Im working towards shooting a short film - and my kit includes using an anamorphic lens to shoot the source footage. There are going to be some effects and 3d elements composited into live action footage from the film…
I wanted to ask what considerations one might take when getting anamorphic source footage for composites? ( its got very different blur characteristics due to the aperture shape being square vs round ) – and
what techniques one might use with Blender to create appropriate elements that will composite well?
Im about to run some tests - and wanted to ask for advice! Any would be appreciated.
just answered my own question again after posting… ha. Ok Ill be trying this shortly…
I think that anamorphic lenses appear to be oval / elongated to the sides to the camera… Im going to see if I match mine in size and scale perhaps as a camera mask it will work with Cycles??
Bokeh and flares are the most obvious artifacts of Anamorphic. Consider that noise is applied after the optical image but you have to stretch the picture when playing back, so the noise gets stretched sideways too. Any CG noise you add (even accidentally) in post must be the same shape.
If it’s just the bokeh you’re looking for, there’s a new option in the blender compositor if you use the latest trunk builds. There’s a “bokeh blur” filter, and a “bokeh shape” input node. If you composite to blow your highlights, input a roundish bokeh shape and connect it up to a bokeh blur, you have wayyyy more control of bokeh in post. You can stretch your bokeh “shape” aswell, and you’ll have a less physically correct setup, but a lot more control over your bokeh, which is what you need when working with more “exotic” lenses.
