DriveWorks Pro 22

Depth of Field

Depth of Field

Depth of Field is a camera effect that can be enabled on the Default Camera or any Camera Entity added to a 3D Document.

Depth of Field is an effect that simulates the lens and focus properties of a camera in real-world camera lenses. In Photography, a camera can only focus on an object at a specific distance. Objects that are further and nearer to the camera become out of focus or blurred. This can result in enhanced realism in a 3D scene and can provide a great visual effect.

No Depth of Field	Depth of Field

Information Panel

With the Environment selected, the following will be displayed in the Information Panel.

Depth Of Field Enabled

Enable and disable Depth of Field on the Default Camera. Disabling Depth of Field means it won't be shown on the Default Camera. TRUE enables the effect, FALSE disables it.

Property Diagram

Focus Target

Depth of Field can focus on a point in the scene using several methods. You can either target a Node, target a position in the 3D scene or use a Focus Distance.

The Focus Target property lets you focus either a Node or a position in the scene. You can pass it two values, a Node Address or a Scene Position.

• Node Address - A Node Address can be used as the Focus Target for Depth of Field.

  For example:

  "Root\Node-1\Model Node"

  Model Node will become the target for Depth of Field. The distance to the origin of that Node will be used as the Focus Distance.

  
  
• Scene Position - A position in 3D space or the 3D scene can be used as the Focus Target for Depth of Field. Value given as X|Y|Z.

  For example:

  "3000|0|2500"

  This position in the 3D scene will become the target for Depth of Field. This distance to that point will be used as the Focus Distance.

Focus Distance

Depth of Field can focus on a point in the scene using several methods. You can either target a Node, target a position in the 3D scene or use a Focus Distance.

The Focus Distance property lets you set a distance for Depth of Field. You can pass it a numeric value in millimeters for the Focus Distance of the camera.

For example: 5000 (This would result in the Focus Distance being 5000mm or 5m away from the Camera)

Focus Size

Focus Size is the area around the focus target which should be in focus. Focus Size is a numeric value measured in millimeters.

Focus Size creates an area that is in focus. All objects at the focus distance and inside this area will be in focus.

Near Falloff

Near Falloff is the distance it takes for the focus region to fade to completely blurred. Near Falloff heads towards the Camera. This is a numeric value measured in millimeters.

Far Falloff

Far Falloff is the distance it takes for the focus region to fade to completely blurred. Far Falloff goes way from the Camera starting from the edge of the focus region or the end of the Focus Size. This is a numeric value measured in millimeters.

Blur Radius

Blur Radius is the distance between pixels when sampling. Pixels are sampled to create the blurred effect created by Depth of Field. This is a distance but it is measured in screen space (no specific units).

Downsampling

Depth of Field creates a texture and applies it to final rendered image. Downsampling controls the size of this texture.

Downsampling is the number of times to divide the texture size that Depth of Field is performed at. For example:

• 1 = Image full size (Preview Control size)
• 2 = Image half the size
• 3 = Image third of the size
• etc...

Lower values are less performant because it creates a higher resolution image but produces higher quality renders. Higher values are more performant but reduce the final render quality.

Blur Passes

Depth of Field performs blur passes to smooth the blur effect. Low values create a noisy effect, higher values smooth that out. Lower values have better performance, higher values have less.

Enabling Depth of Field

By default, the Camera Entity will use the 3D Document's Default Camera settings. If Depth of Field is enabled on the default camera then it will be enabled on the Camera Entity. Likewise, if Depth of Field is disabled on the default camera, it will be disabled on the Camera Entity.

To enable Depth of Field on a Camera Entity only, follow the steps below:

1. Select the Node with the Camera Entity applied.
2. In the property panel or rules panel, set Override Default Camera Effects to be TRUE.
3. With this property set to TRUE, you can now enable Depth of Field.
4. Set the property Depth Of Field Enabled to be TRUE.

Viewing Depth of Field in a 3D Document

Depth of Field will not be visible in a 3D Document while in edit mode. To preview the Depth of Field Camera Effect, you must enter Preview Mode.

Preview Mode can be found on the Command Bar in a 3D Document.

Preview Mode will hide the 3D Document triads, hide wireframe selections, show Camera entities and enable any Camera effects.