Introduction

This script renders an ambient occlusion pass with VRay from any scene, without changing anything. There is no need to prepare the scene in any way either.


What is Ambient Occlusion

Please visit this links for general information about ambient occlusion, and its purpose:

http://www-viz.tamu.edu/students/bmoyer/617/ambocc/
http://zj.deathfall.com/img/ambocc_dia.jpg
http://www.andrew-whitehurst.net/amb_occlude.html

VRay 1.5 or higher is required for the script to run!
If you are using VRay 1.46, there is an older version available, without dirtmap features.
 

Methods

Dirtmap
Every surface is illuminated and contributes to the lighting solution.
It is even possible to render indoor rooms without windows.

Skylight
Light is coming from a spherical or hemispherical skydome.


Dirtmap Options

Radius
This parameters determines the amount of area (in scene units) where the dirtmap effect is produced.
Increase the radius for more contrast.

Skylight Options

Sphere
Light is coming from everywhere.


Dome
Light is coming from a hemispherical dome above the horizon.


Image Sampling

Optimized rQMC Anti-Aliasing
When activated, an optimized image sampler is used with the best quality/performance ratio for the ambient occlusion output.
Since it adapts to the current noise level based on the subdivs, no further settings are nessecary.


Quality

Increase the Subdivs to reduce noise and improve image quality.
Good values are between 8 and 64 subdivs.

8 Subdivs
Noise is clearly visible.


16 Subdivs
Noise is much reduced, rendertime doubles.
 

get it here:

ml_vrayao2.zip

Requires:
3dsmax 5.0 or higher.
Autodesk VIZ 5 or higher.
VRay 1.5 or higher.


for older VRay versions:
Version 1.0:
ml_vrayao.zip (old version)

for VRay 1.46 or higher.

by downloading this files you agree to the EULA.
 

03/14/2009

-) fixed rare bug with "error opening bitmap" on some systems.

11/7/2006 2.0

-) major update for vray 1.5 and higher
-) new "dirtmap" method
-) optimized rQMC image sampler
-) improved skylight method

10/25/2006 1.2

-) max9 and vray 1.5 compatibility added
-) fixed a bug with some light types in the scene

11/23/2004 1.01

-) fixed a bug with crashing target-spotlights

11/19/2004 1.0 Initial Release
 

dirtmap with radius of 1m


dirtmap with radius of 10m


dirtmap with radius of 50m