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Dear friends, I faced a strange situation when DOF in 'Post processing' window doesn't work at all.
I've tried all possible and impossible parameters for different 'Z from Image' but the image remained intact after pressing 'Calculate Now' button and processing...
Has anyone got in a situation like this? And how can one obviate it?
Thank You in advance,
Sfumato.

You don't enter that value  yourself.  You click on "Get Z from image" and then click on the picture.  Wherever you click sets the focal point.  You may want to toy with the max radius as well as the objectsize. If the max radius is too small you will not see the effect it has.
I hope this helps :)

Dear BrutalToad,
my procedure is just as You described. I use DOF successfully for weeks and haven't faced any difficulties.
This time I increased the max radius to 99999 and it changed nothing, I even increased object size to 5, 9, etc. But absolutely no impact to the final picture - ? (The Zsharp) is taken from the image by clicking on a point in the foreground.
The parameters are:
Mandelbulb3Dv17{
Q....ES...kx/...w....2I...koB742MZ94./..zTiR6RXEczNYUd./b.QOVvquT933.PaNaNaNaZ/E
........................................x.2........Y./..................Y.2.....
................/Mk1/....6kAY...p/....E4.....EvMJzmiiDmD/.Uv6AsD...A//...w1.Hxuo
ykkPGAcC/2../2.......................sIZcqZ8C.A...........U0.....y1...sD...../..
.wXEUJyCZihU0Rdpfv9kHkewQbl.zEYsdUa/uBljmffBYv0SHw9U6M2oneIzywCzVnC/5ljDTPDD3tJ6
1wnnbPP843a2zYjxYnR3rojD......oQt.............kD.2....sD..kz0...........GVf53iSI
8.A..........A6U.i1...........KRf4..qhO.UOre/.oRf4.srhO..Wre/.GSf4..............
................0.UU.wzzz1xJ..6.J1...29...EB....s1...c9....F....8/...k26...lJliH
..E3beoZgzjdqZpz8R7vzPeRNV3F52m.vTDF..b8maioErzD2bfSZpky3.YTkyTNjyT..3U.8.UQgk0.
IwUmc2beYz1RdA8E5Exwz0........../AV0.gDa2.E15T51vojwz2D8YqFpt/zD..........EEkckz
pLz...CwQOr9PEzDdKFcRtBvvzHdmeZpwzPpz4F68sjy8.2.5Got8VlJqy9skndRjg/pze89U4O1b.xj
/6U0.wzzz1....................................6EU.......ka1/w.4.K4hy.ICDxbp0.sjn
s0kgxQoF/.UzyL8.KRZ.BN1.gqDt.o8M9m.9.czlH1.ly/6EU.......Mw5U./0......kqT.026....
...kz/6EU..........U./0.zz/6FG1.yzHkqs/.xzZteKA..QI9nsWOkR4.....................
E....A....E.....I....c....EHZtqNZ7rA.61.s/................................U/4MU/
4M........UNaNaNaNapzAnAnAnAnAxD........kz1........wz........E1E........o.2.....
...B./..........................................................................
.....................Q...../....1....2IPVdLOiR460x4S..pPr/......................
.Qk0...........................EOaNaNaNaVzHQxckpX0Lwz...........................
................................................................................
................................Y/...M....k.....4x4PYZaPb/GGiF56ExqR............
..........U0.U..........................6.2........wz........./E................
................................................................................
............................................}

I altered some parameters, nevertheless no result after DOF calculating!?
Thank You in advance,
Sfumato.

I have taken a look at your parameters and I couldn't believe your raystep multiplier value: 0.0001 :o
Anyway. I set your objectsize value to 0.001 and got some result.

Yes, it was a long render...
So do You mean DOF works on Your PC with objectsize 0.001 - !?
Mysterious case! I'll try that small (The smallest I tried was 0.01 as far as I remember).
With kindest reagards,
Sfumato.

Lol, a Zend value of 99999999999 is really crazy, please stop inserting insane values until you know what you are doing  ;D

These Z values are absolute and the Zbuffer is only 24 bit, so ambient won't work as they should too.

Try Zend of 20 or so (as maximum), or use the navi as told  :dink:

Thank You, Jesse, that's why I was asking about Z parameters. Using Navi is often limited by the Z parameters in main\render window, so not to jump from one to another several times I increased Z end mechanically.
With kindest regards,
Sfumato.

Seems to me, that you can increase RM to 0.1 and SWL to 1 and decrease Zend to 40 without loss of quality and a huge increase in rendering speed. With these values, DOF won't be a problem either. Nice hybrid BTW, it's got great potential!

Grateful for Your advice and compliment, Madman! The parameters are still not absolutely clear for me. As I don't know which one would improve the quality drastically without significant increasing rendering time.
With best regards,
Sfumato.

Don't quite figure out what does DOF parameter "Objectsize" mean.
Being a photographer I've got used to understanding the DOF isn't influenced by anything but aperture. Say, 1/1.2 gives very narrow DOF and beautiful lens blur of distant objects and objects that are closer than the one we are focusing on: they become practically invisible (very much blurred) due to high blur radius. Despite the size of the object.
Experimenting with "objectsize" I saw that very often I practically can't achieve that "open aperture" DOF without loosing sharpness in the focus. In case I enter say 0.1 - 0.01 objectsize I have practically no DOF effect. And when I decrease the objectsize everything becomes more blurred.
How can we somehow achieve a realistic blur (like in photo) - ?
Thank You in advance,
Sfumato.

1. Try too reduce the Zend.
2. DOF is calculated in a different way in comparison to MB and isn't really photorealistic. If you do postwork use Zbuffer images for use as a mask in your postwork.
hth

This is more like playing around with the blur radius on Z distance, not really physically correct.
I guess i change this in an update with more realistic radius on distance.


This is a good example that will not work if you are programming the DoF only on the Z buffer with colors, as i (and i think Buddhi too) has implemented it.
Because you don't have the informations what lies behind the near blurred objects, that should be visible now.
You have to fake this situation somehow, like extending the size of the nearby objects.
 
So i would never claim to have a photorealistic renderer, even if i would use monte carlo rendering  :dink:



Realistic blur, hmm, make a 3d object of the fractal and photograph it  :tease:

Or just leave the object size at 0.5, in the current version it is not really realistic.