Bracer Jack | Fake DOF in AfterEffects in 2 Mins ! @BracerJack | Uploaded May 2016 | Updated October 2024, 5 days ago.
Script:
How to fake Depth of Field in AfterEffects under 2 minutes.
Let’s go !

Create a new layer and mask out the object you want to be in focus.

Duplicate the original layer again, name the lowest layer as “original”, the middle layer as “gradient mask”, and the top layer as the object in focus.

Depending on your scene, the things further away might be towards the center, side, or to the top like in this particular scene, hence for this scene, I’ll do a simple broad mask to isolate the top portion, feather it to achieve a mask gradient and blur the resulting layer using fast blur like so:

Put all the layers together and we almost have it.
This is the fun part where we blur the background to our liking and move the mask layer to adjust the “DOF” effect in real time !

Finally, feather the focus layer mask a little to smooth out the edge transition.

Again, these are the layers to clarify it for you.

Remember, even though we have taken general perspective into account, faked DOF only looks realistic when the effect is subtle so...don’t push it.

See you soon :-)

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