Set Focal Length Manually

To set the Focal Length manually (best if you have one than one object as the focal point):

1. Before entering the Render Options dialog, make sure that the perspective camera is the current camera. If using the Director's Camera as the main view, click on the triangle next to the camera controls and choose Camera to Director from the Camera Options menu.
   
   
2. Change the camera view to the top view (press the 2 key) and center the scene in the view.
3. Create a cube, resize it along one axis, and rotate the cube until it lines up between the camera and the focal object/point. Continue resizing the cube until one end is at the center of the object/point and the other is at the tip of the camera focus.
   
   
4. Click on the button next to the selected cube and note down the size of the side you resized. In this case, 102.21.
   
   
5. Click the triangle beside the Render Controls and click Render Options.
   
   
6. In Render Options, enable the Premium Quality Mode, then enable Depth of Field.
   
   
7. To set the Lens Radius, enter a value in the Lens Radius field. Remember that the larger this number is, the more of the scene will be blurred.
   
   
8. Enter the cube length you noted earlier into the Focal Length field.
   
   
9. Click on the OK icon to close the dialog.
10. Render the scene.

One caveat here is that as an object moves further from the camera, the focal point that Bryce uses shifts from the object center to the edge of the object nearest the camera. You can check this out by selecting each object and setting the Focal Length automatically, then using a cube to check the distance between the camera and object.

Copyright © 2005-2007, DAZ Productions