Marc Russo with a method for creating depth of field render in Maya by setting up an old-school luminance layer that can be used to render a pass for a depth of field blur in compositing in something like After Effects.

Marc Russo notes on his tutorial: “This is one way of creating a depth of field render with Maya. First we will set up a render layer called luminance depth pass, then we will bring that layer to After Effects in part 2 and create a shallow depth of field. Using a luminance pass to create a depth of field effect in After Effects. Combining the Lens Blur with a luminance pass created in Maya it is easy to achieve a shallow depth of field effect. This tutorial also runs through how to use any gray scale comp to get a depth of field in your final render.”