GTAO Disable
GTAO Disable tells Spectral not to darken pixels using this material with its Ground Truth Ambient Occlusion effect. Use it for a specific material that should remain unaffected by Spectral GTAO, rather than disabling AO across the whole level.
Adding it
Search for GTAO Disable in the Material Editor and place it directly in the material graph. No wire is needed. Apply and save the material.
The node is a marker implemented as a material custom output. It has no input pins to supply, no visible output pin to connect, and no adjustable strength or radius property. Do not connect a constant to it or try to wire it to Emissive Color.
What is excluded
The material opts out of receiving Spectral's GTAO darkening. Other materials still receive GTAO according to Features > GTAO.
This does not remove baked indirect shading, baked shadows, dynamic shadows, or other AO effects. It is also not a general command to make the object invisible to the depth buffer or stop all of its influence on nearby surfaces.
Example: an effect surface
If a particular effect material should keep its authored appearance while the surrounding room receives GTAO, add the marker to that material. Avoid applying it indiscriminately to ordinary walls and floors, where losing contact darkening may make the scene look flatter.
Compare the same surface with Spectral GTAO enabled and disabled globally. If the unwanted dark area stays in both cases, it is probably coming from another lighting or shading source, so this node will not remove it.
Updates and limitations
Applying the material change does not need a lighting rebake. Check the result after material compilation completes. The node is only meaningful on a rendering path where Spectral GTAO is supported and enabled; it does not add GTAO support to another platform.