Ambient occlusion in Eduard

Ambient occlusion simulates the exposure of terrain locations to ambient lighting. Ambient occlusion adds depth and texture to a shading.

Below is an ambient occlusion shading of Valdez, Alaska.

To create an ambient occlusion shading in Eduard, choose Shading > Ambient Occlusion (or command and K).

Adjust the shading amount with the  Radius  slider. A small radius creates more lines, and a large radius creates an image with darker areas.

Drag the outer knob to adjust the  Aperture  angle. This restricts occluding terrain to the aperture angle. A small aperture angle creates a high contrast image, and a large aperture angle creates a smooth image.

Drag the inner knob with the sun to adjust the  Orientation  of the aperture angle. The default orientation from the top-left at 0° is usually preferable when combining the ambient occlusion image with a shaded relief.

Increase the  Flat Areas  slider for brighter and more continuous shades in flat areas.

Click  Anti-Aliasing  to remove jagged pixels along steep transitions. This mainly affects abrupt terrain transitions. Anti-aliasing increases computation time.

See also

Texture Shading

Analytical Shading

Shading Settings