trying to blur background but doing something wrong
Drekkan
Posts: 460
Am trying to blur the background of the image behind the girl but doing something wrong.
From instructions I've found to do this the general procedure is this which I think I did correctly: "Select the camera you are using. Turn on "Depth of Field." Switch to Perspective view and pan around. You should see some kind of lines indicating the line of sight for the camera you have selected, and two wireframe planes, more or less horizontal. Play with focal length, etc until the plane closer to the camera is in front of the character, and the farther plane is only a little ways behind her. Look through the camera again, do a test render. You should have the character in focus and everything else blurry, ie, a depth of field effect."
Pic 1 is a side perspective of the camera I am using to do this with the field of depth selection ON (camera 1) Pic 2 is what I am trying to blur behind her (3 canisters and door) Pic 3 is the final render from camera 1 and as you'll see it does the reverse. Blurs her instead of behind her. What am I doing wrong please.
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What are the rest of the camera settings?
what specifically?
When you select the camera and see those lines in perspective view, do you see a white ball that moves when you adjust focal distance? Move that ball so it is at the same place as the character so that it is also between the two planes. This should be what you need to get her into focus.
In your 2.jpg, tht little green line in front of the figure is the part that will be most in focus. If you select your camera and go to Parmeter Tab > Camera > Focal Distance, you can adjust so that that line lines just below the eyes of the camera so that your figure is in focus. Next adjust Parmeter Tab > Camera > F/Stop so that those two bounding planes are far apart (a lot of the scene is in focus) or close to your figure (only your figure is in focus).... and render!
K almost with you entirely... where you say adjust the green line's vocal distance below the eyes of the camera, what do you mean here? I know the green line you are referring to but having to put it below the eyes of the camera?!? a picture example would work a lot better for me if that is possible. Images are always simplier to learn from. When you also say the two planes need to be far apart ... how far approx?
Here you go, the green line should line up in profile with the eyes or plane of the face. Here there is a big robot with one eye so the line aligns with its eye and not its chest. In your 2.jpg, the green line is a bit ahead of the figure so that the body will be out of focus.
K sorry but I'm still confused. Your example isn't clear enough where are the 2 planes all I see is mostly red lines. Here is what I did anyway when it didn't work (pic 1)
I'm not at my computer right now, but I'm guessing your fstop should be between 20 to 24, then adjust the focal distance to where she is between the two planes, and you should be good. Looking at the first images you posted, I'm guessing that she might need to be between the middle and last plane, since she was blurred in the render, but the barrels were fairly crisp/clear (don't remember what it looks like, even though I use DOF all the time ... DUH). Fstop adjusts the intensity of the blur effect (smaller values increase blur, larger decrease it), and focal distance adjusts what is in or out of focus.
Hope this helps.
Yeah, your F-stop is way too high, the focal length looks like it's where it should be though.
Here are a few images showing settings for two cameras and the results.
First set the DOF Overlay Colour and Opacity to whatever you want. Mine is set to RED and 46% on these. This will let you know where the Near and Far DOF Planes are.
In this first image you can see my settings and the image at the left shows the Far DOF Plane with the Near Plane turned off. To get the planes in the correct place you use the Focal Distance slider. By moving it back and forwards moves the planes. I set the far plane behind the model with the near plane turned off. Then, to set the part of the image to be in focus, use the F/Stop slider. Lowering the setting narrows that and increasing it widens it. If you do change the F/Stop setting you will have to redo the Focal Distance to get the Far Plane behind the model and or the Near Plane in front. To check they are both in the correct place I turn the Near Plane Visibility On and Off.
This is the Settings Image
Click on image for full size.
This is the render.
Click on image for full size.
If you want to increase the blur caused by the DOF then use the Focal Length setting for the camera, not the Zoom. There shouldn't be any need to change the other settings unless you want to increase the sharp area and you do this by increasing the F/Stop.
This image shows the Focal Length set at 88.75mm, from the previous 55mm. I didn't change any other settings.
Click on image for full size.
This is the render showing the increase in blur but the sharp area is still in the same place.
Click on image for full size
As mentioned, she does look like she might be in front of the DOF focus area but I'm not sure if that's true because I don't know how you would get that area behind the focal distance in the first place. The focal distance always stays between the DOF planes for me no matter what settings I use. And even if it were set up that way, the containers in the background should be blurry as well since they are far enough behind the DOF planes. Is it possible there is some kind of bug? You could try changing the color of the DOF planes in the display settings of the cameras tab. That would help us see the problem better.
K sorry but I'm still confused. Your example isn't clear enough where are the 2 planes all I see is mostly red lines. Here is what I did anyway when it didn't work (pic 1)
Apologies for the slow answer. K still no luck and all these instructions are scrambling my brains but thx for the efforts. Anyway here's where I am with cam and woman and barrels behind her (pic1)
I am in the midst of something so I made a simplier diagram: there are four panels
Top panel shows a figure from the left with the green focal point line in a green circle and aligned directly under the character's eyes, focal planes with red circles (far apart so a zone around the figure is in focus), and an unseen plane where the effects just blur (white circle).
Second panel is a render; note how the background is kind of in focus.
Third panel has the focal planes moved much closer together and close to the focal point; everything outside that zone is blurry.
Fourth panel is a render showing the now blurry background.
@Drekkan According to your latest picture, you have it set up correctly. I don't really understand why it wouldn't be focused on her and blurry behind her. There must be something else going on that is causing it to blur in the wrong area.
What are your render settings? I ask because I have accidentally set the Pixel Filter too high before and it makes everything go out of focus like that.
The little green bar should almost be enbedded in her to keep her in focus. In the images in the first post, the bar is a bit in front of her so she is out of the focal point.
Are you sure you didn't accidentally render the perspective view or another camera other than "Camera"?
I've never had to be that precise with the placement of the green line. Maybe there are other settings that affect the blurriness that I'm not aware of though.
The green line is the focal point where everything is most in focus. If the depth of focus is wide enough, you won't notice little deviations and can get away without placing it precisely. If the depth of field is very narrow, I'm not sure how you would place it precisely.
Sry for being slow. To answer your Q' its certainly the right camera I'm using. My latest attempt with render seemed to work but I could had sworn I was using more or less the same layout before but yet it didn't work then?! odd. Pls clarify I am doing it right with the pics:
Pic 1 the cam setting from the side
Pic 2 3 and 4 is the settings I'm using right now
Pic 5 is the render
can I ask what the gap between the last pane and the pane behind the girl signifies?
thx so far guys.
"can I ask what the gap between the last pane and the pane behind the girl signifies?"
Everything between the first two panes should be in focus, everything in front of first pane and behind the second pane should gradually blur toward you and away from you, and there is a plane where you reach max blur and everything behind is as out of focus as much as it can be.
K I think I may have got it working now thanks for all your help.
@ nemesis10 " In the images in the first post, the bar is a bit in front of her so she is out of the focal point"
That's not the way DOF works. The plane of focus extends some distance in fron tof the focal point as well as some distance beyond the focal point
@benniewoodell "your F-stop is way too high, "
No, it's not. The Studio F stop settings do not correspond to real world camera F stops. The Studio F stop should be what it needs to be to get the focal planes where you want them in relation to the focus point. Simple as that.