The Ambient Occlusion post-processing effect darkens creases, holes, intersections and surfaces that are close to each other. In the real world, such areas tend to block out or occlude ambient light, so they appear darker. Unity approximates Ambient Occlusion in real time as a full-screen post-processing effect.
The Ambient Occlusion effect is time-consuming, so it’s more suited for use on desktop or console hardware. Its impact on processing time depends on screen resolution and effects properties.
Scene without Ambient Occlusion. Note the differences at geometry intersections.Scene with Ambient Occlusion.
For further information on using Ambient Occlusion, refer to the Ambient OcclusionA method to approximate how much ambient lighting (lighting not coming from a specific direction) can hit a point on a surface. See in Glossary documentation in the Post ProcessingA process that improves product visuals by applying filters and effects before the image appears on screen. You can use post-processing effects to simulate physical camera and film properties, for example Bloom and Depth of Field. More info See in Glossary package.
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