Depth map rendering


https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic161694.aspx
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By eric.lagel - 12 Years Ago
Hi, I am looking for a way to render a scene as a depth map movie for postprocessing?

In other words, the z-depth is translated as a grey scale (the further away a point is, the darker).

Any idea how to do that?
By justaviking - 12 Years Ago
The only thing that immediately comes to mind is using "Fog" to make it darker as you get farther away.

I am not the fog expert, but I'm sure he'll show up here eventually, right Armstrong?

By animatom - 12 Years Ago
No, Eric, no depth rendering. I'm hoping for that for years, but nothing yet. Like Hagar The Horrible said, fog is your best bet.
By justaviking - 12 Years Ago
animatom (8/21/2013)
...Like Hagar The Horrible said...

I've either been greatly honored, or greatly insulted.  I'm not sure which.  :P   :)

By eric.lagel - 12 Years Ago
Ah, really. That's too bad. Thanks for the info, though.
By animatom - 12 Years Ago
Come on, is there greater honor then be remembered for centuries as ...the Something? :) I would love anything, like Tom the Disaster, Tom the Lover, Tom the iCloner, Tom the Lunatic - anything is better than Tom the Nobody.

Tom the ........ :ermm:
By colour - 12 Years Ago
animatom (8/21/2013)
Come on, is there greater honor then be remembered for centuries as ...the Something? :) I would love anything, like Tom the Disaster, Tom the Lover, Tom the iCloner, Tom the Lunatic - anything is better than Tom the Nobody.

Tom the ........ :ermm:

How about.............

By wendyluvscatz - 12 Years Ago
I would not have the foggiest!
(I know Carrara can do it)
but
dumb idea
texture everything white and put a spot on the camera as well as fog maybe?
By Rampa - 12 Years Ago
Fog is the key! Along with a few other keys I just figured out.

Load your scene and render your movie normally.
Make sure the project is saved.
Select one of your props.
Set it's material to white (both diffuse and ambient)
Turn off specular (just in case!).
Select the paint bucket.
Click on all your other props to make them pure white as well.
Select your light.
Set both the light color and ambient color to white.
Select "Atmosphere" under "Stage".
Turn on fog.
Set color to black.
Set start distance between from 0 to 100 (fine tune later).
Set end distance so that you can see just as far as you want.
Set rendering mode (upper right corner of main window) to "smooth shading".
Adjust fog if needed.
Save as a NEW project (just in case!)
Render movie (make sure it renders in "smooth shading").
Squeal with delight! (optional)

The lighting angle does not make any difference because you have set the ambient to white.

By animatom - 12 Years Ago
colour, I will be honored. :)
By Rampa - 12 Years Ago
There are 2 thing you need to not have in your scene for this depth mapping to work.

Trees
Water

Trees cannot be made pure white, and they also always render the fog color. You cannot get any gradation on them unless they are in color in "pixel rendering".

Water does not vanish into fog.

You can have grass if you modify the technique a bit. For grass, Keep your rendering mode in "pixel", but modify your avatar/prop materials so that they are not only white, but also have "self-illumination" set to 100%.