See Full-size Image so that you can read the settings...

On the right hand side (where the Camera settings are shown), you can see that the Limits checkbox is activated. When this is ON, then (in the 3D window) it will shoot a line from the camera and make a little tic at where the focal point is. This makes it much easier to get the effect you are looking for. You can also choose an object (rather than set the distance) that will be perfectly in focus.

Peace

James

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Here is a scene that I was playing around in... trying different things.

I present it here, because it is set as an "anim" that steps through various discrete settings for the Depth of Field effect. (remember that the settings allow for basically continuous stepping...so any amount of fine-tuning is possible)

I did it this way, since it's easy to see the change of focus as it steps through the frames...

http://www.jamesalexander.de/DOF_Show.swf

NOTE: Once rendered, changing the f-stop setting does NOT require re-rendering the images, since all the "magic" happens in the Composite Editor. If you change the DOF settings for the camera, though, you will have to re-render.

Peace

James

[angelize]

That's cool James! DOF is one of those things that I want to tackle but haven't gotten to it yet.