maybe i´m not up to date…is there already an ao shader for vray ? similar to the one in mr where you can combine the ao shader with other materials. very very helpful !! and it would save my life at the moment :-/ otherwise i have to switch to mr for the current project…which would not be …nice…
Rumor has it that with 1.5 there will be a AO and RO. http://www.chaoticdimension.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11245
In the mean time try this.
You might like this script then… works with 5, 6, or 7 but Vray 1.42 or higher only. Kinda a faked solution but it’s easy and works pretty well at the higher subdivs.
http://plugins.angstraum.at/vrayao/index.htm
It’s alos in scriptspot if you check there.
yes, i have that script. but as i understand it works more like an “override material”…i need more than “just” the b/w picture…this is the point.
Why not just use a thr VrayDome light… it is essentially the same
You know what I’ve been wondering is, is Ambient Occlusion really faster then GI? If you look at those tutorials out there, you’ll notice that the process requires you to render the scene up to four times. If it was just a simple “add OC pass” step then I could understand it but it starts to look like a hassle in my view.
-=GB=-
can´t use domelight it´s an interior !! i know ao is not really much faster BUT i have moving lights and many many moving people in the scene. and an extra pass has also some disadvantages. in MR the method i think about works very well..but it´s MR…i want the same in vray :-/
There will be an AO shader at some point; if you are interested in its current state, send me an email…
Best regards,
Vlado
would be great…thanks !!!
AO isnt faster then GI by any means, but it is very different from GI. You can do a lot of things you simply can´t with GI (not only Lighting Passes).
It adds a completely different Level of Control as it is not Lightdependent, but only Geometry dependent.
You can use an AO map to control a lot of things.
As an example i used an AO map to control the mixing of a foam material and a water material in a stone basin once. worked like a charm, would be difficult to achieve otherwise and is simply impossible with GI 
You can use it to blend a dirt material into chinks of your model etc etc etc
The possibilites are endless. Just take a look at the thread alrteady mentionend above (http://www.chaoticdimension.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11245)
to see an example of the difference between AO and GI when used as a lightpass.
Thorsten
the domelight only does environmental AO, so does my script, since it uses the domelight.
more interesting would be AO on shader level.
i’m looking forward to it.
I’m happy to see an ao shader coming to vray. I’ve used one in mental ray and it really comes in handy. In my experience its way faster than gi and of course it doesn’t flicker. The best thing about it is that it works well in situations with large ranges of detail where gi has trouble.
V Miller
Seems to me, everyone wishing for a shader based AO solution, are actually just asking for a dirt map shader. Or am I missing something?
AO IS a Dirtmap shader
Thorsten
I don’t see any dirt here bclass 
AO does seem to have some value .
A dirtmap shader will do exactly that Eric, and you won’t have to clean up the dirt afterwards
yeah I know , and it makes sense that the same topography that would block ambient light would also block the forces that would remove any dirt buildup from a surface, it is really just different names. I guess what you use it for would determine whether to call it AO or Dirtmap.
…or foam map for that matter 
@vlado.. thanks for the offer …my mail is info@kunstraum.tv
what current state is the shader in vlado? im having to resort to mentalray AO at the moment. would be usefull if i didnt have to as I have many scenes that will need converting. which all takes time.
:shock: