Colors in Ambient Occlusion

Question

Hi all, 
 Is it possible to render objects with a color when using the render Ambient Occlusion render setup? Look at the image below. We like to render some roads and buildings with a color. I don't want to render twice > one ambient occlusion and one with another setup because of objects which are in front of other objects. Is there way that some buildings and roads are occluded and to render them with a color using ambient Occlusion render setup?

Mark Stals · Accepted Answer

Hi Jerry, yes that's a good trick, I didn't thought about that one, thnx!

Jerry Flynn · Answer

Hi Mark, 
 
I would suggest that you create mask channels for the materials that you want to be colored by first making them very translucent. Then render the exact same saved view with the output channel for translucency enabled. You can use the translucency output channel to easily create a mask in Photoshop. Take the full color render and with the mask you made using the translucency you can copy the color items you want (be sure to turn translucency back off for those materials) to get the color render and paste them into the ambient occlusion render. 
 
Cheers, 
 
Jerry