Anyone actually like Depth of Field?

[s0m3th1ng]

Can't stand it personally.
Makes no sense from a realism standpoint. The background doesn't just get blurry when you focus on an object in front of you...the image is split as well.
And is a huge hit to performance on some games. Thankfully it can be turned off most of the time.

 

[-Drifter-]

Makes no sense from a realism standpoint. The background doesn't just get blurry when you focus on an object in front of you...

Yes... it does. Hold your finger in front of your face, then focus on something in the distance, then on your finger. You'll probably notice everything else gets blurry when you're looking at your finger. That's how your eye works.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Can't stand it personally.
Makes no sense from a realism standpoint. The background doesn't just get blurry when you focus on an object in front of you...
And is a huge hit to performance on some games. Thankfully it can be turned off most of the time.

I know that this is the second message you'll be getting (hopefully in what will become a long line of messages because I think you deserve it) but....Yeah, it kinda does. Do the finger thing the guy above me said. It's pretty obvious.

Anyway, it only bugged me in Uncharted 2, because occasionally, something really tiny, like a leaf or something, would edge itself directly between me and the guy I'm trying to kill, and I'd end up focusing on a plant instead of the armed psycho shooting me.

But other then that, I don't really mind.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Makes no sense from a realism standpoint. The background doesn't just get blurry when you focus on an object in front of you...

Yes... it does. Hold your finger in front of your face, then focus on something in the distance, then on your finger. You'll probably notice everything else gets blurry when you're looking at your finger. That's how your eye works.

Quick somebody screen cap the thread!
This was over in record time.


Depth of field doesn't really effect my gaming experience so much.
Enemies are usually in focus or at least pop into focus when they get close enough to be a threat.
What depth of field does effect is my movie viewing experience. Watching Avatar with the 3D turned off is the most sickening thing the human body can absorb through the eyes.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

I agree with you OP, but not with your reasoning. As Drifter said, your eyes do have a depth of field effect. My problem with DOF in games is that the DOF focal distance is set by the developer, not by my eyes. In other words, the game decides what's in focus - and that isn't necessarily what I'm looking at. I'd rather have no DOF at all than a DOF effect that's just plain wrong.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Seems people misunderstood what I said...I meant that objects get blurry AND the image splits. Adding a cheesy blur to the entire screen other than what you are focusing on doesn't accomplish this.

 

[WolfEdge]

I agree with you OP, but not with your reasoning. As Drifter said, your eyes do have a depth of field effect. My problem with DOF in games is that the DOF focal distance is set by the developer, not by my eyes. In other words, the game decides what's in focus - and that isn't necessarily what I'm looking at. I'd rather have no DOF at all than a DOF effect that's just plain wrong.

DOF can help direct the player's attention to pertinent details and information in a way that's more subtle then, say, an arrow or loss of character control. It's a useful thing to have.

 

[klakkat]

I fucking hate Depth of Field. It hurts my eyes, and is extremely distracting. I never play with it on; it seriously hurts my eyes to the point that I can't play a game using it for more than 5 minutes or so.

Motion blur is even worse. That, DOF, and bloom are the CGI equivalent of shaky-cam.

Also, these. There is no reason to make modern graphics look like film from an old camera. It occasionally works to set atmosphere, but usually it's just annoying.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

I agree with you OP, but not with your reasoning. As Drifter said, your eyes do have a depth of field effect. My problem with DOF in games is that the DOF focal distance is set by the developer, not by my eyes. In other words, the game decides what's in focus - and that isn't necessarily what I'm looking at. I'd rather have no DOF at all than a DOF effect that's just plain wrong.

DOF can help direct the player's attention to pertinent details and information in a way that's more subtle then, say, an arrow or loss of character control. It's a useful thing to have.

That's fine in a cutscene, but during gameplay I'd rather decide for myself what's pertinent.

 

[badgersprite]

I agree with you OP, but not with your reasoning. As Drifter said, your eyes do have a depth of field effect. My problem with DOF in games is that the DOF focal distance is set by the developer, not by my eyes. In other words, the game decides what's in focus - and that isn't necessarily what I'm looking at. I'd rather have no DOF at all than a DOF effect that's just plain wrong.

Yes, this. As you said, in cutscenes it kind of works, because okay that's the character's eyes and they're looking at something, and maybe it shows that they're dizzy or whatever else. But in gameplay it just seems like a lazy way of hiding the rendering distance or making it harder to see what you're trying to look at because the game interprets that you're looking at that little butterfly floating past and not at the gun toting zombie ninja who's shooting at you from a sniper's nest.

Distracting is what it is. It doesn't make me feel more immersed; it makes me think the character is blind in their peripheral vision.

 

[Wolfram23]

I only like it under very specific circumstances. For example if my character goes behind a tree, to be hidden, and my crosshair is on the tree, I don't want DoF to blur the enemies I'm trying to see. Basically I only like it if it's done in a cutscene type even, for example if your character gets shot or something, and is looking at his/her hand with blood on it. But in actual gameplay, I don't much like it.

Also, if I look at my finger right in front of my face the background doesn't exactly go blurry - not like DoF. Mostly I see double of everything, on top of being unfocused.

Anyway... to recap, I don't think DoF is something that should be used heavily in a game. It robs performance while attempting to be "realistic" but ultimately it's also taking away from the eye candy too. I think it needs to be used only for effect, such as in a cutscene or if a concussion explosion goes off nearby and you get blurry vision and that ringing sound. Something like that.

 

[binvjoh]

Unless it's used very subtly I just find it annoying.

 

[Amnesiac Pigeon]

I'd love to see the eye tracking tech that Valve was working on used in depth of field implementaion.

My problem with how its used at the moment is that it blurs based on what my crosshairs above and not what I'm actually looking at.

 

[Tallim]

I like it actually but only if it is applied in moderation. It's usually ok in action games where your POV is changing contantly but I hate it in RPGs where you have characters talking and the background is blurred. The eye likes to wander.

 

[FOXGEAR]

I love Depth of Field, though I sometimes get motion sick if I play games with it for too long.

For realism, it is very important. As people before me have said, it is a natural thing that your own eyes do. It helps gauge distances as well. It improved my Homefront K/D because it helped me gauge how far I needed to throw a grenade.

 

[Woodsey]

I think I've only seen it done properly in Crysis. So yes, when done right.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Makes no sense from a realism standpoint. The background doesn't just get blurry when you focus on an object in front of you...

Yes... it does. Hold your finger in front of your face, then focus on something in the distance, then on your finger. You'll probably notice everything else gets blurry when you're looking at your finger. That's how your eye works.

But you can't switch in games, focus on something in the distance or close by. That, to me, makes it look really weird. In plenty of games I look ahead of me, but stuff in the distance doesn't suddenly get sharp as it would in real life.