Blender Master Class

World Settings and Ambient Light and Occlusion

In Chapter 10, we baked ambient occlusion maps for our projects. Ambient occlusion maps are textures that mimic the effect of light coming from all around an object that is occluded, or blocked, by parts of the object itself. This effect is similar to what we see in the sky on a sunny day. The main source of light is the sun, but light also scatters throughout the atmosphere so that it comes from all directions and even illuminates the shadows. (This effect is even more apparent on an overcast day when the lack of direct sunlight means things are lit more evenly from all directions.)

To achieve the effect of light coming from a scene’s surroundings, we can use Blender’s World settings, accessible ...