Auto Focus and F-Stop control

Download INTEL 2.69 kb last updated 12/20/2003 10:49:42 AM

This is a pair of channel modifier plugins (sorry, Lightwave 6.5 and later only!) which allow you to automatically control the focal distance and f-stop settings of the camera based solely on the position of two objects in the scene. It's fully interactive and there's practically no effort to using it. Simply create your near and far focus targets. Then, apply the motion modifier plugins to the camera's f-stop and focal distance envelopes (be sure the base value of both of these remains at zero). Configure the plugins by double-clicking and selecting the near and far focus targets. Be sure to select the same targets for both plugins. The plugin uses the linear distance of the objects to the camera to make its calculations. A "best approach" to using this is to add three NULL objects to your scene. Name the first one "Rotation Parent". Make this a child of the camera. Make sure its positon is 0,0,0 and lock out any movement on it. Now, name the remaining two NULLs "Near" and "Far" and make them children of "Rotation Parent". Lock out all motion except along their Z axes. Make these your near and far targets in the plugins. Now, focus control is done by sliding Near and Far back and forth along their Z-axes. You can spin Rotation Parent around to verify any particular object in your scene is in focus or not.