• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

MSFS AO Baking

Messages
406
Sorry if this has been asked before, I have had a look but I can't see the answer really. Up to now I have been using the PBR/MSFS method for applying Textures to my models however they never look as good as baking the AO on first as per Bills method at the beginning of this section. I suppose my question is, has the MSFS method superseded the original method or can you still apply both like bill does, i.e. apply the baked ambient occlusion then still add the Albedo, RGB and Normal textures in the MSFS slots? Does that make sense?

Thanks

Paul

By the way if anyone has mixed the two, Baking AO first then applying textures can you show me how you did it
 
Messages
124
Country
unitedstates
You are asking a big, broad question! I suspect that there is a mix of what people are doing. Some are using AOs and painting textures while others are using PBR. There is not a correct answer, at least not, yet!

I have tried both and find PBR produces a higher resolution, clearer result for stuff the player will be close to. The traditional method allows the designer to over emphasize shadows (which we, as players, seem to like) and easily apply weathering. With that said, it is possible to provide wonderful weathering via the use of decals, but I have not seen too many designers figure this out, yet (and I am still practicing). Shadows are a bit different. I have not seen anybody use decals for AO but I suspect you could if you do it carefully. But, since AO is part of the Comp/metal texture, one would need to be careful to not over do it. Thinking about it, the designer would need to focus only on the shadows near overhangs, crevasses, etc. and let the texture handle the majority of the detail.
 
Messages
406
@clements I see what you mean, I have been using a mix of materialize (until it went odd with the latest version, I still use it for bits then play around in photoshop) I have also been playing around with Quixel too
 

Cédrice

Resource contributor
Messages
359
Country
france
As you have seen in MSFS the AO is generated automatically and realistically, because everyone knows that an ambient occlusion is only visible in a diffused lighting case, especially when the sky is overcast.
When the AO has baked in the texture it will be visible all the time, it is of course possible to do so.
The other possibility is to put the OA in the red channel of a composite texture for MSFS of course, I wonder how MSFS would handle this if.
 

Pyscen

Resource contributor
Messages
2,993
Country
us-texas
Even at night, the AO is somewhat visible because it's never pitch black at night... to some degree, the AO could be the opposite then what is shown during the day (light source coming from an interior source, this, of course, is handled by the shader). The ambient occlusion should be subtle and not overblown. It is to help in the perception of 3D on a 2D texture. Depth is still visible at night.
 
Last edited:

Cédrice

Resource contributor
Messages
359
Country
france
I would like to add, that I looked at the AO of MSFS, it is optional with I believe 5 levels including OFF. Title (Contact shadow)
If you add no AO to your textures and the user set is set to OFF "he could be very disappointed"
An example I put no Ao and the result is good (high)
A.jpg

B.jpg
 

Pyscen

Resource contributor
Messages
2,993
Country
us-texas
Let's also add that shadows aren't the same as ambient occlusion. Some of this is also the normal map involved, which also helps in the perception of 3D in a 2D world. One is a micro version of the other, Normal and AO.
 
Messages
264
Country
unitedstates
I was having this same thought about whether baking AO was necessary or not with FS2020. In addition to the user being able to turn AO to different levels including OFF I have noticed this while flying in VR. The AO option eats alot of performance in VR so in many cases it's recommended for VR users without high performance machines to fly with AO turned OFF. In fact that is how I am having to use the sim with my 4 year old PC. So it would seem to be able to make your models look good on all systems having a subtle baked AO is still necessary. This is what I have been doing on my freeware airport I am currently building and so I will continue to do so.

Brandon
 

Cédrice

Resource contributor
Messages
359
Country
france
I was having this same thought about whether baking AO was necessary or not with FS2020. In addition to the user being able to turn AO to different levels including OFF I have noticed this while flying in VR. The AO option eats alot of performance in VR so in many cases it's recommended for VR users without high performance machines to fly with AO turned OFF. In fact that is how I am having to use the sim with my 4 year old PC. So it would seem to be able to make your models look good on all systems having a subtle baked AO is still necessary. This is what I have been doing on my freeware airport I am currently building and so I will continue to do so.

Brandon
This is indeed the downside, but I'm not even sure the Asobo models have AO baking.
The big advantage is to be able to use textures of very high resolution, something that you could not necessarily do using the traditional method.
 
Top