BLENDER 4.1 - How to use the Ambient Occlusion pass in Compositing to enhance realism in renderings

You can find many 3D models, which can be used in Blender or other softwares, on the Adobe Stock 3D website at the following link:
* https://stock.adobe.com/search/3d-assets

FREE PDF text version:
* https://francescomilanese.gumroad.com...

** Please notice that I am not a native English speaker, so this is also a way for me to practice and improve; then, if you have suggestions on syntax and pronunciation, please write them in the comments: I appreciate them! Anyway, all my videos have subtitles! **

Hello everyone!
This is a basic tutorial on Compositing in Blender, made with version 4.1, for beginners and focusing on applying Ambient Occlusion to your renderings.

Ambient Occlusion is a technique that, depending on how it is implemented, calculates or simulates the dark areas of objects which occur because ambient lighting fails to reach them. This happens in corners, crevices, cavities, nooks, hidden areas, and other similar situations.

It also occurs when two objects are in contact with each other, such as the objects resting on a desk in the scene I'm using for this tutorial. In fact, if Ambient Occlusion is not implemented, the rendering appears less realistic because the objects don't seem to be actually touching each other.

When Ambient Occlusion is implemented, it helps to better define the shapes of objects and adds a sense of depth, contributing to making the images more convincing and realistic.

In this tutorial, we will see how to retrieve Ambient Occlusion information, how to adjust the size of the ambient occlusion areas, and how to make the effect more or less pronounced.

But wait, there's more: at the end of the tutorial, I will also discuss what to do when, in the rendered scene, there is also the virtual universe as background, so stay tuned until the end!