need help with ambient occlusion on plants

pano po ba yun AO sa plants with opacity maps? i'm having a problem with this. and work with transparency dont seem to work.

Usually tinatanggal muna yan opacity maps. Below are the reasons why it's not working. And some solution you can use.

1. Pano nagwowork ang AO? Yung mga edges at corners nagiging dark to simulate depth through shades and shadow.
2. Opacity maps are applied to a rectangular plane. Meaning sa 4 sides and darker area nyan pag ginamitan ng AO.
3. Opacity maps like trees are flat geometries. Meaning walang kang AO nyan na matino.
4. Therefore, hindi ka talaga magkaka-AO nyan.

Options:
1. option is tanggalin mo muna bago ka mag-AO.
2. pwede ka mag-AO as your material. Lalo na pag color lang naman or white.
3. in photo shop, Kung gumawa ka ng separate AO. Use soft brush eraser para burahin mo by portions ang mga hindi kasali or ayaw mo magkaron ng AO. Lalo na dyan sa opacity maps.

i hide my trees and vegetation during my AO pass..structure lang and some cars..
follow sir Boks reply..

Thanks a lot sir Boks and Keiko.. More power..