Subject: depth of field
From: Marko Dabrovic <[email-masked]>
To: LW <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 1995 22:56:31 +0200 (MET DST)

As all of us know how long does it take for LW to render frames
with depth of field.
A.H. and guys should include target or aim point inside camera
object which could be edited by mouse (something like in 3DS)+
envelope.

Ernie Wright wrote:

> "...Near, Far, and Focal Distance planes to the
> "field of view pyramid" dotted-line thingy."

Alan Lloyd wrote:
                                      
>And please make them representative of the way depth of field
>works in the real world, where 2/3 of the zone of focus is
>behind the focalpoint.  And while we're on the subject, perhaps a
>graphically interactive way to "rack focus" would be nice,
>hmmmmm?

But that was not my intention.

I would like to see a plug in for DEPTH OF FIELD which would
operate in following way.

As LW is working with Z buffer it could store distance from aim
point for each pixel of final RGB image (accordingly with
strength of depth of field) in an "alpha channel" as value from 0
to 255. Then that alpha channel could be used as "operator" for
gaussian blur (lighter areas more influenced darker less or vice
versa).

Some of You could make a test of this idea.
Render Your existing scene in RGB.
Make new scene without lights, ambient 255, camera and all
objects in same positions. All object should be made color
255,255,255 (white), no specularity or reflectivity...
Now make fog 0,0,0 (black) that begins in distance from You wish
to lose sharpness.
Rendered image will look something like base for stereoscopic
images!!! (If You apply filter Stereo noise from KPT for
Photoshop You will get one, it works even as animation, but watch
Your eyes). Load images (color and b&w) in Image processing
software IMAGEFX(Amiga) or PHOTOSHOP (PC), apply the gaussian
blur on color image with influence of b&w alpha image(!do not 
forget to g-blur alpha image before doing this!).
The result should be something like depth of field with one
problem - You cant make it fuzzy towards camera (the fog does not
act that way).
But if plug in would be made that could solve this problem. Also
one can imagine other filters applied in this way.

Marko Dabrovic
B.Busica 32
50000 Dubrovnik
Croatia
[email-masked]

P.S. Any idea how to become official dealer for Lightwave in
Croatia.
--
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