3d composition title sequence

[lomax 0]

hi,

 

i am still working on a title sequence for my short film. i've uploaded a 2 sec clip (aspect ratio 1,33, half resolution) from a ram preview. rendering takes sooo long thats why i can only show you this. The final sequence will be 12 seconds long in 1440x1080.

 

Title is german and means "The Life After"

 

http://www.imago-emsland.de/das-leben-dana...review_half.avi

 

 

My Question: I want to add some random Out of Focus to the camera. Right now i have the focus distance connected to the Z position of my camera with an expression. What would be the best way an out of focus effect? The problem is a i cant add hold keyframes to the focus distance. I tried an adjustment layer with a fast blur but i want a real out of focus. Any ideas how i can get it done?

 

Thanks

[Jim Gravina 0]

Is this in AE or C4d? Or Maya? Or Max?

[lomax 0]

Ups forgot After Effects of course.

[_gl 0]

Adjust the aperture of the camera. It's the combination of focus distance and aperture that will give you the focus blur.

 

-gl

[chriskelley 0]

You could also add a wiggle() expression to your Focus Distance. Wiggle() still works if you already have an expression enabled, you just need it to happen after your first expression.

For example:

 

targ = thisComp.layer("layer1").position;
cam = thisComp.activeCamera.position;
distance = length(cam_z, targ);
distance;
wiggle(4,400);  //the first number is the frequency, 'how fast' it wiggles, the second number the amplitude, 'how much' it wiggles

Alternatively, you could also throw a wiggle() on your aperture like _gl said. If you don't feel like wiggle() gives you enough control, you can always set them by hand or use "the wiggler" to set them for you (Window->The Wiggler)

 

hth

c

 

 

Edit: If you want it to be a more "steppy" look (notice you mentioned hold keyframes) you can add in a posterizeTime() to the expression, like so:

targ = thisComp.layer("layer1").position;
cam = thisComp.activeCamera.position;
distance = length(cam_z, targ);
distance;
posterizeTime(12);
wiggle(5,600); 

Also, remember your Aperture will come into play no matter which technique you use, you will want to adjust it to get the proper amount of blur with your wiggle.

Edited September 24, 2008 by chriskelley

[adam_etypical 0]

I've always been a little confused with the blur and aperture settings in AE, maybe someone can clear it up for me...

 

The aperture dosent seem to have any correlation to a real world lens- a "100" aperture has a shallower DoF then "10"? Also, whats the visible difference between tweaking the blur level and aperture? I usually only animate the aperture to effect the depth of field- but I dont really see how turning down the blur percentage is any different then turning down your aperture...

[Guest Sao_Bento]

I've always been a little confused with the blur and aperture settings in AE, maybe someone can clear it up for me...

 

The aperture dosent seem to have any correlation to a real world lens- a "100" aperture has a shallower DoF then "10"? Also, whats the visible difference between tweaking the blur level and aperture? I usually only animate the aperture to effect the depth of field- but I dont really see how turning down the blur percentage is any different then turning down your aperture...

Blur level is a multiplier.

[lomax 0]

http://www.imago-emsland.de/das-leben-dana...ivx_half_03.avi

 

Thats what i came up with. What do you think? I ran this through virtualdub and used the motionblur filter to make it look a bit more realistic. If dont want this blur to happen so often should i just increase or decrease the value of posterizeTime()? I havent found any infos about this expression thats why i am asking. Thanks a lot for all your help. The animation is still not finished but i just wanted to show you how the out of focus looks for now.