TerkkieGrrrl:
Yes I have used that plugin.

Cspear
I'll give that a try a little later thanks.
 

RobynsVeil:
Plugins and patches are hard to fines at SM, but keep looking, they are some where under support.

That is a great filter thanks for the sugestion.

As you can tell from the image I uploaded I am finally on the right track with this whole don’t use Poser DOF but use the Z depth/Depth_Cue thing. It isn’t perfect yet, bur now I’m on the right road. Thanks to all the above for the help and your patience.

What good would be this forum string if I did not share what I’ve learned?

So here is my step-by-step guide for faking a DOF on a post render in Photoshop. Treat this not so much as a tutorial but more like the “Cliff Notes” to the tutorial.

Step 1) Compose, light and render your scene.

1. Once you have you final rendered you scene to the images size and quality of detail that you want save your work, then do a save as (you might want to change the name of the file to include depth cue) this will now be the file you will work of to make your Z depth render.

Z depth render is a render that will make the things closest to the camera black and the things farthest from the camera white and the stuff in between shades of gray. The default for this is way off, to get numbers that will work better you need to show and use the focus distance guide.

1. On the parameter dials switch to the camera that you used to render; note the focus_distance dial. Next click on Display, click on Guides and then click on Focus Distance guide (this is the guide that lets you know what part of the scene will be in focus if you where to use the DOF).

2. Adjust the focus_distance dial until the Focus Distance guide is where the front of your scene is; note the number by the dial mark it as DepthCue_StartDis (see step 7). Next adjust the focus_distance dial until the Focus Distance guide is where the back of your scene is; note the number by the dial mark it as DepthCue_EndDis (see step 7).

3. Now working off of you copy file, delete all your light, DO NOT JUST TURN THEM OFF, this is one of the main reasons you’re doing this on a copy. If you r scene is complete black, the go to step 6. If your scene has some glowing objects or figures see step 5A/B/C/D.

5A) If you have things glowing, then go to the material room and click on advance. For each object or figure disconnect all the nodes (I like to also click on remove all disconnect nodes). Figures will have several materials and all the material will need to have their nodes disconnected.

5B) Check the material menu and go through all the materials that are listed one by one.

5C) In the main node click on all the little colored rectangles and change their color to black. This is another good reason to work off of a copy.

5D) Repeat steps A - C for everything listed in the Object menu that is glowing in your darkened scene.

5E) Once your scene is completely black and if you haven’t done so yet, then this might be a good time to do a save. Go to step 5.

1. Now that your scene is completely black you might want to save. Go to the material room click on advance from the object menu chose atmosphere.

2. On the atmosphere node on the top line, DepthCue_on click a check in the box. The third line, DepthCue_color click on the little rectangle and change the color to white. On the fourth line change that number to the number you marked as DepthCue_StartDis (everything at this point and closer to the camera will be black everything behind that point will be shades of gray). Now for the fifth Change that number to the number you had marked DepthCue_EndDis (every thing at this point and further away from the camera will be white everything before will be shades of gray).

3. Maybe s good time to save. Go to the pose room. Click on render setting and click on Poser 4. Uncheck everything, BUT DO CHECK Ignore Shade trees.

4. Click on FireFly; make whatever changes to speed up render time. (I might even reduce the Render Dimensions to mach the Preview Dimensions; you can make it bigger in Photoshop. Rendering speed here is important not image quality.)

5. Render. You should have an image where the things closest are black with shades of gray getting light the further back until you have whit at the back of your scene.

6. Export Image any format.

7. Start Photoshop, open your Z depth file and save as (for safety work on a copy).

8. Change mode to gray scale. Open levels, click auto and click ok. Open the info pallet and find the percent of the gray section that you want to keep sharp, note it.

9. Next you want to make everything sharp to become white and everything you want out of focus to go gray or black. To do this open curves, make the graph a horizontal line against the bottom, image should become white. Take a good guess as to where you precent is and click, if you missed that is O.K. just type the right number in the input field. Now pull up the far right end all the way up and then the far left end all the way up. If you chose the right precent for the in focused stuff then they will be white and everything else will be either gray or black; if not try, try and try again When you have got it good click O.K.

10. If needed, then do an image size and bring it up to match the image you are going to adjust.

11. Do a select all and copy.

12. Open the image your are going to adjust, Open the channels pallet, if needed make a new channel. Past in the Z depth render on the new channel. Chose RGB. Click on select, click on load selection and chose the channel that you pasted the Z depth and then click O.K. the parts that you want to make out of focus are now selected, have fun.

Sorry this became longer then the Cliff Notes version, but I had fun writing it. So if any of you, who know this stuff better please fell free to post corrections and/or clarifications. Please, please let’s do not argue over the small stuff. There are many ways to solve a problem, but does it matter what way is used as long as we like the results we get?

AUGG

It must be me, help me out here step by step please.

1. I turn off all my lights; I have 4 in this particular image.

2. I go to the material room and set depth_cue to all 4 lights.

3. Do I then turn my lights back on or leave them off?

4. Render

5. Save as a Z depth?

When I first tried this I turned on all my lights and rendered when it was done the image was over exposed by at least 2 stops. I ran out of time and had to save and close Poser. When I had time to start again I tried turning off all the light and rendered; this time as expected dark. I then went and checked the depth_cue and it seemed to be back to none. Tried to set the depth_cue again but I do not think it took. When I rendered again with light on no over exposed image tried to save PNG but no Z depth option. Tried light off but still dark. I’m so confused, what am I missing? Help!

Thanks

Moonwatcher

Hborre,

I've tried that, I have changed it to gaussin and it still comes out thatched. Do I need to increase the post filter size?

Luke:

Just saw your store and jenkies it looks like you have a lot of sets for a Scooby mysteries to take place in.

Geepers, a van is  a start.

Just having fun

Quote - Crikey.

Any particular reason you want to give yourself a compositional headache like this? :)

Hay what does not kill you, makes you stronger,

Again thank you all for your time, I'm in the process of trying some of your suggestions.

Moonwatcher

Sean:

Thank you for takeing the time to read and respond to my post.

I have thought about doing several renders then cutting and pasting the parts together in Photoshop, but the placement of the fig. that is to be invisible is between the camar and the  reflective surface.

Moonwatcher

Thanks geep and Believable3D, Both your tips work real well!  Don't I feal blind I did not see "Remove Detached Nodes" until now.

I seem to have dropped into this conversation late but anyhow; Maybe I did not read the TOS closely enough but I thought you had to use their thumb when posting anything that was nudity and/or violence.  Can somebody point me to where in the TOS it explains thumbs.
:-)

Just one last thought on giving credits, then I‘ll stop my ramblings.

Say you buy some music (CD, download MP3’s, I-pods stuff, ect) you now have some rights to that music. You now can play it on your stereo (as loud as the neighbors can stand), listen to it through headphone/ear buds (until your ears bleed), use it as background for a quiet dinner party or crank it for a “PARTY!” (as long as the neighbors don’t complain). But what if you use it as background music for a video or animation that you created? There shouldn’t be any problem if you doing it for your self. And it might be alright if it is just for close friends and family to enjoy. You could even get away with it if it is just for that dinner or “PARTY!”. At some point the crowd could get big enough or you might think of some sort of distributing to some mass market, then you’ll need to approach the artist get the artist permission to use that music. At that point you may end up paying the artist even more money for something you already paid for.

I don’t know - does it apply here? Does it apply to 3d? Does it apply to art in general? How? Or why not?

Thanks for letting me ramble. It’s been a good discussion. J

I would have posted soon but I want to take some time and think about this giving credit when use stuff that I did not make myself (free or otherwise).

This is what I finally decided my policy will be on giving credit. I have read all of your arguments and they all have valid points what comes next is just my point of view and I put it out there for your consideration. Lets say the image(s) that I render are compared to a research paper. The information in the paper that I did not know and had to look up could be equal to a part of an image that I did not make from scratch but got from someone else. In my paper when I am done with it I would need to include a bibliography, not doing so is a big no-no, it is called plagiarism. Yes? To use someone else work (free or not) in an image and not give them credit isn’t it similar to doing a report without a bibliography?

If you look at my gallery you will see that I do not use the credit links that are there when uploading, but I will keyboard in all the stuff that I used and where to fine them, even the stuff that comes bundled with Poser 7. I also will try to describe what if any changes I made to that content. When I ask for a comments I am looking for input on design, layout and now textures. Currently I am involved in a series using my “Flower Girl” I do not feel the need to repeat credit info. in every new image just credit the new stuff (for the base stuff see the first image).

I am interested in your thoughts on my ramblings.