Lenzfx
Scott,
Please relax, take some Nyquil and get some rest. I really don't even want to
argue this with you.
<<In your sample image the table is in focus, the wall is out of focus. The
distance from the viewer to the table + the distance from the table to the wall
cannot be shorter than the distance from the viewer to the wall. So the wall's
depth is between that of the table top and the reflection of the wall. It
isn't possible to have an out of focus object at a distance between two
in-focus objects.>>
If this logic is true, then by every law of triangles that I'm aware of, it
would never be possible for a reflection of an object to be in focus if the
same object is in focus, which is a phenomenon that I witness on a daily basis!
And besides, nowhere in that scene is there an object that is out of focus
between two in focus objects.
And no, I'm not TRYING to avoid any point at all, and in fact your friend is
dead on correct about there not being any access to refraction during 3D studio
rendering. However, the Z-focus module of LenZFX is nothing short of a miracle
in a scan-line renderer. Take for example, the focal capability of LightWave.
It is limited to a focal point of 0 distance from the camera. So the focal
point can never go out into the scene like you can with ZFocus. And to top it
all off, LightWave will render the scene 8 TIMES to achieve this affect! And
it's a raytracer …. And its done directly from within the rendering engine.
Get my point?
Z-Focus is not the only module of LenZFX. It also includes spectacular aura
and starlight effects as well as a proprietary system to create user-definable
lens flares that even make the mouths of ALIAS users water. All completely
controllable by the user through keyframable spline envelopes and automatic
object detection!
LenZFX is a tool just like any other. Just like 3D Studio. None of
this stuff is 100% intuitive. If it was, we wouldn't need animators.
We'd all be playing in holodecks by now. Now this is just my
opinion, but I think LenZFX is about as user-friendly as any of this
complicated mess gets, and its a great tool. If you've decided,
however, that you don't want it on the basis of a liberal amount of
armchair philosophy and one image done with a BETA version of the
software then that's your right. But don't blame me when your 3D
Studio animations compared against the work of a 3DS/LenZFX
professional look like they were done by a 5 year old with a crayon.
Aaron