When to self occulde AO bakes

Nomadvisas

Hi, 

So I've been using Substance painter and have done some bake tests in it. I've found I'm getting cleaner bakes without the shadows from meshes sitting on top by using the match by mesh name method. 

My question though is with Pbr in mind, should these AO bakes be made to less occluded anyway. I know animated parts typically are baked exploded.

What is the "right" workflow in regards to AO baking now? 

gnoop

There are no strict rules.  Sometimes you need AO for masks generators only .   I usually bake several AOs with different settings for different purposes.