Depth of Field with Bokeh Effect Tutorial in After Effects

by mokong on Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:49 pm

Let me share you a tutorial on how to come up a nice Bokeh Effect in Adobe After Effects. I use here a plugin for AE called "Frischluft".

The idea of using DOF in AE was first introduced to me by sir chillrender. Thank you sir chill.

The example below is from my previous render, check it out at this link http://www.cgpinoy.org/t19874-interior-01-updated

1. Open After Effects. On the Projects Tab, Right click> Import> Multiple Files

2. Select the your rendered image and the zdepth pass.

3. You will have similar as shown. As for my example I did not use the raw render image file but the one which I made post process in Photoshop. For my image I used .psd and .exr for the zdepth, you can use png's or TIFF's according to your preference. Drag the two down as illustrated.

The zdepth pass

The rendered image

4. Make sure at the composition tab you have the render image (as shown) and not the zdepth pass.

5. Go right click> Effect> Frischluft> Depth of Field (as shown)

6. In the Effect Controls Tab, Go to Show> select iris.

7. We need to set up first our iris for the bokeh effect. I use hexagonal, which is facet = 6 and other as shown.
You can adjust according to your preference. After you have set up your iris go back to Show then select normal.

8. In the depth layer select your zdepth pass.

9. In the focal point> select depth. You will see a crosshair. Select an area on the scene where you can start your DOF, this according to your preference.

10.I set the following as highlighted, this again according to your preference. In this example I intentionally make the radius big to show the bokeh effect. Highlight intensity, this will make the bokeh effect brighter. You can also use the invert, to invert the effect of DOF.

11.Bokeh Effect as shown.

12.Now, to save.. Go to Composition> Save Frame As> Photoshop Layers.

More Power to CGPinoy... Ciao!!!!