Below are the web-tutorials I used to create an Ambient Occlusion Map;
http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/maya/video_tutorial_baking_ambient_occlusion/ambient_occlusion_01.php
http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=1107#.URVKKqyEx8E
And here are some screenshots and notes of the process;
Above is a video showing how to bake the ambient occlusion into the Texture Maps.
In short though, if you change your shelf to; Rendering. Then go to Lighting/Shading> then Batch Bake (mental ray) > then click on the options square on the right side of it to open up the option window.
http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/maya/video_tutorial_baking_ambient_occlusion/ambient_occlusion_01.php
http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=1107#.URVKKqyEx8E
And here are some screenshots and notes of the process;
Here are two screenshots of my building the first time I baked an Ambient Occlusion Map onto it; notice the grainy appearance of the facade. I think this was due to my settings, because I changed the pixel ratio to a much higher number, and further layed out my UVs and it seemed to solve the issue.
Can you also see that in the above screenshot my wooden 'planks' have a highly pixelated texture on them - this was due to me overlapping their UVs. I rearranged the wood UVs and gave them their own texture map, re-baked it and the problem was fixed. However the rest of the model then had a very grainy effect on it, so I went back once more and adjusted the settings.
Below is a final screenshot of my ambient occlusion-ed building;
Tutorial Time!
In short though, if you change your shelf to; Rendering. Then go to Lighting/Shading> then Batch Bake (mental ray) > then click on the options square on the right side of it to open up the option window.
BEFORE YOU DO THIS MAKE SURE YOU SAVE AS.... "AMBIENT OCCLUSION BAKE" OR SOMETHING, JUST IN CASE THE WORST HAPPENS.
1) Make sure that you have selected all the objects you wish to be included in your amb. occ. bake. And that this drop-down menu does in fact read: Selected.
2) Make sure that you are baking to the Texture, and not something else.
3) Make sure that this check box is checked, so that you can continue to change the options. (4 onward)
4) Make sure that this drop-down menu reads Occlusion.
5) Set the occlusion rays to something decent like 65 (which is the preset) setting it to 100 will make your occlusion map more crisp, but it may break your computer in the process!
6) Set up the resolution to match the size of texture you plan on using for your diffuse maps.
7) Set the file format option to something easy to work with. Choosing JPEG here will make it all run through faster, but you may lose some quality.
8) Click Convert and Close.....and wait in anticipation. When the batch bake is complete your scene will change and it will show the Amb Occ Map. (eg: white with grey/black shading)
Finally, here's a tutorial suggested by Erick Hurtado which includes Ambient Occlusion, but goes much further;
Finally, here's a tutorial suggested by Erick Hurtado which includes Ambient Occlusion, but goes much further;
Pretty sweet find! Hope you don't mind me sharing another link to a video I found awhile back: http:
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=ybRe-9Mq2eo
It goes over how to get high quality wireframes. Pretty much what you have plus a few extra steps.
Again, great post... keep sharing!
Hi Erick,Thanks for the link, I hope to keep posting Maya How-To's as they are as much help to me as anyone else!
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