Real time ambient occlusion solutions

Obscura

So I'm scratching my head for a long while now, how could I make a shader that would be at least similar to SSAO (screen space ambient occlusion). I know that this is a post process effect and I made a few post process materials earlier, but not one like that. And I don't know how the SSAO works. Maybe something similar to the Sobel Edge Detection? I can imagine only a similar shader to get "darkening" where the edges are. I know its more than this but I think this is a good starting point.
If you know anything, please help Thanks!

mAlkAv!An

You can create a custom pp material but SSAO requires blurring which is where things get more complicated. You would need to create a material for the SSAO pass first, then write the result to a scripted texture which you would access in another material for the blur pass. On another note you can't access the downsampled depth/scene color in the material editor which makes it more expensive (SSAO is rarely done at full-res).

Alternatively you can go back to an old UDK build and edit unreal shader files. This might require some hlsl knowledge but is free of any material editor restrictions.

I've done both but sticked with improving the built in SSAO via .usf editing.
There are lot's of SSAO code samples / tutorialss available on the net which should get you started, just search for (depth only) SSAO shader or something similar.
E.g.
http://john-chapman-graphics.blogspot.de/2013/01/ssao-tutorial.html
http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/technical/graphics-programming-and-theory/a-simple-and-practical-approach-to-ssao-r2753
http://www.gamerendering.com/category/lighting/ssao-lighting/
http://theorangeduck.com/page/pure-depth-ssao