best ambient occlusion method?

Ruz

as the title says, which software do you prefer, which workflow/technique gives you the best results.
I have been using the technique where you put a plane underneath your object/character so you get a top down direction lighting look, but I think it was maybe Earthquake mentioned ages ago, this is not always desirable.

I did try a method where I have single omni or spotlight in front of the character with the diffuse set to 75 percent self illumination then baking that in to the diffuse. gives a nice subtle effect. not really AO, but in terms of overlaying on to my diffuse works quite well.

BagelHero

For realistic stuff? I just bake AO in xnormal, and that's it. Just plop it in the AO slot as is. So there's no workflow, it's just baked.

But I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, really, because you go on to describe baking the lighting in DOTA style and adding a gradient for visual pop. Just FYI, neither of those things should be in your AO content. That's diffuse stuff, and these days should probably stay out of realistic stuff unless you're really restricted.
EDIT: I mean, this should be described by dirt/wear and color changes, not just straight up gradients. Lighting shouldn't really be overlayed unless that is something that would be evident eg fading from overexposure to light or maybe if it's a painted toy OR you're not doing something realistic/PBR
You can get stuff that looks cool but idk im rambling at this point

Ruz

yeah I am not doing pbr just now, so its really way of adding a little extra to the diffuse as an overlay and for example the lighting I bake in at 75 sel illum is very subtle ie maybe 20 percent overlay