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Why is my depth of field so grainy?

Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
edited September 2013 in Daz Studio Discussion

In the first image you see my initial render.

Settings:
Occlusion Strength: 75%
Occlusion Samples: 128
Shadow Bias: .10
shade rate: 8.0 / overall .10
Max Error .01

I then adjusted the depth of field on my camera. The only thing that should be in focus is Victoria coming out of the bath. The centurions and background should be out of focus.

Settings:
Focal Length: 65mm
Focal Distance: 380
F/Stop: 15

But my new render is very grainy where it is supposed to be out-of-focus. I was hoping for something more of a gaussian blur.

Do I need to tweak another setting?

greek_bath_9_DOF_1.png
640 x 800 - 796K
greek_bath_5_-_OCCL75_occ128_shaderatepoint10_shadowbias_point10_2_mins_to_render.png
800 x 1040 - 1M
Post edited by Kevin Rye on

Comments

  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited September 2013

    Have you changed the settings on the advanced tab of the render settings? Windows > Panes > Render Settings. Advanced tab at the top of the pane.

    Post edited by Lissa_xyz on
  • VanguardVanguard Posts: 486
    edited September 2013

    In advanced settings set the bucket size, pixel samples (X) and pixel samples (Y) to 24 or higher.
    I also set the shader rate to .2 but I dint recall if that makes a difference for the DOF graininess

    I only crank up these setting when getting ready to do a final render. I set them to 1 when I am doing test renders.

    Post edited by Vanguard on
  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited September 2013

    No such luck. I bumped X and Y pixel samples up to 24, but after 4 hours, it had only rendered one square. I cancelled it. I lowered it to 8 and so far it's at 8% after 28 minutes. Much better.

    If it's done in the morning, I'll try and run it again at 12 and see if it's any better.

    Post edited by Kevin Rye on
  • Jim_1831252Jim_1831252 Posts: 728
    edited December 1969

    1 square? How large do you have the bucket size set to? X/Y 24 samples isn't so much it should cause the render to slow down excessively, but could work for a light DOF like here. Are you using a lower spec machine?

  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited December 1969

    Bucket size is 128. I'm on an 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 16GB of RAM, so I don't think it's the machine. The image is pretty big though, 2550x1440.

  • Jim_1831252Jim_1831252 Posts: 728
    edited December 1969

    It's hard to say. Given your system specs it does seem odd. My i7 4 x 2.8GZ would probably work fine on a scene like that.

    Are you using uberenvironment as IBL or GI bounce? If you using GI that would be the answer.

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,943
    edited December 1969

    I have done my own tests in the past with bucket size and I found that the middle ground yields the best results for speed. So from my tests, leave bucket size at 32

    Then you can crank up your X & Y pixel samples to 32 as well and have very smooth DOF blur like these

    http://mattymanx.deviantart.com/art/Julie-Redo-395443406

    http://mattymanx.deviantart.com/art/Big-City-Girl-361401732

  • Jim_1831252Jim_1831252 Posts: 728
    edited December 1969

    I really don't know how much the bucket size affects render time if you have the RAM to work with it. I do tend to leave mine low though, so at least it would look faster to me.

  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited December 1969

    I'll try lowering my bucket size tonight when I get home from work. As far as IBL or GI, I'm not sure what it is. I'll have to look later.

  • VanguardVanguard Posts: 486
    edited December 1969

    My typical settings are bucket size 32 (although I sometimes use 24 if I have a lot of lights)
    and 24 for x and y samples.

    This is a good picture that shows I get no graininess. You can actually watch the DOF as it moves across the wall or on te ground near her grounded foot.

    Just one distant light used, nothing special.

    http://fav.me/d6b55pw

    I always use raytraced shadows as well, if that makes a difference.

  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited December 1969

    I lowered the bucket size to 32, and x and y to 12. Looks like it's moving along pretty good. 7 hours in and it's almost half way there. (Image is 1440x2560.) DOF looks nice and blurry, with no graininess. Hopefully it's finished by the time I get home from work. Thanks for the tips.

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,943
    edited December 1969

    Bucket size determines how much data is processed at a time per processor. Having more RAM does not mean you can crank it up, it just means the software has more RAM to work with for any given scene.

  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited September 2013

    Awesome! It worked. It looks great.

    Bucket seize: 32
    XY Samples: 24
    Overall shading 0.10

    I went ahead and went back to another render I'm working on and jammed up the DOF too and let it render. Same results. Looks good. I'm not finished with them yet. Still need to do some post work. The Yoga at sunrise needs some bokeh and some lens flare. The greek bath image still needs a background.

    Yoga_at_Sunrise_1080.png
    1920 x 1080 - 3M
    greek_bath_DOF_xy24.png
    1080 x 1350 - 2M
    Post edited by Kevin Rye on
  • VanguardVanguard Posts: 486
    edited December 1969

    Good deal

  • SylvanSylvan Posts: 2,718
    edited December 1969

    I am gonna jump into this one. I use Luxus and my DOF also looks grainy. Does Luxus also has bucketsize settings under another name or something?

  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,997
    edited December 1969

    Estroyer said:
    I am gonna jump into this one. I use Luxus and my DOF also looks grainy. Does Luxus also has bucketsize settings under another name or something?

    Luxus uses LuxRender as the render engine which deals with the building of the image in a different fashion. There may be an equivalent deep in the depths of all the 'gibberish to casual bystander' settings, but if so it is beyond me! You may wnat to check what f/stop setting Luxus is defaulting to, and passing to LuxRender, as that will affect the overall DoF - once LuxRender is running adjust the f/stop IN LuxRender will only alter amount of light, not the focussing.
  • SylvanSylvan Posts: 2,718
    edited December 1969

    Seems I was just being impatient.
    Render went on until 800 P/S and the image is crystal clear now!

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