AE Render query

[Steve Tharp]

George,

The performance difference between DOF and a gaussian blur can be pretty substantial, and completely depends on your systems’ specs. If you’re really concerned about render times I would suggest using Fast Blur instead of the gaussian blur plugin.

Thanks,

Steve Tharp
Art Director
Point7West
https://point7west.com

[Todd Kopriva]

The new Camera Lens Blur effect and depth-of-field features in After Effects CS5.5 are faster than the equivalent features in After Effects CS5.

I wouldn’t fake it with a manually applied Gaussian blur. I’d use the depth-of-field properties or the Camera Lens Blur effect.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Walter Soyka]

[Todd Kopriva] “I wouldn’t fake it with a manually applied Gaussian blur. I’d use the depth-of-field properties or the Camera Lens Blur effect.”

I agree. Defocus blur is really different from Gaussian blur — the blur takes on the shape of the camera’s iris, and highlights bloom. CS5.5’s new DoF blur is really nice, and it’ll give a much more realistic DoF effect than a Gaussian blur.

[George Smyth] “Render times are an issue as it will be a really quick turnaround.”

If short turnaround is a big concern, check out all the tips on the Improve performance [link] page.

If you can fix some of the elements up front and change only a few elements later, you might really benefit from pre-rendering [link] or proxies [link].

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[George Smyth]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your reply. So Fast blur is ahem, faster in terms of rendering than Gaussian? Thanks for this tip, I’m always using Gaussian.

I’m using a 15inch macbook pro with 4gb RAM. Cant remember the processor speed but itll be the Core 2 Duo (I’m not at my a work machine now).

Other replies have mentioned using Cs5.5 which I don’t have. So think this is the way to go.

Cheers!

[George Smyth]

Hi Todd,

Thanks for your help. I will look up the Lens Blur effect, as I dont have cs5.5. I’ll use either this or the Fast Blur. It’s for a vector animation.

Cheers.

[George Smyth]

Hi Walter,

Thank you for the links. I knew most of it, but always good to brush up.
I am using a camera on a vector animation (and I dont have cs5.5) so think I’ll go for the Fast Blur or the Camera Lens BLur effect.

Thanks!