seperate 'depth map' channel

[kwistenbiebel1]

Hi asgvis team,

We can set up depth of field control in the renderoptions panel.
However I find it difficult to get the parameters right(focal distance etc...).

As an alternative, is there a way Vray could provide an option to save a depth map image along with the render image ? (just like it saves alpha maps).

In that way, we couldn customise the depth of field by loading it in Pshop and use it as alpha for the 'lens blur' tool.

Another cool option would be a 'point and click' assigning of the focal distance (in SU screen) as in other render engines, so we don't have to do workarounds to determin the distances....

Cheers,
Biebel

[dalomar_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Render Options> VFB Channels> 3rd from the bottom is Z-Depth, which should give you what you want. Once you add that you will need to set the levels that are considered black and white. There is an option to clamp that channel, which I don't advise you do. However, if you want to access that extra info (the values beyond white) then you will need to save as in a format that supports floating point, so that would be hdr and exr (although exr is more widely supported). Interestingly enough, the framebuffer will retain values that are below zero (ie. negative numbers), which I'm not 100% sure those image formats support (I know hdr does not, but I haven't tested this with exr)

[kwistenbiebel1]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Thank you Dalomar for your answer....
I am sorry i missed this while reading the manual :-[

...but happy that the things I ask for are already there ;D ;D

Cheers

[dalomar_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

I don't believe I even mentioned things like render channels in the manual, so no need to apologize. Usually its more of a thing for hard core render people, and they pretty much already know that they are there, so it didn't even cross my mind to include them. Besides, using render channels opens the discussion up for post production, which isn't really our job to cover in the v-ray manual.

It is a good thing that your wish is already here...now if that could only happen for everything else ;D

[joe_b]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

I want to add some extra functionality to the z-depth map though. I want to add in a checkbox that will automatically calculate the scene extents and set the near/far values for you. Its a pain in the ass the way I have it now to setup the white/black colors for the z-depth.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Its a pain in the ass the way I have it now to setup the white/black colors for the z-depth.

Yea, but thats why its best to set it up not to clamp and to save in a floating point format. As long as the black value is set to 0 then you should be able to work out the rest in post...But auto detect would be nice, but how would you handle infinte ground plane?...not part of the calcuation?

[Pixero]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Here's a great idea to enhance depth map channel.
There is a mentalray shader called "zDepthDOF".
It has a unique way of letting you set a focus plane and everything nearer of further away gets brighter.
It makes it real easy to use it in Photoshop to blur the image to simulate depth of field. Maybe you can add something like that.
http://homepage.mac.com/bauer/portfo...zDepthDOF.html

[Travis Serio_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Damien, Rhino provides you with this information already, I believe it is also available through the Rhino SDK. It would be nice to just extract this info from rhino directly to the Zdepth frame buffer. The Rhino command is ShowZBuffer in rhino 4. It should also save you some hard work.

[Travis Serio_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

lol sorry i just realized this is in the sketchup forum. i was just looking over Recent posts and didnt notice the forum.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

Thats fine Travis...I'll just ban you for posting in the wrong forum ;D...Anyway...Are you saying that you can just save that viewport as the depth info, or that it may be helpful for setting the depth levels. If its the latter, then the problem becomes that there is no way to get numeric values from that viewport mode.

[Travis Serio_cg]

Re: seperate 'depth map' channel

What I am saying is that Rhino already has this functionality and I believe you can create a memory space for Rhino to draw the Zbuffer map into via the Rhino SDK (so that resolutions match). You can then just plop that into the ZDepth channel of the VFB instead of configuring Vray to do. I guess what I am saying is that you're reinventing the wheel... well for Rhino anyway. Doesn't do much good for our sketch up friends :'(