zdepthDOF plugin

[Tommy L]

Has anyone here used the zdepthDOF shader plugin with mental ray? I am having problems with adjusting the focal point. The plugin is designed for maya so the interface is a bit wobbly. I can get the scene to render as a greyscale from the camera to the far clipping plane but i need to animate the focal point along the z-axis.

Any help or just a headzup from anyone that has used this plugin before to simulate DOF would be great.

Problem is that the depth of field is defined by the clipping planes, but the clipping planes cut off the geometry

Thanks

[JamesTaylor]

Tom, can't help with the plugin but if you've got AE or combustion you could render out your scene using .rpf files and store the z depth values in the images, then you can adjust and edit your DOF settings as a post process - it should give you greater control and flexibility over the values your using.

[Tommy L]

I tried that but i dont think AE 6.5 allows you to access anything except the alpha channel?? Could you poit me toward a tutorial or jot down the basics? How does the camera assign the maximum z-value, is it using clipping planes? or does it just range to the forthest geometry in the image?

The reason i like the zdepth plugin is that (if i could get it to work properly) is that you are in control of the minumum and maximum point of the greyscale and it goes from white to black and back to white, black being in focus. That gives much easier post effect control, doesnt it?

thanks James.

[JamesTaylor]

I'll get something together for you tomorrow that illustrates the process, once its done you'll have plenty of control over the effect as it works very similar to the why you've described the plugin's method of assigning min and max values to control the greyscale values.

[Chad Warner]

Look up rpf files in both After effects and Max. Theres a slew of information that can be stored in this filetype.