Fast Bokeh Pro is a plug-in for After Effects that creates a smooth Depth of Field bokeh blur using a Depth Map. It’s very fast, handles edges properly and easy to use.

Why Another Lens Blur Plug-in?

Fast Bokeh Pro is different from all the other Lens Blur plug-ins out there because of the following features.

1. Very fast and blur radius independent.
2. Handles edges properly.
3. Gaussian/Spherical/Polygonal (HQ) Bokeh Blur.
4. Custom Image Bokeh Shapes.
5. Zone Control for Segmentation.
6. GPU Acceleration using Metal/Compute.

What’s New In v2.0

Fast Bokeh v2 comes with some great new features like Custom Image Bokeh Shapes, Zone Control and most importantly GPU Acceleration using modern technologies like Metal/Compute.

Promo

Nicola Destefanis created this beautiful video that uses Fast Bokeh Pro extensively.

Blur Radius Independent

Unless you’re using Custom Bokeh shapes, Fast Bokeh’s performance only depends on the image size, but not the amount of blur applied, so you can expect a near constant render performance.

No Hard Edges

Object boundaries are expanded and edges are handled properly as expected. There are still limits because the plug-in doesn’t have information about occluded objects in the render, but it does a reasonable job in avoiding hard edges and halos as much as possible.

Iris Shapes

This plug-in creates a smooth Gaussian-like fast blur or Spherical and Polygonal Iris (Hexagon, Pentagon, Octagon and more) shaped Bokeh Blur. Gaussian like Aperture Blur is lightning quick while Spherical and Polygonal shaped Aperture Blur is very high quality yet still reasonably quick.

Spherical and Polygonal Bokeh Blur while not as fast as Gaussian, is still radius independent and very performant.

Custom Iris Shapes

Custom Images can also be used as Iris shapes to create special image shaped Bokeh. Compatible GPU is recommended for best performance.

Anamorphic Bokeh

Adjust Iris aspect ratio settings to achieve ‘Anamorphic’ looking Bokeh Blur.

32 bit colors

32 bpc is not only supported, but also recommended for best quality.

Focus Point Selection

Use a point parameter to select the focus point automatically without having to enter the focus depth manually.

HQ Rendering

Adjust render quality for Spherical and Polygonal apertures or choose Polygonal HQ option for the best quality.

Linear Color Space

Support Linear Color Working Space for photo-realistic compositing.

Highlights Adjustment

Adjust the brightness and saturation of the blur highlights to get a more cinematic effect.

GPU Acceleration

Fast Bokeh can optionally utilize GPU to accelerate the render. GPU acceleration is built using the latest GPU compute technologies, hence a recent GPU that supports Metal 2 on macOS and GL 4.3 on Windows is required for GPU Rendering.

Zone Control

Fast Bokeh v2 introduces the concept of Zones. You can split the scene into multiple zones and blur them separately. For a quick overview, please watch the video below.

Quick Overview

Here is a quick overview for Fast Bokeh v2

Compatibility:

After Effects CS6 and Creative Cloud. Tested with CC 2017, CC 2018, CC 2019, CC 2020, CC 2021, CC 2022. macOS 10.14 and above or Windows 7 and above.

Important Note:

It is recommended to use Depth Maps without Anti-aliasing for best results.

Pro Features:

Spherical/Polygonal Aperture/Custom Image Bokeh Blur, Highlights, Anamorphic Bokeh, Linear Color Working Space, Zone Control and Quick Focus Point parameters are ‘Pro’ features and require the plug-in to be registered with a license key. If the plug-in isn’t registered and you’re using the ‘Pro’ features, a watermark is rendered. If you’re not using ‘Pro’ features a watermark isn’t rendered.

Upgrade

Fast Bokeh Pro v2 is a free upgrade for all registered users of Fast Bokeh Pro v1. Just install the latest version and enjoy the new features!

Installation Instructions

Extract the zip file and run the installers.