Ambient Occlusion baking in Blender: HOWTO
In this short tutorial, I explain how to bake AO maps in Blender.
Ambient Occlusion (AO) adds soft shadowing in crevices and corners, helping to ground your models and give them more depth—even with flat colors or toon shading.
In stylized art, where realism takes a back seat to form and expression, AO baking gives you control over how light behaves, without relying on heavy lighting setups or complex shaders.
Whether you multiply it over your base color or use it as a mask, AO helps enhance volume, contrast, and detail while keeping that clean, hand-painted look.