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As a prospective Vendor/PA, should I bake Ambient Occlusion in my textures?

chris1972_1b0574948cchris1972_1b0574948c Posts: 6
in Daz Studio Discussion

As a contibuting artist to Cities Skylines at Steam, I always baked AO maps with my models. Items really need AO, otherwise thet can look bland and fake. So my question is, should I continue this practice, or just just let users run an AO pass. My concern is that many users may not go to the trouble to run an AO pass and then my models will look less than they should.On the other hand, if I bake in AO and someone wants to run an AO pass, it will start to get too dark in Corners. I'm assembling textures now, so your advise is important to me at the moment!

Comments

  • StonemasonStonemason Posts: 1,179
    edited March 20
    Generally speaking,No, your color texture maps should have no lighting effects at all. most of us use the PBR texture workflow and render with Iray which is an unbiased render engine. Baking AO creates an unrealistic surface so it's usually something to avoid. In saying that sometimes I do it myself if I want some mesh details to pop. But keep it super subtle.
    Post edited by Stonemason on
  • chris1972_1b0574948cchris1972_1b0574948c Posts: 6

    "Stonemason", thanks for your input. You and I have conversed in the past at Renderosity. I had a New Orleans French Quarter model people seemed to like!

    Thought I would start a new store here.

  • mwasielewski1990mwasielewski1990 Posts: 341

    I'd say it's OK for minor stuff like smaller props, or detail that would require insane amounts of Subd'd geometry to show the desired shading. Absolutely avoid it for characters.

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