A valuable tool for creating impressive pictures for mircostock is DOF (Depth Of Field). By simulating the effects of a normal camera you can add that extra bit of realism to your pictures that make them stand out from the rest.
The impression can be intensified when the subject of the pictures itself is not realistic. My example picture shows a fantasy model of a virus which I created right at the beginning of the swine flue craze.
The use of DOF gives the impression of a look through a microscope into a drop of a virus infested liquid. Using green colors for the picture is essential for the potential to sell. In nature, green is the symbol for a healthy environment. But as far as the human body is concerned, green symbolises sickness and decay. This is simply becasue there is nothing green in an on the human body unless we are really very ill. So a green coloring transports the message of the dangerous threat from viruses better than for example red.
How to Set Up Depth of Field in Vue
DOF is turned on in Vue by setting the “Blur” value in the camera options box to a non-zero value.
It is impor
tant to set the focal point of the camera where you want to have the focus on your picture. You can either set it by changing the focal distance in the camera options box, or you can klick on the tiny square at the tip of the line that sticks out from the center of the camera symbol and drag it to the focal point.
Make sure your render options include depth of field rendering. But be warned that rendering pictures with depth of field takes a lot longer than without. Generally, the result will justify the longer rendering time, but when you combine DOF with other time consuming featurs like volumetric clouds, radiosity and materials with subsurface scattering, your picture can take days to complete, if you don’t own a render farm.
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