Hi.
I was testing the YouTube video at the bottom in order to create a lens effect within Max. You create a kind of real world lens (TINY oil tank object) and put it VERY close to the front of the camera, then parent it to the camera.
This distorts the lens and adds in chromatic aberration. It's also controllable - the X & Y scale controls the amount of distortion, so does the Z, but in a different way.
And the lens has a very simple materials. The refraction > Dispersion > Abbe value controls the amount of chromatic aberration..... The higher the value the less extreme. On testing I wanted it more subtle but it wouldn't go over 100.
On testing, using interactive render, the results were really good. It really made the render look more interesting and more realistic
I usually add subtle chromatic in post - I never do lens distortion (but may start to). But this was doing it in 3D, not a fake overlay in 2D
For all the positives, it also has it's negatives.... baked into the image for example... We also use black direct visibility overrides so we don't get environment fringing around the alpha. All that isn't possible with this process
But......... There's also another negative which has sealed its fate. I did a render test overnight 6000x2250 (down to 4%)
Lens ON = 3.5 hrs
Lens OFF = 35mins
Can't say I'm surprised as it's looking through glass
So, an interesting R&D project but what are R&D projects without a few kicking you in the face and telling you to F**K OFF
This does open a question though, is this something worth building into Corona as a post process? Would it be possible or wanted?
