I have exported an RPF image sequence of three colored spheres that i rendered in Carrara 6 pro into After Effects. When I apply a Depth of Field using the depth info from the RPF sequence I get some strange outlines on my spheres.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/jubjub64/DoFProblem.jpg
You can kind of see it around the blue sphere in this pic but it is really obvious when the spheres overlap...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/jubjub64/DoFProblem2.jpg
I looks like the g-buffer layers are not matching up exactly with the rgb layer.  I have tried turning off anti-aliasing in Carrara but the problem is still there.  One suggestion I received was to render out of Carrara at 32bpc but I don't know if I can specify the color bit depth in Carrara.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for any and all help!

Trevan

 Hi Trevan,

That shows up using the "fast" DOF. You'll need to use the Raytraced DOF (RTDOF) to prevent it. 

RTDOF does an excellent job but comes with a speed penalty - It does reflections in DOF and through transparency, the fast DOF does not. It will probably actually be faster to do multiple Alpha masked sequences and combine them in layers in AE. Then you can invoke a blur by layer.

Mark

I think there is a misunderstanding.  The depth of field effect is being applied in After Effects, not in Carrara.  There is a 3D Effect in After Effects that takes the z-depth of the RPF file and can dynamically change the DOF with a slider.  This works except it seems like the g-buffer layers of the RPF file are not matched up exactly.

Trevan

 Gotcha. DOF from gBuffers is always a mixed bag. It's very tough to do well because there is always a little sharpness "bleed" since it's not real. There are a couple of good (spendy) solutions out there if you don't like the way the internal AE system is handling it. I can track down the address if you like. 

For this type of post, I always use Shake.

Quote -  Gotcha. DOF from gBuffers is always a mixed bag. It's very tough to do well because there is always a little sharpness "bleed" since it's not real. There are a couple of good (spendy) solutions out there if you don't like the way the internal AE system is handling it. I can track down the address if you like. 

For this type of post, I always use Shake.

Thanks, any links would be great!

Trevan

 Here's several for PCs or Bootcamped Macs: 
http://www.dofpro.com/
http://www.mootools.com/plugins/us/defocus/index.asp

I don't believe that there is a native Mac DOF post program. 

There is some real benefits to rendering in layers however. DOF can be dynamically updated and adjust without "destroying" the original art with a post filter tool.

There is an After Effects for Mac (and Photoshop) plugin I used which does a fairly good job.
Lenscare by Frischluft

For the best result it is still beter to render at twice the end size, apply the filter and scale the end result, because it still is faking. Because of the nature of the depth information, anti-aliasing is not possible (this would suggest matter in between an object in front and the background), I thinkt that is causing the artefacts.
Downsizing hides this. But when the deadline was near I got away without it. This filter is great when you keep it kind of subtle.

Thanks, this is what I have been hearing everywhere I look.  I had been told that the RPF files out of 3D Studio Max were the best but then I found someone having the same problems using 3DStudio.

Trevan

 Yea, it's just the nature of creating DOF created with a mask. Using layers has been a method of getting around this well before CG came along. Disney invented it back in the '40s. :D

There are plenty of software tools for focusing images, just not for taking things in the opposite direction with a DOF sensibilities.