Depth of Field

Depth of Field

Depth of Field set to 1.0, Focal Distance 100'


Depth of Field and Focal Distance settings create renderings with areas in sharp focus and areas out of focus.

Depth Blur can also be defined as a Post-Processing technique in the nXt Image Editor .


Render nXt has two different ways to set focus.

  • The Focal-Distance/Depth-of-Field settings on the Render SetUp tab can be used to set focus before rendering.
Depth of Field is set before rendering and saved in the SketchUp model.
  • The Post-Processing Depth Blur feature from the FX icon after rendering can be used to set depth blur after rendering.
Depth Blur is performed as a Post-Processing edit, after the rendering is completed, in the nXt Image Editor .


Depth Blur

Depth blur.jpg
  • Strength - amount of Blur to apply
  • Focus - the distance in meters of objects in focus. Use the < button to select a point in the image to be in focus.
  • In Focus Zone - measured in meters-- it controls the transition zone as well.
  • Blur - you can blur the foreground (rendered image), background, or both.


Depth of Field

Depth of Field is set on the Render Setup Tab as Focal Distance and Depth of Field

DOF of 0.0 has all the image in focus, as the DOF rises, the image gets more and more out of focus - except for objects near the Focal Distance which stay in focus.

DOF 1.0 - Focal Distance 100'


DOF 3.0 - Focal Distance 100'


Another Example

Here I drew a construction line from the cylinder 40' in the desired direction of the camera and placed then placed the camera at the end of the line. That way I knew that a Focal Distance of 40' would work well. (I believe there are some ruby scripts somewhere to let you measure the distance from the camera to a desired focal point. If not we will need to write one.)

Then I rendered 3 images with DOF of 0.30, 1.00 and 2.00 to ensure that the column was in focus and that the Depth of Field effected the loss of focus.

DOF 0.3 - Focal Distance 40'. Focus is fairly sharp.
DOF 1.0 - Focal Distance 40'. Focus on wall is less sharp.
DOF 2.0 - Focal Distance 40'. Focus on wall is blurred.


See also