How to use a rendered max TGA file and Z Deth file to add DOF in After effects??

[Ls3D]

I still use DL-effect* but the principals are similar.
One approach:

Import sequence and blur a COPY to max 'depth" (6 pxl gausz?)

Import depth sequence and use as a matte channel for the original - whereas darker = farther, white holds out the focused layer. This old school approach halos a bit and bluring the depth pass may be in order.

Hope this helps or at least gets you thinking. I will be watching this thread for a better solution and AE specific suggestions.

P.S. Maybe it was just the RLA format you forgot about?

-Shea
www.Ls3D.com

[toast]

ya basically, render it out as an .rla and you can save z channel and read it in AE. I'm pretty sure you can't save z with TGA. The good thing about .rla is you can also save in 16 bits. DOF works pretty well from the few times I've done, I just personally hate rendering out hundred of individual frames.

hope that helps

[Ls3D]

The good thing about .rla is you can also save in 16 bits.
Does this mean the z-data is antialiased?

This was always the problem with RLA for me - forcing me to create zines just for depth pass &/or render elements.

I have always used sequencial image files, not hundreds, but tens of thousands of frames time I do post, effects and titles.

-Shea
www.Ls3D.com

[PIXAR]

the quality of my DOF in AE is horrible, i have squares all over the place, not a nice blurry effect, what causes this??

[toast]

from the few times I tried it, I had pretty good results with the DOF filter. It takes a good amount of tweaking to get just right tho, the default settings are suck. Make sure you have all your filter settings on high quality or best, especially when you render it out. Maybe a screenshot?

as for the z data being antialiased, I'm not sure off hand cause I've never really worked in 16bit on a project yet. I just remember being able to save out with it. I'm sure no matter what you're going to get better quality tho.

I too have rendered thousands of sequentials for large animations (once you start breaking shots up into passes, things mulitply exponentially) and after awhile I just got sick of it and went to using uncompressed quicktime saved with alphas. Too many files to keep track of. But for some shots, like a DOF one for instance, I could see the advantage of rendering out to tga for post work, there's always situations that call for different solutions. Whatever gets the job done :)

[magilla]

I'm in the same boat with the RLA - AE problem. I'm using Maya and the IFF zdepth isn't even recognized by AE - so I render RLA's and bring them into AE - however - I need to be able to check individual frames in photoshop - anyone know of a plugin for Photoshop 6.0?

--magilla

[halo]

why not save the render lelement frames as tgas as well as the original frames?

16 bit doesnt mean antialiased z buffer just like 8 bit doesnt, the fact that the z isnt antialiased is nothing to do with bitdepth, its do with the fact that if it was antialiased all your edge samples taken from the z buffer would be wrong

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.