SteadyTOOLS [incl DoF calculator]

[tcastudios]

Hi there.
A first release of SteadyTOOLS is here at:

tcastudios (http://tcastudios.com) -> xfiles

SteadyTOOLS include:
> SteadyDOFv2. A DoF (Depth Of Field) calculator plugin expression.
[Vray 1.1, VrayPhysCam recommended]
It calculates the "correct" DoF and Focal Length from real camera settings,
Film size, F-Stops etc.

> SteadyQTVRv2.
For QTVR Object and Cubic renderings.

SteadyTOOLS is for R10 and R11 only, but comes at no charge:)

Please have a look and Enjoy!
Lennart Wåhlin - tcastudios

[zoppo]

Great! Thank you very much! I have been waiting for the R11 release.

[Arjo]

Wow, this is a very nice tool! :D
Funny thing is, that with the help of this tool and how VRay imitates real life lenses, I finally start to understand a bit of dof in real life photography.

[michael holt]

looks like a great tool... ;- )

can you pleeease make for dummys like me
a tutorial or demo scene to work with?
havent figured out how to get dof out of it....

have a nice day and thank you for your great work
Micha

[tcastudios]

Thanks.

SteadyDOF is "only" a calculator. The difference from standalone
calculators is that it actually sets the camera and VrayPhysCamTag to the settings used.

It is still Vray that does the rendering according to the VrayPhysCamTag.

To explain how a camera works is a little bit to much to ask :)

But, in general terms:
DoF (Depth Of Field) is not an "effect". It is the distance from the
camera where the subjects are sharp.(In focus).
Subjects closer or further away (but within the hyperfocal distance)
get more blurred, out of focus.

The DoF is dependent of what kind of camera you are using.
Different cameras have different filmformats,( size of film or sensors).

The filmformat is the main factor setting the aperture.
So when you "wildly" changing the aperture of a Camera in Cinema, you are
actually jumping between different sorts of "real" cameras:)

A single type of camera only have a single aperture , because it uses a
single type of filmformat / have a specific sensor.
The aperture is expressed as the diagonal of the film format.

A small aperture (small filmformat) will give you a deeper DoF (less blurring) but a cropped picture.
A bigger aperture (big filmformat), makes for a narrower DoF. (Things blur easier in front of and behind the focuspoint,a gain, within the hyperfocal distance).
This is comparing the -same- focal length set (giving you the resulting FOV, Field Of View).

In real life, a certain camera only have a restricted focal length and F-stop range, so the decision what
camera to use is crucial since the resolution is fixed.
In 3D, we only have to up the resolution in our render settings:)

In SteadyDOF, switch between "APS-C" ( a typical prosumer size ) and "6x6" (Old classical "Hasselblad" size)
having a Figure Object (180cm high) some 500 cm in front of the camera.

You will notice that size matters! :)

It is my belief, that understanding filmformats will cater for better realistic renderings not getting them "over Dof'ed".
If you are only looking for "cool" dof effects, SteadyDOF is not needed, but will anyway help you getting the effect
if you want since you can calculate it.

Cheers
Lennart

[tcastudios]

Hi.
There is now a R10 version of SteadyTOOLSv1,
( DoF Calculator and QTVR tools ) at:

tcastudios (http://www.tcastudios.com) -> xfiles.


Cheers
Lennart

[Rich_Art]

Thanks Lennart..
I'll download the tool.

Peace,
Rich_Art. :wink:

[michael holt]

hi Lennart,

thank you very much for your explanation ;- )

have a nice day,
michael