From the course: 3ds Max: Rendering with Arnold

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Shading with ambient occlusion

Shading with ambient occlusion - 3ds Max Tutorial

From the course: 3ds Max: Rendering with Arnold

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Shading with ambient occlusion

- Ambient occlusion is a shading effect that detects the distance between nearby surfaces. It was originally developed to block light from reaching recessed areas in a scene. With Arnold's brute force global illumination, we don't need AO for lighting, but it can still play a role in a shader network. In this case I want to apply a shading effect to this picture frame, where the recessed areas will be a little bit darker. And AO is an easy way to accomplish that. Let's open the material editor and launch the active shade window. I've got a standard surface assigned onto the frame already. Let's control the base color with an Arnold Ambient Occlusion node. Click and drag on the base color input, release the mouse, and choose Maps, Arnold, Surface, Ambient Occlusion. Double-click that new node and rename it Occlusion Frame silver. We see that the color has changed a little bit here. We need to adjust the…

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