Animation lost all focus

[n_maasdijk]

Hi all,

Below linked is my very first animation, but as you can see, something went horribly wrong.

I rendered this animation in 5 fps so its not really supposed to be 4K UHD, but as you can clearly see here, it loses all focus about 2 seconds in.

Does someone know the cause of this?

I have been using a target camera, maybe the "target" got below the objects, thus why they are out of focus?

Would love to hear from you all!

-Nick

[Byteman · Accepted solution]

It happens when the camera gets closer to objects so I guess, Depth of Field function is turned on.

There is more than one ways to apply DoF in 3dsmax so we have to determine which one is turned on. Plus every renderer might have its own separate DoF settings. It is most likely in the camera settings. You can just turn it off in its settings or set the F-Stop value the the highest possible. High F-Stop values tend to reduce the depth of field, causing the entire scene to be in focus. Another choice is to move the DoF center (It is probably the camera target by default) towards the preferred point of interest. If it is not a target camera, then you should look for a target distance. 

There might be DoF settings in render settings dialog, too. 

Now if you are certain that the target point is causing the focus problem you can adjust its coordinate towards-away from the camera just by using the viewport navigation controls. 

The above selected function moves the target in the direction of the camera, so while checking from the top viewport move the target back and forth until it reaches the point of interest. Don't forget to do this while Auto Key is on and at the right frame. Although this action does not affect your viewpoint, it essentially changes the motion path of the camera target so the overall motion might differ, in some cases, create motion that is not what you been actually looking for. It can be adjusted anyway. Target distance might be adjusted to match  throughout the entire camera motion by looking at the motion path of the camera target. 

Motion path can be turned on from  the Display Panel in the Display Properties section. (A checkbox labeled Motion Path) 

Although you can turn on the motion path in the Motion Panel and can edit the control vertices of the path (The keyframes) as a Sub-object of the path. Like editing a spline.

Which renderer are you using? I can help about the Dof Settings accordingly.

Don't forget to set the F-Stop to an acceptable value as it creates the perception of depth and indirectly affect the object scale impression. A wrong focus relationship in the scene may cause the objects to appear smaller.

[n_maasdijk]

Thank you for your in-depth reply!

Last night i tried rendering it with the targat at the exact right points, but that did not seem to help the end result even a little bit.

So it is probably within the f-stop or the DOF, but both i have no experience with or do i know how it works :].

But i use the Arnold renderer and posted below are my camera settings and my render settings.

I hope you can find something within these settings that might help me out!

Thanks already.

- Nick

[Byteman]

If we're talking about Arnold, even its sampling values can cause blur effects. When the values are -if I may use the term for it- "undersampled" the corresponding component loses detail. I'll check it out in front of the computer. You may consider sending the file so that I can check easily. The scene objects are not necessary, if for any reason you are not allowed to send, you can delete them and just place a box at the same spot.

[n_maasdijk]

Im sorry i cant send it right now, im rendering out a pic that due tomorrow, but i will send it to you tomorrow.

Can i just send it here and it will work?

[Byteman]

Sure you can, if the file size is large you out may consider sending it over file transfer websites, like sendgb and share a link.

[Byteman · Accepted solution]

It seems you haven't set the camera target as the focus point, instead a custom target distance set by a value. That may be reason why moving the camera target doesn't affect the focus. Below are the parameters.

Remember also that scene scale size can affect the DOF values that you use.

[n_maasdijk]

It worked!

You are amazing my friend, this really solved so much problems for me, i cant thank you enough!

Have a great day and keep this community great!

- Nick

[Byteman]

Nothing worth mentioning my friend. Take care.😊