Ambient Occlusion
Ambient Occlusion is a special render pass that helps add depth and reality to a render. Ambient Occlusion goes by the premise that when two objects or surfaces are close to each other, they reduce the amount of light at the intersection. Ambient Occlusion passes make for great contact shadows and bring out the definition in surface creases and corners very nicely. Figure 11-66 shows an Ambient Occlusion pass for the living room scene from the PDF Global Illumination exercise included on the book’s CD.
Figure 11-66: The Ambient Occlusion pass is black and white and is used to darken areas of the original color render.
How the ...
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