ANR Depth Look
Adds what a depth pass makes possible to the plate: fog and haze by distance, a near and far grade, ambient occlusion, a new light with cast shadows.
- Utility
- Comp & Depth pack
- 2 inputs
- 60 controls
Overview
Depth Look changes the plate by distance, using the distance pass of ANR Depth Prep. Choose one Effect per node and stack nodes for more.
Atmosphere adds fog and haze that thicken with distance, with optional height fog that thins upward and drifting fog banks; Colour From Plate takes the haze colour from the farthest part of the shot. Depth Grade blends a near grade into a far grade by distance; its default is a gentle aerial perspective. Ambient Occlusion darkens creases and contact areas.
Relight adds a directional or point light to the plate, with soft cast shadows worked out from the depth, and Cast Shadows gives only the shadows that light would throw. Positions and sizes are in the Depth Prep's units, and the lens comes from the Depth Prep unless you set a custom one.
Inputs
- Sourcerequired
The plate to change.
- Depthrequired
An ANR Depth Prep with Output on Depth; its focal length and aperture are read through the wire. Any other image is read as distance from its red channel, with the Custom lens.
Output. The plate with the effect applied, blended by Mix. Output > Pass Only gives just the effect's own pass (fog amount, grade blend, occlusion, light or shadow) in every channel, to use in your own comp.
Quick start
- Make a distance pass with ANR Depth Prep (Output on Depth), calibrated to real units if you can.
- Add ANR Depth Look. Connect the plate to Source and the Depth Prep to Depth.
- With Effect on Atmosphere, raise or lower Density until the far distance hazes the way you want; Start keeps the foreground clear.
- For a new light, set Effect to Relight, open Light, and set Azimuth and Elevation (or choose Point and drag Position in the viewer).
- Use Mix, or Output > Pass Only with your own Merge, to balance the result.
The panel
The node's panel as Nuke shows it, with the values of a new node. Click any control to see what it does; tabs and sections work as in Nuke.
No control matches.
All controls
ANR Depth Look60 controls
- StatusStatus
status Where the distances and the lens come from.
- EffectMenu
dlEffect Atmosphere: fog and haze by distance.
Depth Grade: a near grade and a far grade, blended by distance.
Ambient Occlusion: darkening in creases and where things meet.
Relight: a new directional or point light on the plate.
Cast Shadows: only the shadows that light would throw.- OutputMenu
dlOutput Pass Only: just the effect's own pass (fog amount, grade blend, occlusion, light, shadow) in every channel, to use in your own comp.
- MixSlider
dlMix Blend the result over the plate.
Lens
- LensMenu
dlLensFrom From Depth Prep: use the Focal Length and Aperture on the Depth Prep feeding the Depth input.
- Focal LengthSlider
dlFocal Custom lens, mm.
- Horizontal ApertureSlider
dlAperture Custom film back, mm.
- QualityMenu
dlResolution Resolution for Ambient Occlusion and shadows. Half is usually indistinguishable and four times faster.
Atmosphere
- Fog ColourColour
dlFogColour The colour of the haze.
- Colour From PlateCheckbox
dlFogFromPlate Take the fog colour from the farthest tenth of the plate each frame (sky, horizon), so it matches the shot.
- DensitySlider
dlFogDensity How thick, per unit of distance. 0.03 hides about half of what is 23 units away.
- StartSlider
dlFogStart No fog nearer than this.
- Max OpacitySlider
dlFogMax The most the fog may cover.
- Height FogCheckbox
dlFogHeight Thicker near the ground, thinning with height (camera-space Y).
- Ground HeightSlider
dlFogGround Height Fog: where the fog is its full Density, in camera-space Y (the camera is 0).
- Height Fall-offSlider
dlFogFalloff Height Fog: how fast it thins going up.
- NoiseSlider
dlFogNoise Break the fog up into drifting banks.
- Noise SizeSlider
dlFogNoiseSize Size of the fog banks, in distance units.
- DriftXYZ
dlFogDrift How far the fog banks move each frame (X, Y, Z).
- Fog The SkyCheckbox
dlFogSky Also cover the sky (infinitely far) with Max Opacity.
Depth Grade
- NearSlider
dlGradeNear Where the Near grade is fully on.
- FarSlider
dlGradeFar Where the Far grade is fully on.
- BlendMenu
dlGradeCurve How the grades mix between Near and Far. Even To The Eye blends in 1/distance.
- Near GainColour
dlNearGain Multiplies the plate's colour where the Near grade is fully on: at the Near distance and closer.
- Near OffsetColour
dlNearOffset Added to the colour after the gain, at the Near distance and closer.
- Near GammaSlider
dlNearGamma Gamma of the Near grade, applied after gain and offset; above 1 lifts the mid-tones, below 1 darkens them.
- Near SaturationSlider
dlNearSat Saturation of the Near grade: 1 keeps the colour, 0 is grey, above 1 is richer.
- Far GainColour
dlFarGain The default is a gentle aerial perspective: cooler, flatter, lifted.
- Far OffsetColour
dlFarOffset Added to the colour after the Far gain, at the Far distance and beyond, including the sky. The default lifts the blacks slightly toward blue.
- Far GammaSlider
dlFarGamma Gamma of the Far grade, applied after gain and offset; above 1 lifts the mid-tones.
- Far SaturationSlider
dlFarSat Saturation at the Far distance and beyond; the default 0.7 flattens distant colour.
Ambient Occlusion
- RadiusSlider
dlAoRadius How far around each point to look for occluders, in distance units.
- StrengthSlider
dlAoStrength Multiplies the occlusion before it darkens the plate: 0 turns it off, above 1 darkens creases more.
- DirectionsSlider
dlAoDirections More is smoother and slower.
- StepsSlider
dlAoSteps Samples along each direction.
- BiasSlider
dlAoBias Ignore gentle slopes: raise it if flat ground goes grey.
- BlurSlider
dlAoBlur Depth-aware smoothing, in pixels.
- Occlusion ColourColour
dlAoColour What fully occluded multiplies toward. Black is classic AO.
Light
- LightMenu
dlLightType Directional: like the sun, set by Azimuth / Elevation. Point: a bulb at Position.
- AzimuthSlider
dlLightAzimuth Directional: 0 is from the camera, 90 from the right, -90 from the left, 180 from behind.
- ElevationSlider
dlLightElevation Directional: 0 is level, 90 is straight down from above.
- PositionPosition
dlLightPos Point light: where it is in the frame. Distance says how far from the camera.
- DistanceSlider
dlLightDist Point light: distance from the camera.
- ColourColour
dlLightColour The colour of the new light. It multiplies the plate's own colours, as light falling on the surfaces would.
- IntensitySlider
dlLightIntensity Brightness of the new light and its highlight.
- Fall-offMenu
dlLightFalloff Point light: how it fades with distance.
- Fall-off DistanceSlider
dlLightFalloffDist Point light: the distance scale of the fade.
- ModeMenu
dlLightMode Add Light: the plate plus the new light. Relight: the plate dimmed to Ambient, then lit.
- AmbientSlider
dlAmbient Relight: how much of the plate survives unlit.
- WrapSlider
dlWrap Let light creep round the terminator; softer.
- SpecularSlider
dlSpecular A highlight in the light's colour.
- ShininessSlider
dlShininess Smaller is a broader highlight.
- Normals SmoothingSlider
dlNormalSmooth Pixels of smoothing on the normals the light uses.
- ShadowsCheckbox
dlShadows Relight: let the depth cast shadows.
- Shadow StrengthSlider
dlShadowStrength How much light a shadow blocks: 1 blocks it all, 0 shows no shadow.
- Shadow SoftnessSlider
dlShadowSoftness Degrees of blur in the light's direction.
- Object ThicknessSlider
dlShadowThickness A depth map only sees front faces; this is how deep things are assumed to be. Too big and shadows smear behind objects, too small and thin gaps leak light.
- Shadow LengthSlider
dlShadowLength The farthest a shadow is cast, in distance units. Small values give contact shadows.
- Shadow StepsSlider
dlShadowSteps More catches thinner occluders.
- Shadow ColourColour
dlShadowColour Cast Shadows: what full shadow multiplies toward.
Tips
- Fog Density, occlusion Radius and Shadow Length are all in the Depth Prep's units, so the same values look very different on a depth in metres and one in arbitrary units. Calibrate the Depth Prep first.
- Height Fog with Ground Height below the camera (negative) and Height Fall-off gives ground mist that thins upward.
- Fog Noise with a small Drift breaks the fog into banks that move each frame.
- If flat ground turns grey in Ambient Occlusion, raise Bias.
- Quality > Half works out occlusion and shadows at half size, about four times faster and usually indistinguishable.
- In Relight, Mode > Relight dims the plate to Ambient before the light is added, for a real change of lighting rather than an added light.
Good to know
- The node runs no AI model and needs no graphics card.
- A depth map only sees the fronts of things, so occlusion and shadows come from the visible surfaces only.
- The sky and empty background get no occlusion, shadow or new light (with Mode on Relight they are still dimmed to Ambient). Fog covers them only with Fog The Sky on.
Works with
ANR Depth PrepTurns any depth map, AI or CG, into one clean, calibrated distance pass that the other ANR depth nodes read, with edges snapped to the plate and flicker removed.
ANR Depth and Normal CreatorMakes a depth pass, and with MoGe-2 also normals and positions, from any plate with AI, straight into depth.Z, N or P with the plate untouched.
ANR Depth MatteMattes from distance: key everything at a picked depth, split the shot into near-to-far zones, outline depth edges, hold out, insert an element at a depth, or sweep a reveal through the scene.
ANR Normals LightRelights a plate through its normals: up to three new lights with shadows, an HDRI environment, a matcap, or refraction of a background through the surface.
ANR Interactive LightLights an element with footage of a fire, lightning or a screen, through its normals and depth, with shadows from its own shape or from smoke.Something unclear or missing? Write to [email protected].