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My argument is that multiplying the cavity map with the albedo before it enters the BaseColor slot is incorrect, which I’m not sure you’re addressing. Of course one should not used baked in shadows when importing albedo. I’m saying the BaseColor input is not aware of the difference between a user multiplication with a node and multiplication in photoshop. I’m not sure what you mean about occlusion from direct light, as I believe this is to be handled by the normal map and not a cavity map at all.