zone of focus or depth of field in Toxik / Composite

#1

Hi, I’ve been thinking about this for some time…

I export a z-depth pass from Maya with the EXR format.

When I bring it in Composite, I use this channel of the exr in the modulation input of the lens blur and I can then blur the front or the back part of my image…

But isn’t Depth of field a two-way process?.. Like in this beautiful picture:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/terry_todd/depth_of_field_converters/gnome-dof.JPG

I mean the nearest part AND the far background are blurred. When I blur my image in Toxik, only the far part or the near one gets blurred. What is a good workflow to get a realistic depth of field? Are there some tools or softwares under let’s say 1 absurdillion dollars that pull this effect off in a single magik click? Thank you!

#2

ok I think Igot it!!!

What you can do is use a historiogram tool (cc histo, levels, etc) and comp 2 versions of your z-depth map:

  1. adjust the levels of the black to grey zone of the z-depth pass so they turn into white to black (black becomes white and grey becomes black)

  2. remap the grey to white zone of the pass into black to white (grey becomes black and white stays white)

comp those two remapped values into a new zdepth image with an add operation: then the middle part of your image will be in focus (black) and the farest and nearest parts will be blurred (white). Invert if necessary, or tweak/animate! Yeeee

If you don’t understand and would like to have more explanations or images of a comp, have a better solution or workaround just say so!

#3

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