[Bf-committers] Better approaches to Defocus?

[Troy Sobotka]

While the compositor is getting an overhaul, I am wondering if there
are possibly better approaches to achieving a defocus cheat than the
current Defocus Node? The Defocus Node delivers wonderful results
under the caveat "When it works."

I realize that Cycles can deliver defocused looks, but it should still
stand that a solid 2D defocus node would be excellent, especially in
the domain of synthetic 2D manipulations.

The Focus Blur plugin seems to yield pretty solid results, albeit
trapped in the 8bpc domain. (http://registry.gimp.org/node/1444) It
would seem that the Z buffer, after a math node or two, would serve
well as a depth map.

Are there any plans currently to refine or replace the Defocus node?

With respect,
TJS