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Bens Lens 4 is the latest fisheye lens


John Bigboote

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I've noticed that Ben and I kinda made it hard to find the latest version of our 'Fisheye Lens' so here it is with a little more revision to it and instructions for use in V15...

 

IMPROVEMENTS: I just turned all the options to 'OFF' in the model so upon render it will not tend to 'cast shadows' -'receive shadows'- 'cast reflections' or 'cast occlusion' so now it might render a little faster.

 

INSTRUCTIONS: (Note: This is a V15 model so it may not open in previous versions...)

1- Open BensLens4.mdl and drag it into your choreography

2- Right click on it's shortcut in the PWS and select 'New/Constraint/Translate To' and select the camera as the target...

3- In the Constraints Property window change all the translation offsets to zero

4- Right click on it's shortcut in the PWS and select 'New/Constraint/Orient Like' and select the camera as the target...

5- In the Constraints Property window change all the rotation offsets to zero

6- In the Pose Sliders adjust the 'Wide Angle' to a value of 50+ (100 is maximum fisheye)

7- In the Pose Sliders adjust the 'Lens distance' and 'Bigger' until the lens covers the entire raster as you look thru the camera...you might like to look at the camera from a side view to better adjust...

8- Optionally, you might now want to click the white glove 'Make Pickable' so that when you adjust placement of your camera you do not grab the lens.

9- Now as you do a preview render of your camera view you will see the effect of the lens- a wider scope with pronounced perspective...FISHEYE!

10- 'Whiskey Glass' and 'Facet' pose sliders are optional and give epotimous effects.

 

NOTES: I've been using the lens on every project now for months, and LOVE the look it gives. I've noticed that it works well with some render options and does not work so well with others. Feel free to add your findings, or improve upon the lens and share with us.

 

WORKS WELL WITH:

 

1- Video field rendering

2- Multipass

 

 

DOES NOT WORK WELL WITH:

 

1- Volumetric Lights

2- Fog

3- DOF

 

HAVE FUN!

benlens4.mdl

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I've noticed that Ben and I kinda made it hard to find the latest version of our 'Fisheye Lens' so here it is with a little more revision to it and instructions for use in V15...

 

IMPROVEMENTS: I just turned all the options to 'OFF' in the model so upon render it will not tend to 'cast shadows' -'receive shadows'- 'cast reflections' or 'cast occlusion' so now it might render a little faster.

 

INSTRUCTIONS: (Note: This is a V15 model so it may not open in previous versions...)

1- Open BensLens4.mdl and drag it into your choreography

2- Right click on it's shortcut in the PWS and select 'New/Constraint/Translate To' and select the camera as the target...

3- In the Constraints Property window change all the translation offsets to zero

4- Right click on it's shortcut in the PWS and select 'New/Constraint/Orient Like' and select the camera as the target...

5- In the Constraints Property window change all the rotation offsets to zero

6- In the Pose Sliders adjust the 'Wide Angle' to a value of 50+ (100 is maximum fisheye)

7- In the Pose Sliders adjust the 'Lens distance' and 'Bigger' until the lens covers the entire raster as you look thru the camera...you might like to look at the camera from a side view to better adjust...

8- Optionally, you might now want to click the white glove 'Make Pickable' so that when you adjust placement of your camera you do not grab the lens.

9- Now as you do a preview render of your camera view you will see the effect of the lens- a wider scope with pronounced perspective...FISHEYE!

10- 'Whiskey Glass' and 'Facet' pose sliders are optional and give epotimous effects.

 

NOTES: I've been using the lens on every project now for months, and LOVE the look it gives. I've noticed that it works well with some render options and does not work so well with others. Feel free to add your findings, or improve upon the lens and share with us.

 

WORKS WELL WITH:

 

1- Video field rendering

2- Depth of Field

 

DOES NOT WORK WELL WITH:

 

1- Volumetric Lights

2- Fog

 

HAVE FUN!

Matt,

 

Have you had success with depth of field in multipass rendering or just with the scanline?

 

And thanks for putting this upfront and making instructions and all.

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Have you had success with depth of field in multipass rendering or just with the scanline?

 

I believe both. I've never heard of the 'regular' non-multipass referred to as 'scanline' before, why is it called that? I've been using 'scanline' for most of my recent renders lately because I find any multipass over 1 kills the dynamics of my hair....

 

ANYWAYS...for those wondering what effect our 'Fisheye' lens will give...see the attached YouTube link for an 'overdone' example.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished a TV spot where BensLens4 proved to be quite helpful!

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xgHDIqj23Sc

 

The 'Hash-made' 3D gets covered up by some retail imagery, but you can see the fisheye on the 'blueprint' in the beginning. I really like the imperfections in the lens...3D is way too 'perfect'.

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  • 1 month later...

Another spot featuring the lens! You can REALLY see it's influence as the words FUNCTION, STYLE and FASHION appear (Note the curvature of the grid lines...they would all be straight with the normal lens!. ) http://youtube.com/watch?v=y29l0h-1yAE

 

ALSO--- I just made another innovation to the lens, an ACTION file with the constraints and offsets applied- making implementation of BensLens even easier. I tried to post it here but this forum does not allow the postings or sharing of action files...strange.

 

ALL I DID was make a new action and set the 'orient like' and 'translate to' constraints to Camera1(default) and saved the action. Now, in a new project and chor- all I have to do is import the lens and drop the action onto it... !

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ALL I DID was make a new action and set the 'orient like' and 'translate to' constraints to Camera1(default) and saved the action. Now, in a new project and chor- all I have to do is import the lens and drop the action onto it... !

Very clever, Mr. Campbell.

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You are so right about computer rendering being "too perfect". The effect of this "lens" model can be very very subtle and yet it adds a subconscious "can't put my finger on it" realism to the final render. I read what you say is being effected by the lens... I kind of understand it... but at the same time... I can't "see" it directly... it works.

 

I haven't played with it myself... or even downloaded it yet (I just found this thread)... I am guessing it is using reflections?

 

I wonder if this could this be used somehow to "reverse" distortion in photos used for rotosopes... I have a ton of trouble with that. ;)

 

-vern

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I wonder if this could this be used somehow to "reverse" distortion in photos used for rotosopes... I have a ton of trouble with that. ;)

-vern

 

 

Hey Vern-

It uses refraction, not reflection. It's simply a lathed object with full transparency and full caustics that sits right in front of your camera, like a lens in the real world. It might be able to help with 'barrel roll' in photos, but since photos are 2D you could usually just get away with the 'Optics Compensation' filter to straighten them out. The beauty of this is that it lives and works in full 3D...so it is no 'filter' or 'trick'.

 

Apparently- most people have no need for it...just like very few pro-photographers have a fisheye lens in their bag. But for that extra bit of realism...or the 'human' visual-touch, or even if you want to widen your field of view without zooming 'wide' or trucking the camera back, it helps!

 

I recently saw a little of the PBS 'The Presidents' where they made good use of a fisheye lens. They did the traditional 'Ken Burns' zooms and pans on historic photos but they got WAY up close to them with a nice wide 'fish'... made it look very modern, very classy. You have to use it like any other tool in your box...there are times to use it times not to.

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  • 2 months later...

Hmm.. for realism maybe Hash should add in more lens affects besides lens flare. A built in fisheye, ghosting, optical reflection and refraction system would be cool. Another thing would a way to add blemishes or dust to a camera but that would be more of a post editing thing.

 

 

Food for thought.

 

Photoman

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