Pyramid HBAO — a Scalable Horizon-based Ambient Occlusion Method

Abstract

Screen-space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) methods have become an integral part of the process of calculating global illumination effects in real-time applications. The use of ambient occlusion improves the perception of the geometry of the scene, and also makes a significant contribution to the realism of the rendered image. However, the problems of accuracy and efficiency of algorithms of calculating ambient occlusion remain relevant. Most of the existing methods have similar algorithmic complexity, what makes their use in real-time applications very limited. The performance issues of methods working in the screen space are particularly acute in the current growing spreadness of 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution of the rendered image. In this paper we provide our own algorithm Pyramid HBAO, which enhances the classic HBAO method by changing its calculation complexity for high resolution.