[Tutorial] Easy, Quick, Ambient Occlusion in MAX

[TheCorey]

Originally Posted by Grizzly3D

Can i not automatically flatten UVs? Ive already unwrapped my model how i want it :S

Well you should unwrap your model to your likings before you render an AO. Otherwise it wouldn't fit on your diffuse.

[3rdman]

Can someone do a jpeg version of this but for MAYA 2008? Many Thanks!!!

[Tiros]

Additionally, one could add a second unwrap and use it as a shadowmap on the second channel, but tthat'd mean you've got an extra map on there draining your performance, so preferably multiplying it with your diffuse would be the way to go

[ads]

Thanks, I'm a Maya user and haven't used Max in years. Very helpful.

[sampson]

any requests for another tutorial?

[nikwing]

a tutorial to do low poly vegetation will be nice...

[Philly13]

Awesome tutorial, really helpful Thanks bud!

[sampson]

i just found out you can skip a few steps (assigning a white material) and choosing "lighting map" not complete map.

You also may want to desaturate the AO map in photoshop as it has a blueish tint 99% of the time

[psychodaddy]

hey. thanks for the tutorial. really helpful. but i was wondering one thing, how come when im baking the ao pass my uvw modifer is reseted and it seems as if i havent done any uv'ing eventhough ive fixed up the maps ? it seems that ao is rendered to another uv map

edit: ive figured it. when rendering to texture in the mapping coords tab u need to have the "use existing chanell" marked and asign the channel u mapped uv to.

btw is it just my pc (4 cpu cores, 8gb ram, gforce 9800gx2) or AO passes are rendered ao so slow ? (around 7-10 mins for a 470 tris)

[Whoot]

I use this setup nowadays. Just discard these: (step 6,7,8,9, (the projection setting in 10) and 11).
I've been using this for a bit and i really like the results and speed of it.

ShadeMaps