So I have gotten some depth maps online and I was just messing around with them and rendering them to a quad on my screen and trying to achieve ambient occlusion. Does anyone know how I can simply calculate ambient occlusion just using depth? Thanks!

Hey, this article could be very interesting for you: http://theorangeduck.com/page/pure-depth-ssao

Apparently they compute the normals from the depth map during the ssao pass. Ps: It was the first hit on google for "ssao depth only".

Hey, this article could be very interesting for you: http://theorangeduck.com/page/pure-depth-ssao

Apparently they compute the normals from the depth map during the ssao pass. Ps: It was the first hit on google for "ssao depth only".

For the record, a lot of implementations don't even bother reconstructing the normals; they only measure the difference in depth between the occluder and the occludee.

True, good call.

If youve got a bitching video card you can attempt to fire/march the rays, youll get more long distance occlusions that way, even soft shadows, but I wouldnt do it unless you had a titan at your disposal. :)