z Manual

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www.biomekk.com

Reference Manual

Version 2.00.306

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z B l u r - I n t r o d u c t i o n

Thank you for taking a look at zBlur 2. This version is a major re-write of zBlur 1.6and adds many functions that users have been clamoring for, along with functions thatusers may not have known they'd find useful.

As with previous versions of zBlur, zBlur 2 improves on Cinema 4D's depth of fieldoptions by providing a post effect that respects alphas and transparencies--a knownlimitation of the C4D render engine. Also as with previous versions, you get a posteffect that doesn't cancel out other post effects. And as always, you can render yourdepth 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 couldsometimes 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 wayto 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 interactivelyand 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 completelyunexpected--render object buffers.

zBuffer Rendering- Allows you to render your depth buffer grayscale map to yourpicture viewer. This is very useful for rendering your buffer and nothing else, veryquickly.

Added post-processing functionality. Don't have access to a compositing applicationlike After Effects? Use zBlur to apply effects to your render that previously were theprovince of AE and other compositing apps, including depth coloring, saturation, etc.

New tools to help get proper depth blur on objects partly obscured by partlytransparent foreground objects.

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - B a s i c

Enable zBlurThis option will enable or disable the zBlur post effectwithout having to go into the Render Settings to disableit manually.

Enable zBuffer RenderingRenders your depth buffer to the picture viewer. This is anoptimized way to render only the depth buffer as a separatepass without using a multipass output for Post Effects. As anadded bonus, this tool also also can render an object bufferpass quickly, one at a time.

Enable BlurThis option will enable or disable the actual blurring.

Turning it off will also hide the Blur group from the zBlursettings.

Enable DesaturationThis option will enable or disable desaturation of the rendered image. Turning it offwill also hide the Desaturate group from the zBlur settings.An example for this usage would be in a scene with distant mountain ranges.

Enable ColorizationThis option will enable or disable colorization of the rendered image. Turning it offwill also hide the Colorize group from the zBlur settings.

Enable GrainThis 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.

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - z B u f f e r

zBufferThe zBuffer group contains settings that relate directly tothe appearance or calculation of zBlur's depth buffer. TheZBlur's depth buffer can, of course, be renderedseparately without blur using Cinema 4D's Multipass tab,so that depth blur and other depth effects (shadowing,depth haze, depth recoloring / saturation) can take placein compositing using any of the many DOF effects andplugins on the market.

General

AA TypeSpecifies the type of internal antialiasing to apply tozBlur'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 smoothout pixels where the contrast between the original pixel andit's neighbors exceed the AA Threshold.

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AA SamplesThis sets the number of samples to use for calculating zBlur's depth buffer'santialiasing. Higher numbers will give smoother results, but will take longer to render.

AA ThresholdThis sets the contrast tolerance for antialiasing. Increase this value to smooth outjagged edges between areas of little contrast in the depth buffer.

Background DistanceThis determines what depth infinite background are set to. Infinite background can beBackground Objects, Sky Objects, or anything past the depth buffer's range.

Options

Use ReflectionThis option will allow zBlur to calculate depth for reflections.

Reflection DepthThis parameter limits the number of bounces used for calculating reflections.

Use TransparencyThis option will allow zBlur to see through transparent or alpha mapped objects.

Transparency DepthThis parameter limits the number of bounces used for calculating transparency.

Transparency CutoffTo avoid corruption of depth information transparent objects must either be fullytransparent or fully opaque. The Transparency Cutoff lets you specify how transparentan object has to be for zBlur to consider it fully transparent.

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Depth Settings

StartThis is the beginning of the depth buffer that is closest to the camera.

Distance When set to Distance the start of the depth buffer will be thisfar away from the camera.

Object When set to Object the start of the depth buffer will be set tothe distance of the specified object from the camera. This canbe used for tracking focus to a specific object, or using a NULLobject to control the focus point.

LengthThis is the end of the depth buffer. Anything in the scene past this point will be set to

the Background Distance.

Absolute Distance When set to Absolute Distance the end of the depth buffer willbe this far away from the camera. This allows you to keep theend position stationary while adjusting the start position.

Distance When set to Distance the end of the depth buffer will be this faraway from the start of the depth buffer. This will keep the endposition a fixed distance from the start position.

Object When set to Object the end of the depth buffer will be set tothe distance of the specified object from the camera.

FalloffThis spline adjusts how the depth is distributed between the start and end of thedepth buffer.

Depth Adjustments

Focus PositionThis controls how the depth buffer is interpreted to produce foreground andbackground 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 supposedto be behind foreground objects. In some situations foreground blurring simply will notwork. In these cases it would be best to render out the scene in layers, apply theblurring separately, and composite the images together with your compositingsoftware of choice.

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Compress Depth RangeWhen the Focus Position is not at 0% or 100%, this option will make sure that thedepth range spans all the way from 0% to 100%. See images at the bottom of this

page.

Depth BrightnessThis will increase or decrease the overall brightness of the depth buffer.

Depth ContrastThis will increase or decrease the overall contrast of the depth buffer.

Depth GammaThis will increase or decrease the depth buffer's gamma.

InvertThis option will invert the depth buffer. This may be necessary if you are using a depthbuffer from a source outside of zBlur.

ResetClicking 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

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - B l u r

Blur

The Blur group contains settings for zBlur's image blurringprocess.

Blur TypeThese are the different blur types that are available tochoose from.

Simple A quick blur with equal weightdistribution among all sub-pixels.

Gaussian A smoother blur with length basedsub-pixel weight.

Gaussian Inverse This blur produces ringed patterns

around high contrast areas.Spline Spline blur lets you create acustom blur profile based on theshape of the Profile spline.

Lens Lens blur will let you create or loada custom aperture shape for theblur.

Sample RadiusThis sets the distance from the original pixel that subpixels are calculated from.

Repeat Edge PixelsWhen a sub pixel lies outside of the edge of the image, this will cause the blur torepeat the closest valid pixel instead of ignoring that sub pixel.

ProfileThis is the spline that represents the profile for the Spline blur. The left side of thespline represents the center of the blur profile. The right side represents the outeredge of the profile.

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Sp l in e P r o f i l e i n t h e z B l u r s e t t i n g s .

T h i s i s h o w t h e p r o f i le i s i n t e r p r e t e d

i n t o a n a p e r t u r e sh a p e .

T h is is h o w t h e s am e s p l i n e

w o u l d l o o k a s a le n s im a g e .

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Boost HighlightsThis option will increase the brightness of highlights. This can be used to produceBokeh like effects.

Highlight ThresholdThe threshold determines how bright a pixel has to be to have its' value boosted.

Highlight BrightnessIf a pixel is above the threshold then its' value will be multiplied by this value.

Lens OptionsThese are the options available for the Lens Blur.

Lens TypeRound This is a simple circular aperture.n Sided This is an aperture with a user defined number of sides.Custom This allows you to load an image to use as an aperture.

Sides

For n Sided Lenses this specifies the number of sides.

AngleThis specifies the rotation about the center of the lens. This is only available fornSided lens shapes.

AberrationThis parameter will soften/darken the edges of the aperture when the value is below0%, 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 PreviewThis option will show/hide the lens preview image.

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Edge SofteningThe Edge Softening option will help to smooth out edges that were aliased duringblurring.

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 2should be plenty in most cases.

Bleed SuppressionThese 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 shouldnever 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 aslider. When set to Advanced you will have the option of using a spline to set thethreshold.

Threshold- The threshold is the minimum amount of contrast that must present inthe depth buffer to allow bleeding.

Slider This sets the threshold that will be used for the entire image.

Spline This sets the threshold for each depth position. The depth isrepresented by the X axis of the spline, and the threshold isrepresented by the Y axis.

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

Edge Softening Off Edge Softening On

Sample Radius 2

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.

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - D e s a t u r a t e

Desaturate

Desaturate will remove color from the image using the

depth buffer as a mask.

AmountThis is the amount of desaturation. 100% being fully desaturated and 0% being theoriginal image.

MixMix represents how much desaturation to apply for different depths. By default it willapply the most desaturation to areas that are further away in the depth buffer. Bysetting this spline to 100% in the Y axis you are effectively ignoring the depth buffer.

Original Render Desaturation with default settings

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - C o l o r i z e

Colorize

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

AmountThis is the amount of colorization. 100% being fully colorized and 0% being theoriginal image.

ChannelThe Channel lets you choose how the colorization is applied. The colorization needs agreyscale value to determine the new color, and this parameter lets you choose where

that value comes from.

RGB The value is derived from the average of the red, green, andblue components.

Red The value corresponds to the value of the red channel.Green The value corresponds to the value of the green channel.Blue The value corresponds to the value of the blue channel.Saturation The value is derived from the color's saturation.Luminance The value is derived from the color's luminance.

Gradient

This is where you specify the new colors for the image.

MixMix represents how much colorization to apply for different depths. By default it willapply the most colorization to areas that are further away in the depth buffer. Bysetting this spline to 100% in the Y axis you are effectively ignoring the depth buffer.

Blend ModeThe Blend mode lets you choose how the new colors are blended with the originalcolors.

Original Render Colorization with solid white gradient

at 50% with Normal blending mode.

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z B l u r P o s t E f f e c t - G r a i n

Grain

When enabled Grain will simulate simple film grain onyour image.

AnimateWhen enabled the Grain will be different for every frame of an animation.

Sync RGBChecking this will cause the separate R, G, and B sets of each slider to move inunison, thereby creating a monochromatic grain.

Amount R,G,BThis sets the overall opacity of the grain for the current color channel.

Size R,G,BThis sets the size of the grain for the current color channel.

Seed R,G,BThis sets the random seed of the grain for the current color channel. When theAnimate parameter is checked these values become disabled.

Blend ModeThe Blend mode lets you choose how the grain is blended with the image.

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z B l u r P r e v i e w

Preview

The preview window gives you a fast way to see a previewof the depth buffer. This function derives from the samephilosophy as my Cineview plugin--quick feedback with aadjustable level of detail (though Cineview of course doesso much more). Between this tool and the zBlur object,you have complete and unprecedented control over yourdepth buffer.

LogoClicking the logo will enable the preview only if the zBlur post effect is added to thescene.

DetailLowering 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.

AutoChecking this option will cause the preview to update whenever a change is detectedin the scene. There is an 2 second delay between automatic refreshes.

RefreshClinking 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 auto-refresh is enabled.

TimeoutThis is the length of time that zBlur waits after a preview starts before it beginsmonitoring for new changes.

Use Update QueueEnabling this option will maintain a queue for the preview renders. If you make achange in your scene while a preview render is running, zBlur will remember that achange was made and start a new render when the timeout period has passed.

Auto TimeoutThis option will prevent a preview render from starting while one is already rendering.

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z B l u r T a g

Tag

The zBlur Tag allows you to set options for individualobjects that affect the calculation of the depth buffer. This

tag will affect the current object and all of the object'schildren. Effectively, the settings in this tag override yourglobal depth settings, allowing for a maximum offlexibility in creating your scene's depth profile.

VisibleThis option determines whether or not an object will notbe visible in the depth buffer.

Calculate TransparencyThis option lets you set how transparency is handled for this object.

Inherit Transparency will be calculated according to the Transparencysettings in the zBlur Post Effect's settings.

Force On Transparency will be enabled for this object regardless of zBlur'sPost Effect settings.

Force Off Transparency will be disabled for this object regardless of zBlur'sPost Effect settings.

Calculate ReflectionThis option lets you set how reflection is handled for this object.

Inherit Reflection will be calculated according to the Reflection settingsin the zBlur post effect settings.

Force On Reflection will be enabled for this object regardless of the zBlurpost effect settings.

Force Off Reflection will be disabled for this object regardless of the zBlurpost effect settings.

Force DepthThis option will allow you to override the true depth being calculated for this object.

DepthThis is the new depth to assign to this object.

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z B l u r T a g

Object Buffer Capability

The zBlur tag also allows you to create custom object buffers for single objects orhierarchies 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 sceneafter the fact? Before this functionality, if you wanted to render an object buffer butnot render your entire scene over again, you were reduced to creating a one-offversion of your file with lower render settings, simplified materials and possiblydifferent hierarchical arrangement. Simply put, it took awhile.

By contrast, the zBlur tag offers a very fast way to render out a single buffer that youmay 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 to0%. This will make it render white.

3) For objects you want to render matte black as negative buffers (objects that blockpart 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 evenin the scene, create a zBlur tag and untick 'Visible.'

5) IMPORTANT: Be sure to change your file's Save name so as not to overwriteprevious renders.

Various rearrangements of your scene, you'll be able to get quick buffers after the

fact.

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z B l u r O b j e c t

Object

The zBlur object will give you a viewport display of thedepth buffer, and it will allow you to easily launchother zBlur tools.

Note: Adding a zBlur object to your scene willautomatically add the zBlur post effect to the scene aswell.

Editor DisplayThis 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 theRender view. If you have only a single viewport try switching to a quad view to see theeditor display.

None No viewport display will be drawn.

Horizontal Arcs A series of horizontal arcs will be drawn, ranging fromthe depth buffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length.

Vertical Arcs A series of vertical arcs will be drawn, ranging from the depthbuffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length.

Cross This is a combination of Horizontal Arcs and Vertical Arcs.

Circles A series of circles will be drawn, ranging from the depthbuffer's Start position to the depth buffer's Length.

Full This is a combination of Cross and Circles.

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Horizontal Arcs Vertical Arcs

Cross Circles

Full

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StepsThis 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 thepreview will be altered slightly when you adjust the depth falloff. Increasing the Stepsparameter will help make this more visible.

End ColorThis is the color that represents the Length of the depth buffer. The colors of thepreview will be altered slightly when you adjust the depth falloff. Increasing the Stepsparameter will help make this more visible.

Open Manager

This will launch the zBlur 2 Manager. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2Manager" command in the plugins menu.

Open ZBI ToolThis will launch the zBlur 2 ZBI. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2 ZBI"command in the plugins menu.

Open PreviewThis will launch the zBlur 2 Preview. This is the equivalent of clicking the "zBlur 2Preview" command in the plugins menu.

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z B l u r M a n a g e r

The zBlur 2 Manager gives you access to the zBlur 2 post effect settings withouthaving to go into the Render Settings. The parameters available are exactly the sameas for the zBlur 2 Post Effect.

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z B l u r Z B I

ZBI (or zBlur Interactive) is a tool designed to allow you to apply zBlur processing as apost rendering effect. This means you can apply zBlur like a photoshop plugin ratherthan 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 createdthe images). ZBI allows processing individual images or whole image sequences,allowing you to play with the zBlur settings without having to re-render anything.

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z B l u r Z B I

ViewThe View dropdown determines what is visible in the ZBI preview window.

Preview The "rendered" image will be displayed. If "Enable zBufferRendering" is checked the interpreted depth buffer will bedisplayed.

Source The original image will be displayed.Depth The raw (uninterpreted) depth image will be displayed.

FrameIf you've loaded frame sequences this will allow you to render any frame from withinthe sequence. If the frame specified is not within the bounds of any sequence loadedthen ZBI will use the closest valid frame.

Image FileThis is the image that will be processed. ZBI will automatically detect if it is part of asequence.

Depth FileThis is the image that will be used for depth information. ZBI will automatically detectif it is part of a sequence.

Render

This will render the image using the active document's zBlur settings. This will onlyrender a single frame to the ZBI preview.

CancelWhen rendering an animation or a single frame this will prompt you to stop rendering.

File Menu

Save Image... This will allow you to save the current image beingdisplayed as a TIF file. You will be prompted for a file

location, but it will only output a TIF image.Render Animation... This will open the Render Animation dialog. From there

you can choose how to render your animation includingframe rate, codecs, etc.

Show in Picture Viewer This will open the current image in Cinema 4D's PictureViewer. From there you can save as any image type thatCinema 4D supports. You can also use this to store atest render to use for comparison.

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z B l u r Z B I

File NameThis is the name of the output file for your animation.

FrameThis specifies the start and end frames of your animation. If no image sequences areloaded then these will be the range from the active document. You can still render ananimation with single frames by keyframing zBlur parameters.

FPSThis is the frame rate of the active document.

FormatThis lets you pick the type of output, whether it's an image sequence, QuickTimemovie, or AVI movie.

Launch AnimationIf checked your animation will launch when rendering is complete (or canceled). Thisis only applicable for video files, not image sequences.

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z B l u r

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