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Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) ​

SSAO adds soft contact shadows in crevices, corners, and where surfaces meet — making the scene look more realistic and grounded. It is enabled by default in Playground.

This effect is essential for jewelry renders because it brings out the depth between prongs, around stone settings, inside chain links, and along any tight geometry. Without SSAO, models can look flat — with it, you get a natural sense of volume and contact between surfaces.

For most cases, the main settings you need are Intensity and Radius. If you're unsure about the other options, enable Auto Radius and just adjust Intensity.

Where to Find It ​

This section is located on the right panel, inside the Post ProcessingPost Processing tab, in the SS Ambient Occlusion section.

SS Ambient Occlusion settings

Settings ​

Enable
Checkbox — toggles SSAO on or off. Enabled by default
Enable Cavity
Checkbox — enables cavity occlusion, which adds extra detail shadows in fine surface crevices
Cavity Brightness
Slider — adjusts the brightness of cavity shadows
Intensity
Slider — controls how strong the ambient occlusion effect is. Default: 0.25
Radius
Slider — sets the sampling radius for occlusion. Larger radius = wider, softer shadows. Default: 1.0
Bias
Slider — offsets the occlusion calculation to reduce self-shadowing artifacts
Fall-Off
Slider — controls how quickly the occlusion fades with distance
Num Samples
Slider — number of sampling points per pixel. More samples = smoother result but slower performance
Smooth Enabled
Checkbox — applies smoothing to the occlusion result for a softer look
Auto Radius
Checkbox — automatically calculates the optimal radius based on the scene. Enable this if you're unsure about manual radius settings
H Sharpness
Number input — controls the sharpness of the occlusion edges

Quick Setup

Enable Auto Radius and adjust Intensity — this is the simplest way to get good SSAO results without tweaking individual settings.