DOF Noise

[blastframe]

that's a beautiful outcome, Vmedium!

Agreed!

[rodross]

If that happens to be a specular material (transparent, which is what it looks like), you're going to get an entirely different look from PMC. PT and PMC is going to raise diffuse, glossy, and spec depth a lot, by default. So if that is in fact transparent, it's going to get a whole hell of a lot brighter with caustics and spec depth increased. Many refractions will be cut and left black with default directlighting because rays aren't penetrating as deep. Just FYI.

I usually always use PT for anything with spec materials, or at the very least set directlighting mode to GI_Diffuse and up the spec and glossy depth. What you have may be the specific look you're looking for though.

[MoGrafik]

if it's of any help, but on my project I found that some of the noise in the out-of-focus areas was reduced my lower the amount of bump on the material in those areas. Not ideal, as I though the bump was at a good value, but worth doing to lose the noise!

[vmedium]

I'm not really sure about this method overall. I rendered everything out at 2560x1440. This made everything in after effects quite a pain in the ass. You can check out the render here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1arqnbc1w6hxg ... 0.mp4?dl=0

rodross - I'll look into the PT/PMC - I think I should probably start by doing this WITHOUT DOF, until I get the best look.