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Target Map Slot Assignments 145
Component Options (Selected Elements Unique
Settings)
There are no unique sett ings for an alpha map.
Ambient Occlusion (MR) Map
Useanambientocclusionmapwhenyouwant
the surface information to describe how m uch
ambient light the surface can receive. The ambient
occlusion map considers the obstruction of
the light by surface contours and surrounding
objects. By using the ambient occlusion map
when rendering, you do not need to set up special
lighting , replace materials on the objects, or
usewithglobaloverridesbecausetheambient
occlusion map already accounts for these settings.
Ambient occlusion maps c an be used with or
without a Projection modifier and for many
different pur poses. Use them to mask layers in
Adobe Photoshop, for items such as painted edits
and texture maps. Also use them as dirt maps, or
as masks for reflections or specular light.
Note: This map is available only with the mental
ray renderer active.
Component Options (Selected Elements Unique
Settings)
Foranambientocclusionmap,youcansetthe
following unique settings:
Samples— Sets the number of rays cast. More rays
results in a smoother image. Default=16.
Bright—Setsthecolorinthemapwhereno
occlusion occurs. The default color is white. Click
theswatchtochangethecolor.
Dar k—Setsthecolorinthemapwherecomplete
occlusion occurs. The default color is black. Click
theswatchtochangethecolor.
Note: Colors between the Brig ht and Dark values
areusedtoindicatepartialocclusion.
Spread—Sets the spread of t he ray, creating a
cone shape. With a value of 0.0 a single point is
sampled; with a value of 1.0 the entire hemisphere
is sampled. Range=0.0–1.0. Default=0.8.
Note: You can set Spread to values greater than
1.0, but only values within the specified range are
useful.
Max distance—Sets the range within which
geometry is probed. A value of 0.0 samples the
entire scene. For non-zero values, on ly objects
w ithin this r ange are sampled. Default 0.0.
Fa lloff—Defines the amount of falloff of the ray.
Thegreaterthevalue,thegreaterthefalloff.
Default=1.0.
Target Map Slot Assignments
Select objects. > Rendering menu > Render to Texture >
Render to Texture dialog > Output rollout > Target Map
Slot: drop-down list > Specify how baked textures appear
in the material.
When you bake textures (render to texture), you
have m ore control for how the baked texture
displays in shaded viewports. You set these in
the
Output rollout (page 3–155) of the Render
To Texture dialog. Using the Target Map Slot
assignments, you c an specify in detail which maps
w i ll be rendered to which slots of the existing
material.
Note: ThefirsttimeyouuseRenderToTexture,all
TargetMapSlotareblank.Afteryousetthemand
render the baked texture, those settings become
the default Target Map Slot settings for future
modelling sessions. The
texturebake.ini file in the