[solved]Depth of field not working

[spacelord]

Hi guys

I've been struggling with getting dof effect for a while. I got right metric scale, right apperture values and still it's sharp and clean. I'm out of ideas what may be wrong here. Maybe someone has a minute and could take a look at scene attached (max2015).

thanks in advance!

[maru]

In the file you attached DOF was disabled in render settings and aperture was set to 16. Also, DOF visibility is dependent on other things like camera's focal length, and you are using a pretty wide angle lens. Everything seems to work fine.

[spacelord]

Thank you maru for your time. I downloaded the attachement to double check this, and on my machine DOF is enabled and F-stop is 2,8 (as I set it originally). If it works fine on your workstation I guess it must be some software issue on my side. Thanks for letting me know.

[Juraj]

Hi Maru,

can I have question about dof worfklow too.

With 2016, all the necessary settings (sensor width) and switched (DOF on/off) are inside the new physical camera. Hence, why do I need to cooperate with render settings ?

Maybe I am confusing it, but at the current situation, I cannot have individual DOF switched on certain cameras and off on others ? Without also switching it on/off in render settings.
Or the correct workflow is having it ON in render settings all the time, and instead overriding it OFF using CoronaCam mod on top of cameras ? Any possibility this could be integrated bit more better, perhaps with Corona rollout for physical camera
and taking away settings from it which are already inside the physical camera ?

[Frood]

[...] I cannot have individual DOF switched on certain cameras and off on others ? Without also switching it on/off in render settings.

Thanks for reminding me that I always wanted to request that this CoronaCameraMod checkbox should work (keyable!) in both directions. I finally just submitted it to mantis. I also have absolutely no idea why it should stay restricted to "force off" only - it´s just confusing.

Good Luck!

[maru]

Thank you maru for your time. I downloaded the attachement to double check this, and on my machine DOF is enabled and F-stop is 2,8 (as I set it originally). If it works fine on your workstation I guess it must be some software issue on my side. Thanks for letting me know.

This is odd. Which version of Corona are you using? I might need to check it on a different one. This cannot be a software issue.

[maru]

Hi Juraj,

Currently (just checked in 1.2.1 and dailies to make sure) you are able to use the physical camera settings only, and forget about render settings. This applies to DoF, motion blur, and exposure settings (for exposure settings you only need to switch to photographic settings in render setup, but that's all).

So you are able to create few physical cameras, and some of them will have "enable depth of field" checked, and others won't.

No physical camera was used in the example scene from the first post.

But I agree that there is definitely too much:
-standard camera
-physical camera
-two different settings in render setup (photographic vs simple)
-cameramod
-exposure settings in 3dsmax env&effects window after you add physical camera (!)
+many different combinations of the above

This is definitely confusing and has to be simplified.

[maru]

Update: just checked with 1.2.1 and DoF IS working in the OP's scene. You only need to move the focus point [target] very close to the camera or change aperture to some sick value to see it. It is a matter of proper "realistic" settings.

[spacelord]

Thanks Maru! Moving target closer to camera really does the trick. That being said, I still don't get why it doesn't work at target's original position. In real life (I have a dslr camera) having focus at 6 meters distance object, with f2.8 glass, gives you very shallow focus range. Anyway, it's definitelly starting point for further trials and errors, so once again thank you for your time.

[JezUK]

I'm new to Corona (as of Oct 2016), and I currently have some free time to explore and enjoy this wonderful new render engine I'm am really warming to (I've been using VRay for years).  3DS Max 2017, Corona 1.5.

For me though, DOF in Corona has taken a little head-scratching to understand and especially to ask myself why is it in several places ?

The rule I seem to have told myself thus far regarding Corona is that under Camera Tab of Render Setup - the DOF Enable doesn't seem to affect anything..... (right or wrong ? and if wrong, please can you explain).


So, with the vanilla version of 3ds Physical Camera ALONE, you can play with DOF as you wish.

But when you apply a CoronaCameraMod modifier you are able to OVERRIDE that Physical camera's settings - I guess so that you can have different Physical Cameras within your scene, each with different CoronaCameraModifiers (and DOF's).

PS - the Docs seem to be missing VITAL piece of info (on hover) for this very area in question as of 14/10/16 here - https://corona-renderer.com/doc/
 

[Ondra]

the way it works is that you take settings from render dialog, then IF there is physical camera present, it overrides some of the settings, then IF camera modifier is present, it overrides those settings that are selected as "override render settings". It is an old concept created before there was physical camera, which was a "fun" addition to the originally simple concept :D.

Not sure how we could improve that - I have only one idea and it is quite radical, just remove DOF settings from render settings and force users to use camera mod/physical camera if they want DOF...

[romullus]

Since we don't have DOF in free view anymore, i don't think that loss of DOF controls in render settings would be missed much.

[Juraj]

Would be ok riddance

[JezUK]

Thanks everyone,

I find that I'm jumping from 2014 to 2017 (each time I try 2017, I find a reason to go back......).

Anyway, seems like the best way for me is to use the CoronaCameraMod and work from there.

:)

[Benny]

Being a wonderfully straight forward renderer, this really seems to be a murky area. I have another thread going where I am trying to understand under which conditions I will be able to adjust exposure under rendering, which is also related to this physical camera, cameramod and render settings. To me, at least one of these are too much.

First, why can't Physical Camera disable EV as today, but allow exposure adjustment link via 'Basic Photographic Settings'?

Second, since all cameras in Max now are physical, do we still need CoronaCameraMod?