EDepth of Field and scale questions

daveso

I've been working on this scene today and every time I render I find something not right. I wanted to try DOF adjustment but cannot get the area I want in focus. As you can see by the image, everything is out of focus. One image shows my DOF adjustment triangle and settings . What part of that triangle is supposed to be the clear area or target? I watched some video but it just isn;t working really. 

Another question I have is caling. The 2 motorcycles and the 2 closup vehicle are by the same PA, Xi. The bikes and humans, G9 characters, just seem so small compared to them. And if you look in the background , there are a couple vehicles, 2 are big and one looks small. They are all from the same set and same PA but another site. I'm not sure if any of them are actually correct but they seem to be OK with the buildings. 

Waht can anyone tell me on this stuff. 

NorthOf45

To focus, first set the Focal Distance to cross the area in question after positioning your camera. I like to use a perspective view at 90 degrees to see the various adjustments in play. The Focal Distance is the white sphere at the center of the camera field of view. To help identify which plane is which, set the DOF Plane colour to something non-white, which you can see in the viewport (but not from the camera). These two planes will define the area of focus, near and far. If you want a tight focus, adjust the F/Stop slider to set those planes just in front and behind the target (F/Stop about 1.0-3.0) (Positive of negative doesn't seem to matter, but keep the planes close to the target depth). While adjusting the slider, you will see the two planes (near and far) sandwiching the Focal Distance. The larger the Focal Distance, the smaller the F/Stop needed to keep a tight focus.

You can do it through the camera by setting the Depth of Field Overlay colour to something with a non-zero opacity. Whatever is in front of the plane will be visible, whatever is behind will be hidden. You can set near and far plane visibility to see what is in or out of the focus zone.

Matt_Castle

Ignore the focal planes; They're not a good reference for the actual depth of field. There's something wrong with the equation used to calculate them, as if you change the FOV, there's some point they pinch down to nothingness.

You have to purely use the crosshair to get the focus centred.

Also, I note that having the camera scaled (or parented to something that's scaled) screws everything up.

jmucchiello

Go into Display and set DoF opacity to 80-90% so it stands out. Then change DoF length to like 20. Your DoF is 1700 (That's like a mile.)

FStop shouldn't be negative unless you really know what your are doing.

I prefer changing focal width to focal length. Focal length can cause fishbowl/fisheye effects.

When opacity is correct, there is a red/blue hash mark where the focal distance is set to. Center that hash on one of the bikes (or between them), then adjust FStop so both bikes are in the trapezoid. (Assuming that's what you are looking for.)

Good luck

Matt_Castle

jmucchiello said:

Your DoF is 1700 (That's like a mile.)

Given that DS's internal units are not yards but centimetres - no, 1784 units is a little less than 60 feet.

daveso

thanks all.. I'm going to do a simple scene and play with your ideas. the scene i was trying it with was pretty heavy on my system. Its about the limit, maybe exceeding it a bit, so difficukt ti experiment with.