I want to achieve a non-realistic render using toon shaders and edge rendering, but want to use depth of field as well. This is, of course, a non-issue for the actual geometry. But how can I use the depth of field information I create on the edge rendering? Sorry, I’m still very new to Blender and the result I want is very specific. I just want to know how to go about setting this up right away since I’m focusing on the visual style for my project before I do a lot of modeling. I saw a film recently, which I assume was Japanese because of the anime style, and the title is Sky Blue. There was some very well done depth of field in the animation, and it was dynamic, not just blurred backgrounds for instance. Whenever a character or object was blurred in the film, its lines blurred with it. If the lines stayed in focus that would of course kill the effect. So if you’ve seen the film, you should know exactly what I’m talking about. Anyway, I hope someone can give me a lead on how to accomplish this.
You need to decide on a render engine first. Each one handles DOF and Toon differently.
I’m not too sure which render engine I’ll use in the end, but it will most likely be Cycles or the default Blender engine. I don’t think I’ll be using toon shaders anymore, but instead try to do a shading style similar to the one Valve created for Team Fortress 2. However, I still intend on using edges and depth of field. I’ve uploaded some screenshots as requested that demonstrate the depth of field effects used in ‘Sky Blue’. As I learn more about nodes I’m starting to get an idea of how this effect may be accomplished, but it’s always nice to have input from other people.
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I’ll probably end up using cycles. Maybe the default engine… but most likely cycles. I’m too new to Blender to say for sure. Anyway, I’m straying from the idea of using actual toon shaders and going for a more semi-realistic/illustrative look, like Team Fortress 2. As for screenshots from ‘Sky Blue’, here are some links. Sorry I they didn’t get posted sooner, I guess I can’t post images from movies for reference. So I’ve resorted to Imgur.
Awesome! Thanks for the help.