Z depth pass + depth of field

[jeremyshin]

Hello,

I rendered a scene that contains 'in render' camera depth of field. I wanted to add a bit of atmosphere in post so I enabled Zdepth pass.

If you see the image attached you can see that my Zdepth contains the DOF informations except for the background object under the red line. In my scene I have a plane far in the background (white part in the Zdepth) so there is no empty BG or alpha.

Why would the element under my red line not be blurred as the other things in my scene?

Thank you

[elsksa]

Hi,

This might help: Octane Render Z-Depth Workflow

[jeremyshin]

Hi Elsksa,

I am sorry, I have checked your page but how does it help in my situation?
I just need to know why Octane is not blurrying the area I marked? Everything before it contains the blur info in the Zdepth but not this area, I am just wondering why.
J.

[jayroth2020]

Try adjusting the range you are applying to the ZDepth AOV, available in Render Settings > Octane Renderer > Render AOV Group > Render AOVs turndown > Z-Depth. You have the Z Depth Max value and the Environment Depth value. I suspect the Environment Depth value is the one you need to adjust for your scene.

[elsksa]

I am sorry, I have checked your page but how does it help in my situation?
I just need to know why Octane is not blurrying the area I marked? Everything before it contains the blur info in the Zdepth but not this area, I am just wondering why.
J.

jayroth2020 beat me to it. I forwarded you to that page because the answer was in the range values which have been covered, as it's part of the must-know of a Z-Depth workflow. It would provide the required flexibility to max it out and handle the rest in post.

[jeremyshin]

Thank you all for your responses.

I have done some test.
If you look at the 2 images attached you will see that the environment depth setting does absolutely nothing (or there is something that I don't understand?).
The only way I could get the DOF to work on that background element is by increasing the z-depth max to 1000. But I am getting much less contrast on the first half of the scene. Maybe it is normal?

[elsksa]

Indeed, "it's fine". Nothing to worry about in Octane as long as it's correctly set.

Z-Depth is a "technical data AOV/pass", not meant to be "viewed and judged" by its "aesthetic appearance". I'd suggest looking the aforementioned page. It demonstrates a **universal** post compositing workflow for both the DoF and "fog" cases (typical when requiring Z-Depth). Everything is done in post and works.

[elsksa]

I've realized the Z-Depth values are not explicitly covered. I'll update for clarification purposes.