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Depth of Field..

badstrrefbadstrref Member Posts: 124
hello, just wondering if we could get a slider for its intensity,
and if we could have an option to set the origin of DoF calculations based upon the cursor location instead of the middle of the screen
thanks
Post edited by badstrref on
Sylvus_Moonbow

Comments

  • Grizzled_DwarflordGrizzled_Dwarflord Member Posts: 168
    Could this be related to the same issue I am having with the new "blur the camera" on everything further away than 15 meters? It's as if everyone has suddenly lost 20/20 vision, across the board, without fail.
  • SorenSoren Member, Developer Posts: 48
    badstrref said:

    hello, just wondering if we could get a slider for its intensity,
    and if we could have an option to set the origin of DoF calculations based upon the cursor location instead of the middle of the screen
    thanks

    I did consider using cursor location, but I personally found that it would too often become a nuisance rather than a boon, especially as you interact with the GUI.

    That said, it's definitely the plan to further improve on it. And while I can't make any promises of what that will entail, all feedback is very welcome.

    Could this be related to the same issue I am having with the new "blur the camera" on everything further away than 15 meters? It's as if everyone has suddenly lost 20/20 vision, across the board, without fail.

    The new depth of field depends on the difference in distance between the object in focus and other elements in view, increasing with proximity of the focus. This if how depth of field realistically work. Focus is defined as slightly above your character's head, meaning you can focus your camera by rotating it and zooming in and out.

    Again, it's the plan to further improve it and being better at setting focus point will definitely be a priority. But ultimately I also believe that it will always be a matter of preference whether you like having a depth of field effect at all. It's like lens flare - something that stems from the way camera lenses work more than normal human vision (the human eye does indeed have a depth of field, but the focus is always where we look so we don't often notice it).
    NeverwinterWights
  • Grizzled_DwarflordGrizzled_Dwarflord Member Posts: 168
    Soren said:



    The new depth of field depends on the difference in distance between the object in focus and other elements in view, increasing with proximity of the focus. This if how depth of field realistically work. Focus is defined as slightly above your character's head, meaning you can focus your camera by rotating it and zooming in and out.

    Again, it's the plan to further improve it and being better at setting focus point will definitely be a priority. But ultimately I also believe that it will always be a matter of preference whether you like having a depth of field effect at all. It's like lens flare - something that stems from the way camera lenses work more than normal human vision (the human eye does indeed have a depth of field, but the focus is always where we look so we don't often notice it).

    I like aspects of it, but from my "view point" the only depth of field is within 10-15 meters. A character cannot look across cliff, a mountain, a horizon, without it looking like someone rubbed their butt across a Monet painting. It's just a big blur. Does it change with different camera perspectives? I'm just not seeing the visual benefit to this.

  • SorenSoren Member, Developer Posts: 48
    The visual benefit is mainly the same as with lens flare: it mimics the visuals produced by a camera.

    What you desribe sounds odd though and more like something you'd experience in a museum of contemporary art. Does changing camera direction not affect the focal distance at all? You should be able to rotate the camera so that it sharpens at whatever is just above your character's head on screen.

    Zwerkules
  • SilfirianSilfirian Member Posts: 2
    Hello!

    I have read all your comments but I must say that still today (November 2018) the depth of field is still strange.
    Especially with the character.

    The character looks great, and the textures are good.
    image
    Click here, to enlarge the screenshot.

    If you move your mouse just a little bit... the character and the textures are blurry.
    image
    Click here, to enlarge the screenshot.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    @Silfirian your comment here was caught by the forum's spam filter. I have restored it and verified you so that this should not happen again.
    JuliusBorisovlolien
  • SilfirianSilfirian Member Posts: 2
    Yes, sorry about that, really. I had some issues with Firefox (not refreshing correctly). Thank you, Tresset!
    JuliusBorisovlolien
  • Allanon81Allanon81 Member Posts: 327
    What do the settings for depth of field do? Amount, deadzone, vignette. What focus types are there?
  • KrivoklatKrivoklat Member Posts: 25
    Allanon81 wrote: »
    What do the settings for depth of field do? Amount, deadzone, vignette. What focus types are there?

    The DoF controls are super difficult to dial in NOW that the Options menu is BIG again, and it is in a fixed postion. -it was very easy when the options menu was small and movable to push it out of the way so that you could actually SEE the center point of your DoF to be able to understand the controls.

    Now that the options menu is fixed (something that really sucks imo) it's nearly impossible to really see what's going on.

    Luckily, I did a lot of experimenting with them when I had the chance when I was making my NWN YouTube videos.

    Explaination:

    The DoF amount controls the amount of blurry bits in your frame, as per the designated center, whether it be your character, or the dynamic spot defined by the angle of your camera, or the object your mouse cursor is touching.)

    The DoF slider makes it really blurry, or just a little blurry. The scale is from 0 to 5.

    The amount of 'blurry' is measured simultaneously from the extreme foreground AND the extreme background to the center point, as described above (your character, a dynamic point defined by your camera angle or the object your mouse cursor is touching)


    you have to think in THREE dimensions though, it's not just blurring whatever is at the edges of the screen
    --think of what your camera sees like a cube. and the point that you designate as the center of the DoF, there is a 2-dimensional plane (This is 8th grade Geometry class here) --whatever object is on that plane is in focus, whatever is in front of that plane (closer to the camera) and whatever is behind that plane (further from the camera) is now blurry.



    The "Deadzone" slider, that controls how much in front of and behind that plane is ALSO in focus. --think of the 'deadzone' as in "this region is unaffected by the DoF Blurry. this 'zone' is also like a cube within the larger cube... if you remember from your 8th grade geometry, a cube has 3 dimensions, X, Y and Z. The X and the Y of the "deadzone" are == to the X and the Y of the plane that is the center of the DoF.

    It almost works like "fall off" of the inside blurry edge. --if that makes sense.





    The "DoF Vignette" slider forces the corners of the visible area to be more blurry. --it doesn't quite turn the blurry bits into a sphere shape... but it makes it more like a diamond, and gives the illusion of sphere'ish (i just made that word up)


    0v3bevvgtcca.png

    look at this image.


    The character is in focus, but the foreground and background are out of focus.

    it is difficult to see that it is actually the PLANE of where the character is within the X-Y-Z coordinates of the cube that is camera view.


    So lets look at it another way... from the camera looking straight down.

    geq66f8ry8hl.png

    In this you can see the tops of the trees are out of focus because they are closer to the camera.

    but the character is the point of focus, and so the PLANE which the character is on (Relative to the camera angle) is also in perfect focus.

    And since we are 90 degrees looking down, you can see ALL of the ground is in perfect focus.

    Looking at it from this top-down angle...

    the controls work like this:

    The DoF Amount slider determines HOW MUCH blurry there is from the Camera TO the Character.

    The DoF Deadzone determines how much NON BLURRY there is centered around the CHARACTER

    The DoF Vignette makes the BLURRY bits extend more in the CORNERS of the Camera View than in the center of the edges.



    --Now, if BEAMDOG you could PLEASE make the OPTIONS windo a little more narrow... AND make it movable.. it would really help.

    --and in an unrelated note.. please return the LIGHTING math back to it's original values too... you've really screwed that up big time... that's another discussion.
    JuliusBorisovAllanon81
  • KrivoklatKrivoklat Member Posts: 25
    edited June 2021
    sd83kgyw48j2.png
    Here you can see the DoF is centered on my character (my prefered setup) and so the ground is all in focus because the ground is equal in distance to my character... almost.. because my camera is not exactly 90 degrees, the edges of the frame, you can see the ground is out of focus.. because it is no longer inside the 'deadzone' that I have set up

    ((we are entering the realm of the Pythagorean theorem here))

    But the Hobgoblin, because he is on the ledge and very close to the camera, he is blurry.

    if you look at the rising cliff face, you can see exactly where my "Deadzone" ends.


    wg989e150zzp.jpg
    JuliusBorisovAllanon81
  • KrivoklatKrivoklat Member Posts: 25
    edited June 2021
    I keep my settings like this:

    DoF Amount = 0.75
    DoF Deadzone = 10
    DoF Vignette = 10
    DoF Never Blur PC = OFF
    DoF Focus Type = Player Character


    And this is the result (btw.. I almost always play with my camera like this, at Ground Level)

    j71o0urryp3c.png


    if you want to see screenshots I have posted to STEAM you can find them here:

    https://steamcommunity.com/id/krivoklat/screenshots/?appid=704450


    if you want to see the NWN videos I have on YouTube (all done with DoF on) you can see them here:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkD0-XU8wDXMvqtGOFa5zLw/videos

    All my videos posted so far are from the Easting Reach PW server.


    73w75lg3mdp3.png



    [edit]
    *sorry, had changed my DoF settings for an above post and didn't have them quite right. now they're back.
    Post edited by Krivoklat on
    JuliusBorisovAllanon81
  • xiaoleiwenxiaoleiwen Member Posts: 186
    The last screenshot is great but from the video the graphic looks like very low resolution..
  • KrivoklatKrivoklat Member Posts: 25
    yeah thats youtube compressing my video file. I need to set the bit depth higher i guess.
  • Allanon81Allanon81 Member Posts: 327
    @Krivoklat Thanks for your great reply/breakdown!
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