zDepthDOF is a material shader for Mental Ray which renders zDepth images 'ready-to-use' for depth of field simulation. It provides the animator with full keyframable focus control inside Maya.

While zDepthDOF is intended to be used in conjunction with a compositing package, like e.g. Shake, the rendered zDepth images can be used 'as is'. There is no longer a need to re-map grayscale values to distances inside the compositing package (which is often difficult guesswork) or let alone keyframe them, as all this can now be done within the 3D environment inside Maya.

Detailed info as well as simple instructions on how to use zDepthDOF images with Shake can be found here.

Versions available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

Version 1.6 supports full transparency. This is helpful if you use image files as alphas for 'cut-out' stencil effects, for example with sprites.
For more information check out the Latest Additions and the Tips & Tricks section on how to set up transparency.

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