> Quote - ...just rambling here (brain-fart)... > > Let's assume the "up" you mention above is really just another way of describing where the light is coming from (which, it is :) ). > > Suppose you found the location / direction of each light-source (unsure atm how to treat IBL, without knowing the pixel brightnesses). > > Suppose you also assigned a weight to each light-source, based on it's intensity. > > Then you compute 'up' (direction of light) as the average of the positions (or at least directions) of the sources in the scene, weighted by thier respective intensities. > > ...would that do us any good as 'up', relative to your AO calcs, above?

Sure, but that's a lot of work. I'm just saying, for my standard outdoor setup, what should you do? Answer - react to the sky as dominant light source, after the sun of course.

You are talking about subtle differences here now that would not show up in a render as being obvious problems. We have bigger issues, like unreal armpits and such. We've moved well past the AO being the #1 issue preventing us from fooling someone into thinking a render is a photo.

One more image - this time using light-based AO. This avoids suppressing the "sun" light, but it has artifacts. If you don't see what I'm talking about - then you're good to go and you should use light-based AO. I see them and they bug me. If you see them, right a note to SM and tell them to fix this renderer. I'm really tired of the whole "ray bias" bullshit. It's a lame excuse. Other "free" renderers do not have this issue.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)