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Element 3D V2.2 Help Home

What's New

Installation and Compatibility

Installing Element 3D Specifications & Requirements Installing VCP model packs Updating Element from a previous version

Importing 3D Objects into Element

Importing 3D Objects Supported 3D Formats Exporting 3D Objects for Element 3D Exporting 3D Objects from C4D Object Transform and Anchor Point Settings Importing Pre-Fractured Geometry 3D Object Troubleshooting Baked Animation Sequences Exporting Animated 3D Sequences

Texturing & Materials

Building Materials in Element 3D Material Texture Slots Physical Shaders Standard Shaders Texture Channel Pop-up Environment Textures (reflection map) Reflect Mode Subsurface Scattering Wireframe Material Presets Supported Image Formats Surface & UV Mapping Animated Video Textures Normal Bump Map Creation Minimizing Texture Artifacts Pro Shaders Advanced Material Options Opacity Maps Auto Map Size Limit

Animating 3D Objects

Animation Engine 3D Object Groups Unified Render Particle Replicator Particle Look Baked Animation Options Multi-Object Mode Deform Adjusting the Anchor Point Group Utilities & Null Objects Obj Export Utility World Transform

Extruding 3D Text & Mask Shapes

Extruding Text Use Layer as UV Bevel Presets Bevel Options Tessellation Options

User Interface (Scene Setup)

Scene Setup Hotkeys Preferences Adjusting UI Panels

Compositing Element 3D

Using Depth Compositing World Position Matte Using a Mask with an Element Layer Custom Layer Maps Using Matte Shadow plane Element 3D with 3D Camera Trackers Element 3D & Lens Flare Obscuration Custom Environment maps

Camera & Lighting

Camera Setup Lighting Controls

Render Settings

Physical Environment Lighting Shadows Subsurface Scattering Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) Matte Shadow Fog Motion Blur Depth of Field Glow Reflection Ray-Tracer Camera Cutoff Tips for Large Resolution Comps Render Order & Opacity Maps Optimizing Render Settings & Performance

Sharing & Transferring Projects

Transferring Element 3D Projects and Assets Relinking missing files

Troubleshooting

Licensing Problems Model Browser Empty Plug-In Not Opening Render Problems Installer Errors Unable To Find Solution? MacOS Catalina Issue

FAQ

Element V1 Updates

Element 3D v1.6 Element 3D v1.5

Home > Render Settings > Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

Ambient Occlusion is used to simulate soft shading without casting shadows. Controlling the radius and intensity will help you achieve a specific look, but there are many advanced settings for refining the shading.

There are two types AO, SSAO and Ray Traced. SSAO is faster and provides general shading when objects are close together. Ray Traced provides more accurate shading on corners and objects near each other, but is slower to render.

AO MULTISAMPLING NOTE:

AO Multisampling requires a Recommended supported graphics card. Please look at our supported GPU list here.

SSAO

Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) is selected by default. Turning up the intensity will increase the visibility of the shading. Use the presets to adjust the quality of the AO shading. You can also manually adjust the settings.

Use caution when adjusting Samples and Multisampling, too high and it could overload the GPU.

RAY TRACED

This mode calculate the AO more accurate to get shading in all those small areas. Multisampling is a good way to increase the quality, as well as the Sampling value. Ray Traced values are a little more GPU intense and the values are a bit more sensitive, so it’s best to change values minimally to see the effects.

Decreasing Flickering: Depending on the geometry density, try increasing RTAO Bia and that help AO generate more accurately on the surface.

TROUBLESHOOTING
Crashing: If at one point in the scene the AO crashes where it didn’t in a different camera location, try decreasing the Sample Amount or the Intensity, it could possibly be too much on the GPU

Advanced Options

FXAA AO: On or Off
Multisampling: Increase quality of AO, helps with jagged edges.
Cut-off: Limit render radius of AO.
Matte Intensity: Control the edge of the AO

TIPS FOR EDGE FLICKERING WITH AO

To reduce flickering when AO is on, select Multisampling under the Ambient Occlusions advanced settings. This will render the AO pass large and resample it down to frame size, allowing more detail to be smooth. You can also adjust the adaptive blur settings to fine tune your AO.