What is Baking Maps?
Baking maps is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to pre-calculate complex lighting and surface details into texture maps.1 This process allows for real-time rendering of complex scenes, as the detailed information is stored in textures rather than being calculated on the fly.2
Why Bake Maps?
- Real-time Performance: Baked maps significantly reduce the computational cost of rendering, enabling real-time performance, especially on less powerful hardware.3
- Preserving Detail: Baking captures intricate details like shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion, which might be lost in lower-quality real-time rendering.
- Simplified Shader Complexity: By baking complex lighting and surface details into maps, you can use simpler shaders for real-time rendering.4
Types of Baked Maps
- Ambient Occlusion (AO) Maps: These maps store information about how much ambient light reaches different parts of a surface, adding depth and realism.5
- Normal Maps: These maps store information about the surface normal direction at each pixel, allowing for detailed surface geometry without increasing polygon count.6
- Curvature Maps: These maps store information about the curvature of the surface, which can be used to create subtle details like edge wear and dirt.7
- Height Maps: These maps store information about the height of the surface, which can be used to create displacement and parallax occlusion effects.8
How to Bake Maps
- Prepare Your Scene:
- Set up your lighting and materials as you would for a final render.
- Ensure your models are high-quality and UV-mapped.
- Choose a Baking Software:
- Many 3D software packages, such as Blender, 3ds Max, and Substance Painter, have built-in baking tools.9
- Configure Baking Settings:
- Set the resolution of the baked maps.
- Adjust the baking distance and angle to control the range of effects captured.
- Select the types of maps you want to bake.
- Start the Baking Process:
- Initiate the baking process in your chosen software.
- The software will calculate the lighting and surface details and store them in the specified texture maps.10
- Apply the Baked Maps to Your Real-Time Model:
- Assign the baked maps to the appropriate texture slots in your real-time engine or game engine.
- Configure the materials to use the baked maps as inputs.