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In order to do DOF in compositing, the process with Octane seems to be to not use any Camera Focus in the Octane Camera tag but render a basic z-depth pass and a beauty pass

In native Cinema 4D, the end z-depth pass result is influenced by your Camera settings - ie. you can set DOF Front Blur, DOF Rear Blur, Focus Object etc.

This is really useful if you animate changes in focus within the Cinema scene and just want it spat out so you can DOF in post. eg. moving focus from one object to another, targeting an animated object with Focus Object field.

Wth Octane it seems there is no way to do this? I could animate the Z Depth Max in the Octane render settings to change the intensity of the pass but I would probably need to use some sort of Xpresso to hook this up to camera focus object field to get that baked into the z-depth pass...?

Or is this mentality just a result of Cinema 4D offering quirky DOF options that are generally not used in other programs?

It seems to negate the purpose of even having a Focus options in the Octane Camera tag if you can't render these out as separate passes/or use it to influence how the z depth pass looks. Otherwise it seems it's only useful for a beauty pass where you aren't doing any compositing.

Is there anyway to influence the look of the Z-depth pass / Camera Depth pass using the Octane Camera settings?

B

Thanks akotar for this link.

But will this set-up influence the result of my z-depth multi-pass?

I previously queried rendering a beauty (without baked DOF) and a separate z-depth to add DOF in composite but was advised the only way to do this was to disable focus in the Octane Camera Tag and render a plain z-depth.

B

Hi Brezaling,
Zdepth in Octane works in meter, so you can use precise value. Please look at this other discussion:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=54023&hilit=depth+meter#p287060
ciao beppe

Thank you both for the answers.

In terms of edge pixels in z-depth... is there a way to resolve? Getting edge tearing on my DOF in post. Probs down to antialiasing.

I read in another thread beppe that you advised to use Non-linear tone-mapping and to check Disable partial alpha to fix. This hasn't done the job for me. (I'm guessing by non-linear tonemapping your just referring to the Tonemap type dropdown in Render settings? Set it to Tonemapped?)

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=50500

What's the best practice in C4D Octane to reduce or remove edge tearing pixels in the Z Depth pass?

NB. I've found a discussion about using a position pass for depth to overcome edge antialiasing issues but this kind of approach would debunk all the settings I need from Z-depth that you have described above?

B

Hi Brezaling
about antialiasing issue, please could you post some screenshots of your particular issue?
about tonemappining, you have linked a 3ds Max discussion so the terminology is a bit different, in c4dOctane is called Tonemammed
ciao beppe

I might try to render the z-depth 2x the size and scale it down to resolve this... I've read a few posts where people have suggested this to resolve bad edges when using lenscare.

What settings could result in jagged edges / influence antialiasing - to give me ballpark to know what to tweak.
Samples? Object tag? Alpha settings?

B

Hi Brezaling,
make sure that you have not disabeled the Distributed ray tracing option in the kernel settings or in the Render pass Info passes section, otherwise all the info passes are rendered without DOF and mblur.
What is your filter size value?

ciao beppe