To view the results of the texture map within Maya, select Connect maps to: New shader / Connect maps to: Assigned shader. Scroll to the Connect Output Maps section to specify how the texture map you are going to create will be linked to the target mesh.This option optimizes performance and is off by default. Rays longer than this value are not considered for occlusion. This option determines the maximum length of an occlusion ray. Increasing the number of occlusion rays improves quality, but reduces performance speed. Tweak this value to improve the quality of your results. You can also modify the following options in the Ambient occlusion map section to optimize performance and quality:.

See Fill texture seams for more information regarding this attribute. It is recommended that this attribute be set to a non-zero value, for example, 1 or 2. Expand the section and change the following attributes: Scroll down to the mental ray Common Output section of the Transfer Map tool. Check the Use mental ray common settings option to create an ambient occlusion map using the default settings.In the Ambient occlusion map field, enter the file name for the map (that is, the name of the texture map file as well as the location on disk where the map will be saved). The Ambient occlusion map section appears.Click on the Ambient icon in the Output Maps section to add an ambient occlusion map.Hide an unused mesh to prevent it from being included as a source mesh.

By default, all meshes in your scene that are not selected as target meshes are loaded as source meshes.

Maya 2017 ambient occlusion