Blackmagic Forum

A proper z buffer depth of field blur.

Allow me to place this message in two part first with a question:
Is there anyway to tie the Defocus Plugin to a zbuffer channel, because DepthBlur is just awful?

And now with the reason why I consider the feature urgent:
First of all allow me to make clear that this is not any light request that will improve the experience. It is quite honestly a requirement for every basic composition work. I was completely ready to migrate to Fusion and give it a try when in my first task I found out that the quality of the DepthBlur node is so low is practically useless, and since the free version of Fusion does not allow you to add 3rd party plugins (a limitation I understand and support) it kind of renders the free version useless for composition work. I am not asking to incorporate frischluft lenscare into the package (though it would be excellent) but a basic Defocus filter tied to the zbuffer will probably do the trick.
Again, I totally understand the limitations of a free package, and I went into it fully aware that eventually I will probably require to purchase the studio version, but a proper depth blur is quite essential. Until then the free version is just, well not very useful.

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You could argue that a lot of things necessary for compositing are missing from the free version. That's sort of the point. If you needed to do any technical compositing or stereoscopic or pipelining or optical flow or heck, even keying, you're expected to get the full version. Adding a depth blur plugin then becomes quite simple.

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Agreed, but it does support adding them.

In addition to the discussion above. I've done over 500 visual effect shots for feature films in Fusion over the years, without ever having to use a Depth Blur. So saying that the absence of a single tool makes a package useless for composting is a gross overstatement in my opinion.

Hi guys,
@Theodore: Thanks for the tip... the macro looks very interesting. I will check it.

@Chad and Sanders: I agree with you guys. I kind of overstated when I said useless. But I guess I was trying to convey the importance of that particular tool for compositing renders from 3d packages. Not being able to do a proper depth of field when is required is quite a big wall to surmount. And I have to be honest, it did push me back to my other tools. Again, I don't expect the free version to be a limitless fountain of tools, but a proper (not excellent) Depth of Field is one I will consider into the essentials.

Have you tried using the World Position from 3D render to displace an image plane?

You can then use the renderers depth of field. Granted it's also not the best solution, but I've used it for Fog and minor depths blurring and results were pretty cool.

Hehe... And you can depth of field and motion blur at the same time...

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True, and since it's built into the renderer, and not the camera, there's no way for you to override it.