FakeAOCPU is a Screen Space Ambient Occlusion postplugin: 2input, input1 - Depth, input2 - Color
FakeAOCPU can be used for Composite and CameraPostEffect. (Thank you sgross!)

System requirements:
SSE2 Enabled PC, Windows, A:M V16 32bit

Limitation of FakeAOCPU:
FakeAO does not work right in RenderToWindow.
Motionblur cannot be used together.
AO is calculated only with seen objects.
All transparency are ignored.
Some manual image oversampling is necessary.

Limitation of FakeAOCPU free version:
MaxSamplingLevel = 3, MaxSamples = 12

Properties:
Intensity: Intensity of FakeAO output.
Gamma: Gamma correction factor.
SamplingLevel: This value controls AO quality and computing time. When one level increases, computing time and AO quality increase by twice.
Samples: Number of Occlusion samples. A larger number makes Occlusion reach far away.
Distance: The linear attenuation distance of Occlusion.
Dark Color: Color of Occlusion.
Distribute: Distribute factor of Occlusion.
Distribute Random: Distribute Occlusion at random.
AdaptiveBlur: AdaptiveBlur which depends on Z distance. Blur with another object can be avoided.
AdaptiveBlur Distance: Defines Far Z Distance.
AdaptiveBlur Far: Blur percentage when Z Distance is farther than Far Z Distance.
AdaptiveBlur Near: Blur percentage when Z Distance is 0.
Camera FocalLength: Please set the same value as the Camera FocalLength.
Test OnlyAO: Enable OnlyAO mode.
Test TimeDisplay: Enable display computing time and bench mark.

Files:
plugin Click to view attachment
sample project Click to view attachment
video tutorial Click to view attachment

Wow, thanks. I'm gonna have to play with this

Very exciting!

I'm eager to try it!



Thanks jumping in on this! What's next?

Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

SWEET! I don't know what most of all that means...but, SWEEET! So, as a post-plugin(I've never used post-plugins before) it works AFTER the file has been rendered and then it applies its 'voodoo'... using depth-matte info...?

A little blurb on how it is used would be AWESOME.

So, if this is the 'free version', does that mean there will be a commercial version in time?

You are fantastic!

Very nice!
I'll check that out, but it looks very promising!
Thank you very much for the afford and all the work jenpy .

WIll it work on a 64bit-system with A:M v16 64bit too?

*Fuchur*

very cool... will there be a mac-version, too?

Thank you for the hard work on this.

Now I'll have to install the 32 bit version til the 64 bit version is available.

If you install 32-bit V16 after you install 64-bit v16 go to your Options folder and check that your Folders are pointing to the plugins in your A:M install in your "Programs (x86)" folder

If I render the sample PRJ without changing anything I get something like this.

Click to view attachment


What sort of settings do i need to change to get a more AO look?

Hmmmm...mine doesn't look like yours. This is beta 3 32 bit, haven't installed beta4, nor 64 bit.

Robert, I got the same thing when using the quick render. Try rendering to file.

Mine was a render to file.

Hmm, make sure the depth buffer is turned ON.

yes, I needed to turn on Use Camera Settings.

I got a much better result then.

I'm just getting black frames when I try to build my own scene. What am i doing wrong?

It's hard to say without more info or a project.

You can simply add a folder to this path in Your folder settings , the 64bit version is loading only plugins with a "_64" suffix before extension , where the 32 bit version is loading only
plugins with this suffix .

Here's a test scene built from scratch. It does get an image but not the right one.

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I noticed that in the chor/camera/posteffect/ - the depth wasn't set on the first input for fakeAO, I changed it.

I have seen what you have posted but mainly when I render onscreen. I have also gotten results that are inconsistent (when playing around with other things). There is something funny about where the render params are coming from - even if one says "use camera settings" - sometimes changing them on the fly works, sometimes not

I can't figure out why, what, how, when

I see. By default they are both "color" but the first one must be changed to "depth".

Correct

heres a render with no lights, AI=100 (color =white for background as well as global)

I am gathering that in order to see any bump maps - one also has to have a light

1) No lights. with fake ao (ai=100)
2) rimlight 50%, with spec,diffuse white, AI= 50, NO fakeAO
3) same as #2, but WITH fake AO

And here is one of those funnies like yours - all I did was turn post effect processing back on, and change rim shadow darkness to 100 from 80

EDIT: I tried a variety of things to try to get back to original settings, but no dice. When I tried to save chor, A:M crashed. It is my experience when something starts being funny - that closing A:M, and reopening sometimes helps to reset stuff.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment
Buffers-Depth is disable for JPEG output.
Please use PNG or OpenEXR output.

Click to view attachment
SSAOTest.prj - CameraPosteffect - input1 is Color.
Please change to Depth.

Thats impressive.

Any chance we could get a tutorial?

There is a Quick-Start-Video-Tutorial in the first post guys... just have a look at it. You may find it very useful since it describes all the necessary steps needed in detail.

*Fuchur*

Jenpy... you rock in so many ways. This really is revolutionary.
Really quick test using ambient white objects. Two things I have found. Use Multipass set to 1, and set it to a higher res if you are just generating an Ambient Occlusion pass and if you generate and layer two passes you can emphasise the edges in different ways. This rendered in 10 seconds at a fullHD resolution.
Click to view attachment
So is there a non free version coming with even more amazing results? and is there a 64k version in the works?

Nancy, there was one time when I had the same result, but when I closed the Project and reopened it, it rendered fine ... for what it's worth...

Here are some of my tests:
My FakeAO settings:
Click to view attachment

Normal Render 0:14
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real AO 3:40
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fake AO 0:17
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fakeAO Only
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*********************************
Normal Render 0:16
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Real AO (with transparency ON) 5:14
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Fake AO 0:16
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FakeAO Only
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Very cool!

I although like the characters really much!
Astronauts ahead!

*Fuchur*

I think this should get a better name than "FakeAO"

Dont know... maybe FastAO but it is a very describing name and I like that.

This is really interesting and I'm sure it will continue to get better.

HomeSlice, were there any lights in your render tests or was it just FakeAO?

Right now I would give the edge to the "Real" AO, based on your tests. Do you think that, in the close ups of the girl's face, the options for FakeAO could be fiddled with to more closely match the original AO. It just seems a little harsh. Can you get it softer?

Thanks for showing the tests.

Joe.

If I look at the tests Jenpy posted of the TinWoodman scene it looks like broader, softer AO can be gotten with larger settings. However this free version of FakeAO is restricted to smaller settings.

I think this FakeAO will be a real boon in indoor situations where real AO doesn't get you much usable Occlusion effect at all because the walls and ceiling are blocking all the Ambiance.

I missed that one - where is that?

Nice characters Holmes.

Thanks Fuchur!


The fakeAO tests had the default chor lighting.
The real AO tests had the keylight disabled.

FakeAO is just a normal render with some post rendering wizardry, so you need lights. I guess you could do without the keylight if you composite the fakeAO-ONLY render on top as an Ambiance layer in a video editor, but I haven't tried that, so don't know for sure.


Yes, you can fiddle with the settings to get a softer effect. I used the same settings in the group shot and the closeup to see what the same settings would look like from far away vs close up. I think upping the Ambiance Intensity might also soften things up a little. I might try a flat shaded render with FaeAO just to see what happens... I can't complain about the render times though!

The "distance" property seems to relate to how far away objects are from one another before one object will affect the shading of the other. Has anyone else experimented with the Distance property?

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=338232

ah ha!...I see you did the secret trick by scrolling down the page...that's cheating. Thanks

Yesterday I tried with flat shaded, and also AI with klieg. The more AI, the more it washes out shading on model, but not the shadows cast by model. All have fakeAO

these are my questions too

I'll have to agree with JohnArtBox on the fact that as an AO Pass only option, this is revolutionary. 10 seconds on an AO pass in HD vs 20 minutes or more....... Enough said right there. A compositing App can mine gold out of this cave with incredible results Until now, there hasn't been an efficient cave to extract it from out of Hash.

Awesome Jenpy!!

Thanks Nancy. Sorry I missed that earlier

Interesting tests, Nancy.

You can vary the darkness of the AO effect by varying the "Camera Focal Length" Parameter. Larger numbers make darker crevices.

This appears a somewhat different variation than the "Gamma" parameter creates although I haven't tested either fully.

Click to view attachment

The "Distribute" parameter affects the size of the AO shadowing:

Click to view attachment

I'm finding it's a bit more complex than that. Depending on other settings a larger "Distribute" can make smaller looking shadows sometimes.

I recommend you experiment with changing settings in the Composite project that is automatically created when you render with FakeAOCPU, then you can see the result of parameters changes instantly without having to re-render

Interesting plugin. Settings can easily get a pencil sketch

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

HATS OFF TO JENPY!

I finally DL'd V16/32 and gave his post-plugin a try... IT ROCKS! I can't believe the difference it makes in character animation! This test was only 3 passes(6sec per frame!)... I dinked with the fakeAO settings only a little bit...don't even know what I changed- uppped the sample size I think...

The tutorial was great... everything was EASY! Just the way i like it.

THIS FAKE AO IS AWESOME!

This plug only works in 32bit?
I can't seem to see it in the 64bit one.