Greatly modify AO look?

[Cronnix]

Hi all. I am not sure this is the right forum to post in, but figured Id give it a try here at first. I am curious if it is possible to modify how AO looks, and by modifying I mean completely changing the default volumetric shadow to let's say display clouds that use same tech.

I am exploring different visual effects for my game, and found that AO pretty much is what we are after when it comes to detection of places to display the effect at, but visually it is not quite what we need. Is it possible to apply some kind of material/post process to AO only, to greatly change its visuals, alternatively somehow "catch" the methods it uses and apply them to postprocess or something else?

I hope the above is not too confusing, a simple direction to start looking in would be appreciated as I am bit lost atm.