Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
In 3D graphics, ambient occlusion is a global illumination term that measures how much ambient light can reach a surface. Poiyomi's Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) is an approximation of this shadowing that is useful for adding depth and crisp detail shadows.
In order to use SSAO, you will need to place the DepthGet Prefab found in the Assets/_PoiyomiShaders/Prefabs on your avatar.
SSAO is a performance heavy effect, so use it mindfully. Add a toggle for Animatable Toggle below, and for toggling the DepthGet object. Both should be disabled by default and unsaved. In some Worlds, you can get away without activating your depth light!
Animatable Toggle
- Type
- Toggle
This checkbox allows toggling SSAO at runtime.
SSAO rendering is enabled by default. To turn off SSAO in-game, you need to animate this Toggle (checkbox) when creating toggles for SSAO on this Material. Animating the Section Header will not work!
AO Intensity
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to5
Determines how intensely AO will be blended.
AO Radius
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0.0001to0.02
Determines the radius tested for hemispheric visibility check. This controls how far AO shadows can spread out.
AO Quality
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 2to10
This directly controls how many samples from the depth buffer AO takes for each pixel it is run on. If you fill your display with SSAO pixels (common when cuddling, for example) this performance cost adds up. Try starting at 4, and adding .05 jitter. Make sure you evaluate changes in-game and in VR - artifacts isn't generally as noticeable in motion.
Determines how many samples are taken and how they're distributed, whether that would be sharper or smoothened.
Lower Values will make it look more like a cel-shader, while Higher Values will make it look more smooth and cleaner.
Center Importance
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
Weights shadows towards the source of occlusion, making shadow falloff more gradual.
Depth Bias
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to0.2
Clips away the least intense shadows to help reduce visual artifacts.
Cone Bias
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
Reduces shadowing on geometry that isn't actually occluded. Generally, you should use this instead of Depth bias.
Random Jitter
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
Adds a dithered jitter effect which can help mask lower sample counts.
Use Normals
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
0 uses vertex normals, 1 uses per-pixel normals when calculating the SSAO.
Color and Masking
Color
- Type
- Texture Slot
- Accepts
- Color texturesRGB On
Color Map allows the user to map SSAO shadow color using a texture.
Mask
- Type
- Texture Slot
- Accepts
- Data texturesRGB Off
Color Mask allows the user to mask out certain areas from being affected by SSAO.
HSVG
- Type
- Float4
Color Adjust fields for SSAO. Refers to Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Gamma.
| Channel | Function |
|---|---|
| X | Hue |
| Y | Saturation |
| Z | Value/Brightness |
| W | Gamma |
Color
- Type
- Color
SSAO shadow color. Black by default.
Use Surface Color
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
Samples the color from the surface of the Material to use for the SSAO color.
Blend Mode
- Type
- Dropdown
- Options
- ReplaceDarkenMultiplyLightenScreenSubtractAddOverlay
Which blending operation to use for the SSAO color.
Advanced & Global Masks
Hide In Light
- Type
- Range
- Range
- 0to1
Stylistically hide SSAO under bright lighting conditions.
Quality Falloff Start
- Type
- Float
The distance from the camera, in meters, beyond which AO will steadily reduce quality to improve performance.
Quality Falloff End
- Type
- Float
The distance from the camera, in meters, beyond which AO will be completely disabled to improve performance.
Max Distance Falloff
- Type
- Float2
Reduce these if your AO looks like it's "reaching too far". X determines the difference in depth (beyond the radius) beyond which AO shadows will begin to attenuate. Y determines the difference in depth (beyond the radius) beyond which AO shadows will completely terminate.
Apply From Global Mask
- Type
- Dropdown
- Options
- Off1R1G1B1A2R2G2B2A3R3G3B3A4R4G4B4A
Select which Global Mask to apply to SSAO.
Apply To Global Mask
- Type
- Dropdown
- Options
- Off1R1G1B1A2R2G2B2A3R3G3B3A4R4G4B4A
Select which Global Mask SSAO writes to.