Version 2.00.

306

Reference Manual

www.biomekk.com

zBlur - Introduction
Thank you for taking a look at zBlur 2. This version is a major re-write of zBlur 1.6 and adds many functions that users have been clamoring for, along with functions that users may not have known they'd find useful. As with previous versions of zBlur, zBlur 2 improves on Cinema 4D's depth of field options by providing a post effect that respects alphas and transparencies--a known limitation of the C4D render engine. Also as with previous versions, you get a post effect that doesn't cancel out other post effects. And as always, you can render your depth buffer to its own depth pass for use in compositing software. Now for the updates and additions: Antialiasing - To avoid fringe in post when using depth passes. In the past, it could sometimes be necessary to render double-sized output in order to get clean edges. These functions aim to solve that. zBlur Interactive - A tool for applying blur to a pre-existing image. Use this as a way to set up blur quickly or use it as a photoshop-ish effect on images in your collection. zBlur Object - A workflow aid for setting up your near / far depth clip interactively and smartly. Preview - A preview window for that displays your depth buffer with user-specified level of detail. zBlur Tag - Provides overrides for objects. In combination with zBuffer Rendering (below), this also provides an esoteric but effective way to do something completely unexpected--render object buffers. zBuffer Rendering - Allows you to render your depth buffer grayscale map to your picture viewer. This is very useful for rendering your buffer and nothing else, very quickly. Added post-processing functionality. Don't have access to a compositing application like After Effects? Use zBlur to apply effects to your render that previously were the province of AE and other compositing apps, including depth coloring, saturation, etc. New tools to help get proper depth blur on objects partly obscured by partly transparent foreground objects.

zBlur Post Effect - Basic

Enable zBlur This option will enable or disable the zBlur post effect without having to go into the Render Settings to disable it manually. Enable zBuffer Rendering Renders your depth buffer to the picture viewer. This is an optimized way to render only the depth buffer as a separate pass without using a multipass output for Post Effects. As an added bonus, this tool also also can render an object buffer pass quickly, one at a time. Enable Blur This option will enable or disable the actual blurring. Turning it off will also hide the Blur group from the zBlur settings. Enable Desaturation This option will enable or disable desaturation of the rendered image. Turning it off will also hide the Desaturate group from the zBlur settings. An example for this usage would be in a scene with distant mountain ranges. Enable Colorization This option will enable or disable colorization of the rendered image. Turning it off will also hide the Colorize group from the zBlur settings. Enable Grain This option will enable or disable the addition of grain on the rendered image. Turning it off will also hide the Grain group from the zBlur settings.

zBlur Post Effect - zBuffer

zBuffer
The zBuffer group contains settings that relate directly to the appearance or calculation of zBlur's depth buffer. The ZBlur's depth buffer can, of course, be rendered separately without blur using Cinema 4D's Multipass tab, so that depth blur and other depth effects (shadowing, depth haze, depth recoloring / saturation) can take place in compositing using any of the many DOF effects and plugins on the market.

General
AA Type Specifies the type of internal antialiasing to apply to zBlur's depth buffer.

No Antialiasing

No antialiasing will be applied. This is recommended if you find artifacts or errors along the edges of blurred objects.

Adaptive Oversample

Adaptive antialiasing will be applied. This method will smooth out pixels where the contrast between the original pixel and it's neighbors exceed the AA Threshold.

zBlur Post Effect - zBuffer

AA Samples This sets the number of samples to use for calculating zBlur's depth buffer's antialiasing. Higher numbers will give smoother results, but will take longer to render. AA Threshold This sets the contrast tolerance for antialiasing. Increase this value to smooth out jagged edges between areas of little contrast in the depth buffer. Background Distance This determines what depth infinite background are set to. Infinite background can be Background Objects, Sky Objects, or anything past the depth buffer's range.

Options
Use Reflection This option will allow zBlur to calculate depth for reflections. Reflection Depth This parameter limits the number of bounces used for calculating reflections. Use Transparency This option will allow zBlur to see through transparent or alpha mapped objects. Transparency Depth This parameter limits the number of bounces used for calculating transparency. Transparency Cutoff To avoid corruption of depth information transparent objects must either be fully transparent or fully opaque. The Transparency Cutoff lets you specify how transparent an object has to be for zBlur to consider it fully transparent.

zBlur Post Effect - zBuffer

Depth Settings
Start This is the beginning of the depth buffer that is closest to the camera. Distance Object When set to Distance the start of the depth buffer will be this far away from the camera. When set to Object the start of the depth buffer will be set to the distance of the specified object from the camera. This can be used for tracking focus to a specific object, or using a NULL object to control the focus point.

Length This is the end of the depth buffer. Anything in the scene past this point will be set to the Background Distance. Absolute Distance Distance Object When set to Absolute Distance the end of the depth buffer will be this far away from the camera. This allows you to keep the end position stationary while adjusting the start position. When set to Distance the end of the depth buffer will be this far away from the start of the depth buffer. This will keep the end position a fixed distance from the start position. When set to Object the end of the depth buffer will be set to the distance of the specified object from the camera.

Falloff This spline adjusts how the depth is distributed between the start and end of the depth buffer.

Depth Adjustments
Focus Position This controls how the depth buffer is interpreted to produce foreground and background blurs. 100% would be full background blur and no foreground blur. 0% would be full foreground blur and no background blur. Since the blurring is a post processing technique, zBlur cannot know what is supposed to be behind foreground objects. In some situations foreground blurring simply will not work. In these cases it would be best to render out the scene in layers, apply the blurring separately, and composite the images together with your compositing software of choice.

zBlur Post Effect - zBuffer

Compress Depth Range When the Focus Position is not at 0% or 100%, this option will make sure that the depth range spans all the way from 0% to 100%. See images at the bottom of this page. Depth Brightness This will increase or decrease the overall brightness of the depth buffer. Depth Contrast This will increase or decrease the overall contrast of the depth buffer. Depth Gamma This will increase or decrease the depth buffer's gamma. Invert This option will invert the depth buffer. This may be necessary if you are using a depth buffer from a source outside of zBlur. Reset Clicking this button will reset all of the Depth Adjustments to their default state.

Focus: 50% Compress Depth Range: Off

Focus: 50% Compress Depth Range: On

zBlur Post Effect - Blur

Blur
The Blur group contains settings for zBlur's image blurring process. Blur Type These are the different blur types that are available to choose from. Simple Gaussian Gaussian Inverse Spline Lens A quick blur with equal weight distribution among all sub-pixels. A smoother blur with length based sub-pixel weight. This blur produces ringed patterns around high contrast areas. Spline blur lets you create a custom blur profile based on the shape of the Profile spline. Lens blur will let you create or load a custom aperture shape for the blur.

Sample Radius This sets the distance from the original pixel that subpixels are calculated from. Repeat Edge Pixels When a sub pixel lies outside of the edge of the image, this will cause the blur to repeat the closest valid pixel instead of ignoring that sub pixel. Profile This is the spline that represents the profile for the Spline blur. The left side of the spline represents the center of the blur profile. The right side represents the outer edge of the profile.

zBlur Post Effect - Blur

Spline Profile in the zBlur settings.

This is how the profile is interpreted into an aperture shape.

This is how the same spline would look as a lens image.

zBlur Post Effect - Blur

Boost Highlights This option will increase the brightness of highlights. This can be used to produce Bokeh like effects. Highlight Threshold The threshold determines how bright a pixel has to be to have its' value boosted. Highlight Brightness If a pixel is above the threshold then its' value will be multiplied by this value.

Lens Options
Lens Type Round n Sided Custom

These are the options available for the Lens Blur. This is a simple circular aperture. This is an aperture with a user defined number of sides. This allows you to load an image to use as an aperture.

Sides For n Sided Lenses this specifies the number of sides. Angle This specifies the rotation about the center of the lens. This is only available for nSided lens shapes. Aberration This parameter will soften/darken the edges of the aperture when the value is below 0%, and it will soften/darken the center of the aperture when the value is above 0%. Custom Image... Click this button to select an image to use as the aperture. Images must be square. Show Preview This option will show/hide the lens preview image.

zBlur Post Effect - Blur

Edge Softening
The Edge Softening option will help to smooth out edges that were aliased during blurring. Enable - This option turns the edge softening on or off. Sample Radius - This controls the intensity of the edge softening. A value of 1 or 2 should be plenty in most cases.
Look at the edges of the foreground object on the right. The effect is subtle, but can greatly improve the quality of your foreground edges.

Edge Softening Off

Edge Softening On Sample Radius 2

Bleed Suppression

These options will help you fix color bleeding. Note: This is only applicable to background blurring. Foreground blur needs to bleed. Enable - This option enables or disables Bleed Suppression. Normally you should never need this option. Only enable this in extreme conditions. Method - When set to Simple you will be able to set the threshold with a value from a slider. When set to Advanced you will have the option of using a spline to set the threshold. Threshold - The threshold is the minimum amount of contrast that must present in the depth buffer to allow bleeding. Slider Spline This sets the threshold that will be used for the entire image. This sets the threshold for each depth position. The depth is represented by the X axis of the spline, and the threshold is represented by the Y axis.

Enable Second Pass - This will enable an additional filter that will help remove bleed.

zBlur Post Effect - Desaturate

Desaturate
Desaturate will remove color from the image using the depth buffer as a mask. Amount This is the amount of desaturation. 100% being fully desaturated and 0% being the original image. Mix Mix represents how much desaturation to apply for different depths. By default it will apply the most desaturation to areas that are further away in the depth buffer. By setting this spline to 100% in the Y axis you are effectively ignoring the depth buffer.

Original Render

Desaturation with default settings

zBlur Post Effect - Colorize

Colorize
Colorize will alter the color of the image using the depth buffer as a mask.

Amount This is the amount of colorization. 100% being fully colorized and 0% being the original image. Channel The Channel lets you choose how the colorization is applied. The colorization needs a greyscale value to determine the new color, and this parameter lets you choose where that value comes from. RGB Red Green Blue Saturation Luminance The value is derived from the average of the red, green, and blue components. The value corresponds to the value of the red channel. The value corresponds to the value of the green channel. The value corresponds to the value of the blue channel. The value is derived from the color's saturation. The value is derived from the color's luminance.

Gradient This is where you specify the new colors for the image. Mix Mix represents how much colorization to apply for different depths. By default it will apply the most colorization to areas that are further away in the depth buffer. By setting this spline to 100% in the Y axis you are effectively ignoring the depth buffer. Blend Mode The Blend mode lets you choose how the new colors are blended with the original colors.

Original Render

Colorization with solid white gradient at 50% with Normal blending mode.

zBlur Post Effect - Grain

Grain
When enabled Grain will simulate simple film grain on your image.

Animate When enabled the Grain will be different for every frame of an animation. Sync RGB Checking this will cause the separate R, G, and B sets of each slider to move in unison, thereby creating a monochromatic grain. Amount R,G,B This sets the overall opacity of the grain for the current color channel. Size R,G,B This sets the size of the grain for the current color channel. Seed R,G,B This sets the random seed of the grain for the current color channel. When the Animate parameter is checked these values become disabled. Blend Mode The Blend mode lets you choose how the grain is blended with the image.

zBlur Preview
Preview
The preview window gives you a fast way to see a preview of the depth buffer. This function derives from the same philosophy as my Cineview plugin--quick feedback with a adjustable level of detail (though Cineview of course does so much more). Between this tool and the zBlur object, you have complete and unprecedented control over your depth buffer. Logo Clicking the logo will enable the preview only if the zBlur post effect is added to the scene. Detail Lowering the detail slider will cause the pixel size of the preview image to increase. This allows for faster previews, but at the expense of blockiness. Auto Checking this option will cause the preview to update whenever a change is detected in the scene. There is an 2 second delay between automatic refreshes. Refresh Clinking Refresh will cause the preview window to start a new render. This is only applicable if the preview has been enabled by clicking on the logo screen.

Preview Options
These settings adjust how the preview behaved while autorefresh is enabled. Timeout This is the length of time that zBlur waits after a preview starts before it begins monitoring for new changes. Use Update Queue Enabling this option will maintain a queue for the preview renders. If you make a change in your scene while a preview render is running, zBlur will remember that a change was made and start a new render when the timeout period has passed. Auto Timeout This option will prevent a preview render from starting while one is already rendering.

zBlur Tag
Tag
The zBlur Tag allows you to set options for individual objects that affect the calculation of the depth buffer. This tag will affect the current object and all of the object's children. Effectively, the settings in this tag override your global depth settings, allowing for a maximum of flexibility in creating your scene's depth profile. Visible This option determines whether or not an object will not be visible in the depth buffer. Calculate Transparency This option lets you set how transparency is handled for this object. Inherit Force On Force Off Transparency will be calculated according to the Transparency settings in the zBlur Post Effect's settings. Transparency will be enabled for this object regardless of zBlur's Post Effect settings. Transparency will be disabled for this object regardless of zBlur's Post Effect settings.

Calculate Reflection This option lets you set how reflection is handled for this object. Inherit Force On Force Off Reflection will be calculated according to the Reflection settings in the zBlur post effect settings. Reflection will be enabled for this object regardless of the zBlur post effect settings. Reflection will be disabled for this object regardless of the zBlur post effect settings.

Force Depth This option will allow you to override the true depth being calculated for this object. Depth This is the new depth to assign to this object.

zBlur Tag
Object Buffer Capability The zBlur tag also allows you to create custom object buffers for single objects or hierarchies that have the tag. Your buffer will render to the picture viewer very quickly. No antialiasing, color, transparency, GI, AO or other effects are calculated. Why is this needed? How often have you needed to create an object buffer for a scene after the fact? Before this functionality, if you wanted to render an object buffer but not render your entire scene over again, you were reduced to creating a one-off version of your file with lower render settings, simplified materials and possibly different hierarchical arrangement. Simply put, it took awhile. By contrast, the zBlur tag offers a very fast way to render out a single buffer that you may have forgotten, or if you scene doesn't need a dedicated list of object buffers. Very quick, very customizable. How this works: 1) Tick Enable zBuffer Rendering in the zBlur Manager or Effects render settings tab. 2) For objects you want to have buffered, create a zBlur Tag and set Force Depth to 0%. This will make it render white. 3) For objects you want to render matte black as negative buffers (objects that block part of the objects you want to have as a buffer), create a zBlur tag and set Force Depth to 100%. This will make it render black but still obscure your white (buffer) objects. 4) For objects you want excluded from all buffering / matting, as if they weren't even in the scene, create a zBlur tag and untick 'Visible.' 5) IMPORTANT: Be sure to change your file's Save name so as not to overwrite previous renders. Various rearrangements of your scene, you'll be able to get quick buffers after the fact.

zBlur Object
Object
The zBlur object will give you a viewport display of the depth buffer, and it will allow you to easily launch other zBlur tools. Note: Adding a zBlur object to your scene will automatically add the zBlur post effect to the scene as well.

Editor Display This parameter lets you choose from a variety of visualizations that will be displayed in the viewport. The editor display will only be visible in viewports not marked as the Render view. If you have only a single viewport try switching to a quad view to see the editor display. None Horizontal Arcs Vertical Arcs Cross Circles Full No viewport display will be drawn. A series of horizontal arcs will be drawn, ranging from the depth buffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length. A series of vertical arcs will be drawn, ranging from the depth buffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length. This is a combination of Horizontal Arcs and Vertical Arcs. A series of circles will be drawn, ranging from the depth buffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length. This is a combination of Cross and Circles.

zBlur Object

Horizontal Arcs

Vertical Arcs

Cross

Circles

Full

zBlur Object
Steps This parameter adjusts how many arcs or circles are drawn in the viewport. Start Color This is the color that represents the Start of the depth buffer. The colors of the preview will be altered slightly when you adjust the depth falloff. Increasing the Steps parameter will help make this more visible. End Color This is the color that represents the Length of the depth buffer. The colors of the preview will be altered slightly when you adjust the depth falloff. Increasing the Steps parameter will help make this more visible. Open Manager This will launch the zBlur 2 Manager. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2 Manager" command in the plugins menu. Open ZBI Tool This will launch the zBlur 2 ZBI. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2 ZBI" command in the plugins menu. Open Preview This will launch the zBlur 2 Preview. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2 Preview" command in the plugins menu.

zBlur Manager
The zBlur 2 Manager gives you access to the zBlur 2 post effect settings without having to go into the Render Settings. The parameters available are exactly the same as for the zBlur 2 Post Effect.

zBlur ZBI
ZBI (or zBlur Interactive) is a tool designed to allow you to apply zBlur processing as a post rendering effect. This means you can apply zBlur like a photoshop plugin rather than a post effect. All ZBI needs is an RGB image, a Depth image, and a document with a zBlur 2 post effect (this does not need to be the same document that created the images). ZBI allows processing individual images or whole image sequences, allowing you to play with the zBlur settings without having to re-render anything.

zBlur ZBI
View The View dropdown determines what is visible in the ZBI preview window. Preview Source Depth The "rendered" image will be displayed. If "Enable zBuffer Rendering" is checked the interpreted depth buffer will be displayed. The original image will be displayed. The raw (uninterpreted) depth image will be displayed.

Frame If you've loaded frame sequences this will allow you to render any frame from within the sequence. If the frame specified is not within the bounds of any sequence loaded then ZBI will use the closest valid frame. Image File This is the image that will be processed. ZBI will automatically detect if it is part of a sequence. Depth File This is the image that will be used for depth information. ZBI will automatically detect if it is part of a sequence. Render This will render the image using the active document's zBlur settings. This will only render a single frame to the ZBI preview. Cancel When rendering an animation or a single frame this will prompt you to stop rendering. File Menu Save Image... Render Animation... Show in Picture Viewer This will allow you to save the current image being displayed as a TIF file. You will be prompted for a file location, but it will only output a TIF image. This will open the Render Animation dialog. From there you can choose how to render your animation including frame rate, codecs, etc. This will open the current image in Cinema 4D's Picture Viewer. From there you can save as any image type that Cinema 4D supports. You can also use this to store a test render to use for comparison.

zBlur ZBI

File Name This is the name of the output file for your animation. Frame This specifies the start and end frames of your animation. If no image sequences are loaded then these will be the range from the active document. You can still render an animation with single frames by keyframing zBlur parameters. FPS This is the frame rate of the active document. Format This lets you pick the type of output, whether it's an image sequence, QuickTime movie, or AVI movie. Launch Animation If checked your animation will launch when rendering is complete (or canceled). This is only applicable for video files, not image sequences.

zBlur