Quickly Add Ambient Occlusion (AO) - Redshift - C4D

[@bhavana01123]

Time marker 3:34 to get the answer to the Q: how to plug in the AO node.

[@xpez9694]

this is fine for specific textures but sometimes you want a general AO pass that applies to everything. Especially if you have 100s of textures from a model or model sets. Anyway I found that you can go to Utilities and add a AO material. Then in the AOV manager you make a custom AOV pass then you take the picker where it asks for material and you go up to the AO material you just made and you click on it and it makes a custom AO pass on everything with that material. Its actually real easy....glad to know both ways now...

[@effectatron]

Well to be honest, if you're using GI you shouldn't need AO. But if you want you could apply an AO material to everything and render it out.

[@xpez9694]

@@effectatron yes I agree. But sometimes I like to add just a little more umph in the occluded areas and then adjust the opacity 10-20 percent to give another layer of contrast in the comp.

[@chrismarano2135]

Oh man, thank you! This is exactly what I needed. I just tested it out and it works like a charm

[@flomuller3]

Thanks mate, you saved my day!

[@siegelstudio]

could you do a version of this for the new Redshift? there is no "overall" section anymore. thanks!

[@effectatron]

The rs standard material has overall tint in the geometry section:)

[@MRTOXICO305]

Good stuff man! Keep'm coming!!

[@Tennet3D]

Is it possible to use the AO node and add it as a mask ("Blend color") when mixing materials in Redshift?

[@effectatron]

@Tennet3D yes! It's great for a dirt mask. But curvature node may be better at times. This is a node workflow for mixing like that kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWavhppqac9or8ksi=uT_Q6SZ8Q1D4WUet

[@wonderland4301]

Hey, I'm using Cinema4D's new node material system. Do you know what 'overall color' is now in the node materials?

[@MooseX2012]

did you figure it out?

[@KokoroDenshin]

im new in Redshift, in new node material there is no Overall Colour, but there is Overall Tint under Geometry, not sure if it is the correct way but it seem to work.

[@Chaps-bi5bx]

@@KokoroDenshin You're right. Its overall tint. I fiddled with the overall tint controls and the only one that seems to make a difference is max distance and reflective settings.

[@MrPada143]

OMG LIFESAVER!!!

[@richardbrankin7851]

Loving this!! Any idea where to put custom OCC maps in using the new Redshift Nodes?

[@effectatron]

Yep you can either link them to the color multiply in a diffuse texture node or you can do the same and plug it into geometry overall tint

[@jeremywang6005]

​@@effectatron I can't find Color Multiplier Node? Is it still in Redshift nodes?

[@Brink3d_ldn]

Hey, how about a 2024 update to this?

[@effectatron]

For RS Standard material its AO > Base Properties > Geometry > Overall Tint :)

[@JamesSchofield-f8q]

@@effectatron thankyou!

[@dawoodbadri9744]

i clapped for u and myself for this tutorial

[@Jeet_kumar311]

Excellent.

[@andygagarin3725]

nice tip! thank you

[@aykayorg9236]

Yeah so this adds AO to a specific material... in the beginning you were talking about adding it to the whole scene... how would that work?

[@effectatron]

@@aykayorg9236 you could make a material that's just AO and apply it to all. But honestly AO really isn't needed anymore with GI

[@22two]

And now we need the same video, but where we have a standard scene with a dozen or a hundred materials.

[@effectatron]

You would just have to add the AO to each material. I really don’t know why there’s not a global add AO. You could make just an AO diffuse material with no reflection and put it on everything and then add that in in post but. Kinda sucks, hopefully they’ll make it a post fx rather than a node you have to connect for each one. Kinda tedious but it’ll work.

[@AB-mv1mb]

So this boosts the ambient occlusion of the single object or material right?

[@effectatron]

It is linked to the material. You also can set it to be object specific and not account for where it hits other objects if you want. But yes it adds it to the material, which if that’s on the whole object will add it to the object. You can add this is to any material as well so if you have multiple materials on a single object you can still get the AO on the whole object. AO doesn’t not work well on glass and things like that btw :)

[@Miladismaeelzadeh]

Hi again, it's me. thanks for useful and amazing tutorials. I have a problem with AO and this is driving me crazy. every now and then for no reason my AO is giving me a black render. I add AO node as you said but when I hit render it is just pure black, and sometimes I does not add AO node to my material and just include a AO node material in my project and it is working. what I do wrong?

[@AshleyGlover]

When it comes to image AO maps, do you just plug that texture into the Overall Colour?

[@effectatron]

Yep

[@BVCStudios]

Do you think this method is best, or the method where you pump the AO into the diffuse weight...?

[@effectatron]

It would depend on the material and object. But there are times that would totally work and times it may not as well. Definitely worth trying and seeing if you like the results.

[@JJR3991]

Thanks for this man, really helpful!

[@Tenshivoodoo]

Thank you so much! I too was over complicating it like you, with blends, colour correcting etc. But you saved my butt!

[@SuperPhunThyme100]

Do you even need to create an AO pass if you are rendering with Brute Force GI?

[@juanocybe]

So i have to add the ambient occlussion in each material?

[@Chuck4D]

That creamy yet crisp intro footage tho! Loving the short but sweet tuts! Thanks!

[@effectatron]

Thanks Chuck! Hope you're doing well!

[@GranzDesign]

So I have some AO texture. How do I know which type to use when I drag my AO texture into the AO node? I get Bright, dark spread, falloff, max distance and bias

[@effectatron]

For the AO texture map, plug that into the RS material Overall- Overall Color. You don't need the AO node if you have an AO texture map. :)

[@msaj_jadm]

You teach the software very well 👍🧡

[@effectatron]

Thanks!

[@Sma-v4y]

great, but how to output is as a separate AOV and also to be over the whole scene.

[@effectatron]

I have a course coming out that covers AOVs, but basically you can choose the AO AOV and use a multi-layer OpenEXR.

[@klimaco360]

thanks

[@JoshuaLundquist]

I don't get it, isn't Ambient Occlusion just included in Redshift's native rendering by virtue of it being a physically accurate renderer? I feel like the minute I add an HDRI to the Dome Light, that ambient lighting/shadow shows up...

[@aykayorg9236]

yeah you're right, but some of us want to exaggerate that effect, because physically accurate isn't always desireable

[@JoshuaLundquist]

@@aykayorg9236 No I get it, and I agree AO is important. Unreal's latest iterations may look good but are oddly missing AO in needed places. I think for us who do 3D, there's a realization when you make a scene and render it with say Redshift for the first time, that just an HDRI alone won't get you a sexy image... That by making 3D work, you essentially need to learn to be a photographer / DP / art director, master lighitng and post effects not to mention materials, all within the program.

[@AlexExperimenT]

AO 3:38

[@cww564]

3:40

[@natazer]

So you have to add an ao node for each texture? Really?

[@effectatron]

Correct, but you don't really need to add AO anymore except for stylistic choice. AO was first used because GI was too taxing on your hardware, now GI is pretty fast and AO is mainly used for style or to use as a dirt mask

[@darkman5050]

your not adding it to the scene but to the object....

[@effectatron]

That is how redshift handles AO. Although, you could do an AO only material and apply it to the entire scene then just add that onto the normal render without AO. Basically and AO pass if you want to do an entire scene that already had materials on it