What do I do with an AO map? > > >What do I do with an AO map?

What do I do with an AO map?

burdenadburdenad Posts: 33
in The Commons

I have imported an .obj into DS. The model comes with 6 texture maps: AO, Base Color, Emissive, Metallic, Normal, Roughness. All are .png images.

In Surfaces > Editor, with the object selected, I have applied the Base Color map to 'Base Color' (with white selected as color), Emissive map to 'Emission Color' (with white selected as color), Metallic map to 'Metallicity', Normal map to 'Normal Map', and Roughness map to 'Diffuse Roughness'. Assuming those are all correct (maybe not?), what do I do with the AO map?  

I am very new to manually importing and assigning maps to things so sorry if this is pretty basic... Any advice is much appreciated.

Comments

  • zombietaggerungzombietaggerung Posts: 3,776
    edited February 2020

    AO is Ambient Occlusion. I think it would be used in the Luminance channel,? But I'm not 100% on that.

    Post edited by zombietaggerung on
  • MelissaGTMelissaGT Posts: 2,611
    edited February 2020

    To my knowledge, AO is to help simulate shadow that cannot otherwise be achieved in 3Delight. Thus, with Iray and PBR, there really is no need for it. 

    Post edited by MelissaGT on
  • codex34_f5f1fb6f55codex34_f5f1fb6f55 Posts: 148

    An ambient occlusion map is the self shadows an object makes, in the genesis 3 textures they are baked or overlayed with the diffuse/base channel, not sure if genesis 8 has any baked to the texture. Not sure where it would go either, the diffuse overlay channel?

  • burdenadburdenad Posts: 33

    Thanks for the replies. The object looks pretty good without the AO map so perhaps it isn't relevant in Iray like melissastjames said.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,053

    AO can be useful when creating a color map, because it can create a greater sense of depth and reflect wear.

    So, for example, when I'm working on texture for a creature or prop, I might multiply the color by AO. Or maybe make the light parts (generally more 'exposed') rougher (because of abrasion, maybe?) or less rough (maybe worn down).

    AO is just... super handy to play with, but it's generally used to create or modify the maps before plugging them in.

     

  • burdenadburdenad Posts: 33
    Oso3D said:

    AO can be useful when creating a color map, because it can create a greater sense of depth and reflect wear.

    So, for example, when I'm working on texture for a creature or prop, I might multiply the color by AO. Or maybe make the light parts (generally more 'exposed') rougher (because of abrasion, maybe?) or less rough (maybe worn down).

    AO is just... super handy to play with, but it's generally used to create or modify the maps before plugging them in.

     

    That actually helps a lot. Thank you. I was a bit confused by its presence in the textures set and what I should be doing with it.

  • thomasbrandy2875019177thomasbrandy2875019177 Posts: 59
    edited February 2020

    Roughness is glossy roughness and (if use it),  top coat roughness.

    You can use AO in base color (with lie) in multiply mode.

    Post edited by thomasbrandy2875019177 on
  • rk66rk66 Posts: 448

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion

  • svetlyo81svetlyo81 Posts: 2

    If you're able to use command prompt/terminal you could easily automate the process for example using ImageMagick:

    magick convert basecolor.png ao.png -compose multiply -composite basecolor.png

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What do I do with an AO map? > > >What do I do with an AO map?