How to use clown pass?

fa2020 · November 13, 2017, 08:24:05 AM

Hi guys,
I have a problem in using the Clown Pass. When I enable depth of field in the camera setting and when rendering finishes, the Clown Pass is also blurred so selecting it in the Photoshop is impossible especially when I have a heavy DOF. What is the remedy?

mattjgerard · November 13, 2017, 10:00:13 AM

That is one of the reasons I don't like using the Keyshot DOF. Its not that its bad, it looks fantastic, but it limits the abilities in post to change stuff. Now, in its defense, if you have some heavy DOF going on, and want to do that In post it becomes much more difficult as the blur in photoshop or Frischluft or however you are doing the blur can't guess at what is behind objects, and the "blur bleed" doesn't quite work well. The hidden objects need to "bleed" into the visible objects, and if KS doesn't render it because its hidden then PS can't know what to bleed. Not sure if I'm explaining that right. There's not really any way that I can think of where KS can fix or remedy this.

The only way to make it work fully is to render out the background objects seperate from the forground objects, comp them in PS and apply your simulated DOF there.

Even using teh Depth Pass in PS can't resolve the sharp edges of heavily blurred edges. I haven't tried rendering to layers yet, there might be something in there that can help, but I still don't think that KS is going to fill in the hole left by a forground object, even when rendering layers.

TGS808 · November 14, 2017, 08:07:12 AM

https://youtu.be/m9jVsI5NODE

Go to time index 54:37 in the video and it will show you how to solve the problem you are having. It eschews the clown pass (which I'm not really a fan of) for using masks and channels. In doing it the way Richard demonstrates in the video, you can use the KeyShot DoF (which is superior to faking it in post) and you'll be able to select all the areas that fall into soft focus perfectly.

mattjgerard · November 14, 2017, 10:18:09 AM

Dang! Nice find ! I'm bookmarking that for later.

Esben Oxholm · November 14, 2017, 10:29:27 AM

Quote from: TGS808 on November 14, 2017, 08:07:12 AM
Go to time index 54:37 in the video and it will show you how to solve the problem you are having. It eschews the clown pass (which I'm not really a fan of) for using masks and channels. In doing it the way Richard demonstrates in the video, you can use the KeyShot DoF (which is superior to faking it in post) and you'll be able to select all the areas that fall into soft focus perfectly.

Thanks for the share! Have done 'custom' clown pass like this before, but never realised that it would work with DoF as well.

TGS808 · November 14, 2017, 04:23:45 PM

Quote from: mattjgerard on November 14, 2017, 10:18:09 AM
Dang! Nice find ! I'm bookmarking that for later.

When I first discovered and started learning KeyShot I watched all of the webinars. Some, multiple times (it's a treasure trove of good stuff) so I have pretty good recall for where the tips are hidden. This particular video has a lot of gems in it. He also shows a really cool way to render the ground shadow as a completely separate element for more control over it. That one has come in handy for me numerous times.

TGS808 · November 14, 2017, 04:30:53 PM

Quote from: Esben Oxholm on November 14, 2017, 10:29:27 AM
Thanks for the share! Have done 'custom' clown pass like this before, but never realised that it would work with DoF as well.

That I have been able to impart even the smallest tip to the amazing Esben Oxholm has made my day.

I've learned so many awesome tips from your videos, I feel good that I could give something back.

(even if it was only just pointing you to someone else's tip)

fa2020 · November 14, 2017, 07:14:11 PM

Quote from: TGS808 on November 14, 2017, 08:07:12 AM
https://youtu.be/m9jVsI5NODE

Go to time index 54:37 in the video and it will show you how to solve the problem you are having. It eschews the clown pass (which I'm not really a fan of) for using masks and channels. In doing it the way Richard demonstrates in the video, you can use the KeyShot DoF (which is superior to faking it in post) and you'll be able to select all the areas that fall into soft focus perfectly.

Yeah, that's it. Thank you.
Thanks, Esben too.

Esben Oxholm · November 14, 2017, 11:32:32 PM

Quote from: TGS808 on November 14, 2017, 04:30:53 PM
Quote from: Esben Oxholm on November 14, 2017, 10:29:27 AM
Thanks for the share! Have done 'custom' clown pass like this before, but never realised that it would work with DoF as well.

That I have been able to impart even the smallest tip to the amazing Esben Oxholm has made my day. I've learned so many awesome tips from your videos, I feel good that I could give something back.

(even if it was only just pointing you to someone else's tip)

Ha, thanks a lot. Happy to hear that my videos has been helpful