Alpha Channel on Ambient Occlusion
I'm working in Maya, doing an AO pass on a single frame. The end product needs to be a layer in photoshop that is transparent except for the AO shadows, rather than black on white. (It's possible that the client I'm working for can do a multiply instead of a normal layer, but so far all the samples he's sent me have the shadows translucent on a separate layer and I figure I should keep it that way).
There's an option in the AO dialogue box in Maya for an Alpha channel, but it only seems to are about what geometry is visible rather than Ao for the shadows.
I feel like I know how to do this and that it's easy but I can't remember how.
There's an option in the AO dialogue box in Maya for an Alpha channel, but it only seems to are about what geometry is visible rather than Ao for the shadows.
I feel like I know how to do this and that it's easy but I can't remember how.
Replies
But honestly solid RGB layers are pretty common compositors, like reflection, light and or shadow maps they are usually used with blend modes in AE, PS or whatever tool.
I asked him whether he could switch to multiply-layering, haven't heard back yet. But ultimately it's my job to match his workflow, not get him to redo his engine so that he can match mine.
Add this selection as a layer mask to a pure black solid colour layer (or dark blue, whatever colour you want your shadows).
You can either leave it like that now, or do "Apply Layer Mask" if you want to leave just the transparent/opaque pixels.
Personally I leave it as a layer mask since it's more flexible that way, but it depends what you need to do for that engine, I guess.