How to change focus distance?

[PeteX]

I know that I can define the focus distance using the project settings. But is it possible to change focus distance as part of the animation? I need it for bringing an object in the foreground into focus.

[ddrake]

If you double click on a layer/group there is an option to select "allow animated layer" effects. If you enable this, it will keyframe your layer settings on the timeline when you alter them.

(Not sure if this overrides focus/blur if you already have some depth focus settings enabled for your project, or if you'll get strange results.)

[PeteX]

Thanks for the suggestion, but Focus Distance can't be adjusted from Layer Settings. Still, nice info!

[ddrake]

No, sorry for the misunderstanding... as far as I'm aware there are no "focus settings" for the camera at all within the program, (unless they are the focus vs. distance in project settings)

I was assuming you want to have the camera focused on your scene, but then have a blurred foreground object come into focus.
I was suggesting a way to do this "manually" as you'd want the effect happening on the timeline. (In which case you'd probably want to disable the project depth of field settings to get the look you really want.)

Which version of AS are you using?

[PeteX]

Okay, I get it now: you're talking about using 'Blur radius' in the layer settings to create the blur effect manually. Nice hack!

AS: 9.5 pro