AMBIENT OCCLUSION in VRAY 3.4 for SKETCHUP (TUTORIAL and INDEX)

Ambient Occlusion, or AO for short, is an old rendering technique used as an approximation for true global illumination. Ambient occlusion is necessary in order to emphasize the details of the 3-D objects, specially the edges and corners.

In order for us to understand the importance of ambient occlusion in rendering, let me give you an example from which the AO is applied to a raw rendered image that function as a masking layer which enables to reduce the burnt scene. Here, the rendered image (Garden exterior model) which is done using Vray for SketchUp contains 3-D objects with less details. This burnt scene is primarily due to the material choice (white concrete texture) and the exposure of this material to sunlight. (See image 1 for test render result)

Ambient Occlusion Test Render

Ambient Occlusion Settings

1. Default setting

2. Irradiance Map

3. Ambient Occlusion

4. Ambient Occlusion+ Exposure

Ambient Occlusion Settings

Ambient Occlusion Index

Ambient Occlusion Art work

Thank you for reading!