Using the DOF effect in Cinema 4D can be a little tricky for beginners, and it was no different for me when I had just started using VRay. So I've prepared this tutorial to show you how easy it can be once you understand the fundamentals. Creating a scene lighting setup from scratch, and using object based lighting techniques will also be covered.
Step 1
Create a rectangle (Objects > Spline Primitive > Rectangle).
Step 2
Under the settings of this spline, select the "Object" tab, turn on the "Rounding" option, and set the "Radius" value to "100 cm".
Step 3
Add an "Extrude NURBS" to the scene (Objects > NURBS > Extrude Nurbs).
Step 4
Drag the Rectangle object over the Extrude NURBS to make it child.
Step 5
Change the "Movement" section, under the "Object" tab of the Extrude NURBS settings.
Step 6
Select the Extrude NURBS object and make it editable (C key).
Step 7
Click the little plus symbol near the Extrude NURBS object and delete the "Cap 1" and "Cap 2" objects.
Step 8
Switch the viewport to Top view (F2 Key).
Step 9
Select the "Use polygon tool" and then select the "Live selection" Tool.
Step 10
Un-check the "Only select visible elements" section under the live selection tool settings.
Step 11
Now select and delete only the faces which create the right side of geometry.
Step 12
Switch to Perspective view (F1 key), and select the "use edge tool".
Step 13
Select the long edge at the bottom and pull it to create a long face.
Step 14
Now create a "Sphere" (Objects > Primitive > Sphere) with 40 segments and a 30 cm Radius.
Step 15
Copy it two times, and place randomly from near to far (in the viewport).
Step 16
Create a "Cube" (Objects > Primitive > Cube) with the dimensions 380 x 200 x 15 cm.
Step 17
Place this cube object above the spheres (as it will be a light source to illuminate them)
Step 18
Copy this cube object and place it on the opposite side.
Step 19
Add a Camera object (Objects > Scene > Camera).
Step 20
Select "Cameras > Scene Cameras > Camera" to make it the default camera.
Step 21
Position the camera so you can see all of the spheres.
Step 22
Switch to the Top view (F2 key), and select the camera object. Under the "Depth" tab, adjust the "Target Distance" value. As you change the value, the front part of the camera will move. Align it with the object you want to focus on (in other words, the object that you want to be clear).
Step 23
Select all of the sphere objects, and under the "Object" tab, un-check the "Render Perfect" option.
Step 24
To add a VrayPhysical camera tag to the camera object, select the camera, right click, and go to "VrayBridge Tags > VrayPhysical camera".
Step 25
Select this tag, and under the "Sampling" tab, turn on the "DOF on" option and change the "Subdivision" to 12 (Higher values make the DOF effect clearer).
Step 26
To create a new Vray material, go to "File > VrayBridge > VrayMaterial".
Step 27
In the Material Editor, turn on the "Luminosity Layer", and choose a color (I used bright yellow).
Step 28
Copy this material and change the color (i used light blue this time).
Step 29
Now drag and drop one of these materials onto one cube object, and the other one onto the other cube.
Step 30
Enter the "Render Settings" (Cmd+B).
Step 31
Select "VrayBridge" under the "General" Tab.
Step 32
Under the "Indirect Illumination (GI)" tab, choose a final render quality from the "Presets" (I used medium quality).
Step 33
Select the "VrayPhysical camera" tag (added to camera object earlier), and under the "Lens Parameters" tab, change the "F-stop" value to "1", and the "Shutter Speed" to "100". To reduce the strength of the DOF, use higher "F-stop" values. Note: If you use a higher "F-stop" value, you will have to reduce the "Aperture" value, which will lead to a darker render because you will be blocking the light from entering the camera. To balance that problem, you can then use a lower "Shutter Speed" value to allow more time for light to enter the camera.
