Amplify Occlusion question

[fisherman]

Hello,

I like the videos about Amplify Occlusion for Unity. As there is no trial version (at least I did not find one), I would like to find out if it works in latest Unity (5.5) and with directional lightmaps.

Thanks!

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Hello,

Thank you for your interest, we really appreciate it. Unity 5.5 lighting shouldn't be an issue, be sure to let us know if you run into any problems. Trial versions can be found directly in our Download Page; click the + button to reveal the download buttons.

Amplify Occlusion Trial - Download

Thanks!

[fisherman]

Yes, there it is Thank you very much, I will give it a try.

[fisherman]

I played with the trial version. I like it, the AO looks awesome and the range of parameters is great.

I built a quick scene that represents the typical graphical style I am currently working on. I found an issue, you can see two pairs of 4 dark and exactly horizontal lines in the upper half of the screenshot. These lines appear only when Amplify AO is enabled. They appear whith AO being the only effect, regardless of any baking options. But they only appear in the built version of the game (Windows x64 build on Windows 8.1), not in the scene view or the game view in the editor. I had to heavily compress the screenshot jpg to bypass the upload size restriction, I hope the issue is still visible.

It's a bit tedious to find out if this issue is somehow related to the effect values entered in the editor as it does not appear in the editor.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback. Are you using the Post-Effect or Deferred mode? Does setting the Per-Pixel Normals to none help at all?

We would be happy to test a sample on our side as soon as we get back to the office, everyone is currently away for the holiday.

Thanks!

[fisherman]

I used the Post Effect, as Deferred did not create any noticeable effect when using baked GI.

I did some more tests, all possible combinations of per pixel normals and realtime / baked GI, and found additional (but different) artefacts, for example when running the built game with a lower resolution etc. No matter what I tried, I could not achieve a build with working occlusion and no artefacts. So I started all over again and created a new project, then I imported nothing but Amplify Occlusion. I used the provided Blacksmith scene for a series of new tests. Now everything worked as expected, both in the editor game view and the build game, all combinations of per pixel normals and baked / realtime GI are ok.
So the only thing I can think of is that one of the asset packages in the other project must have changed / replaced some of the standard shaders, resulting in a interference even though no other effects have been usesd in my test scene. I am afraid that it might be hard to find out what exactly went wrong because I can't change too much in the huge original project. But I am sure now that it is not related to Amplify Occlusion because the tests in a new project showed no erros. Unfortunately this means that I will not be able to use Amplify Occlusion in the current project, if I don't find the time to rebuild it from scratch to find out which package messed up some shaders.
I noticed that the deferred injection mode does not produce any noticeable occlusion when using baked GI, but perhaps this is by design and not an error - I'm no shader/lighting guru

Thanks, and enjoy your holidays!

[Ricardo Teixeira]

I used the Post Effect, as Deferred did not create any noticeable effect when using baked GI.

I did some more tests, all possible combinations of per pixel normals and realtime / baked GI, and found additional (but different) artefacts, for example when running the built game with a lower resolution etc. No matter what I tried, I could not achieve a build with working occlusion and no artefacts. So I started all over again and created a new project, then I imported nothing but Amplify Occlusion. I used the provided Blacksmith scene for a series of new tests. Now everything worked as expected, both in the editor game view and the build game, all combinations of per pixel normals and baked / realtime GI are ok.
So the only thing I can think of is that one of the asset packages in the other project must have changed / replaced some of the standard shaders, resulting in a interference even though no other effects have been usesd in my test scene. I am afraid that it might be hard to find out what exactly went wrong because I can't change too much in the huge original project. But I am sure now that it is not related to Amplify Occlusion because the tests in a new project showed no erros. Unfortunately this means that I will not be able to use Amplify Occlusion in the current project, if I don't find the time to rebuild it from scratch to find out which package messed up some shaders.
I noticed that the deferred injection mode does not produce any noticeable occlusion when using baked GI, but perhaps this is by design and not an error - I'm no shader/lighting guru

Thanks, and enjoy your holidays!

Hello,

Thank you for the additional information, we really appreciate it. Can you send us a list of other shader related packages used? We would be happy to examine it.

Happy holidays!

[Amplify_Borba]

Hello,

I'm digging up this thread since we're doing a follow-up on past issues.

Have you had the chance to test the latest Amplify Occlusion version?

If not, be sure to pick it up from our product download page, as we've released many fixes and improvements.

If so, how has it suited you in your projects?

Feel free to share your experiences with us, both good and bad, we're always grateful for all sorts of feedback!