show DOF ring from schematic views in perspective

[FlashDS]

I want to precisely judge where my focus is for a very shallow depth of field. In the schematic views there is a ring showing the radius of the camera's focal distance, but not in the perspective view. If I have a camera positioned off one of the axes from it (ie. not along the x, y, or z axes with the subject), I can't judge the distance without doing many test renders.

I'm not feeling very intelligent at meeting this dilemma, so I figured I'd ask the masses.

Thanks

[toby]

parent a null to the camera, (with parent-in-place OFF), move the null along the Z until it's at your object, then look at the Z value of the null

[FlashDS]

Thank you. It's a similar technique to autofocus in Digital Confusion, but I hadn't made the connection. That will definitely solve the issue.

[Lightwolf]

Parent a NULL to the Camera (Parent in Place OFF)
Object->Custom Object->Depth-of-Field
Presto, this even shows the near and far planes.

BTW, this is mentioned in the LW 7.5 PDF! (So I could have answered with a RTFPDF :D hmm...)

Cheers,
Mike :p