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Wolfer123
Known Participant
July 2, 2023
Answered

Personal Question on Baking

  • July 2, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 279 views

Hi I like to ask my own unique question about baking. I mean I know there tutorials and explanation out there but I like to ask my own question to make sure I'm reading and understanding what I read correctly. So the idea of baking models from high to low poly is that is that taking detail we see on high poly and putting them on the low poly but its not changing say the mesh of the model. It adding in details or you could say illusion that make for example part that make it where the height map make it look like there is deep lines but it really just one mesh with a detail that make it look like it had multiple faces on it that were extruded a bit.  Another way I mean is it like drawing the detail it see on the high poly and put it on the low poly but it never changes the mesh or say edit the mesh at all, it just make it have it where it look like it changed when it not.

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Correct answer davescm

You have grasped it correctly. Baking the high poly to low poly means that a normal map is used with the low poly model to give the illusion of surface detail when rendering. The upside is that a low poly mesh takes up less memory and is faster to render. The downside is that surface detail is not really there and the difference is easily spotted along edges, against other parts of the scene, which of course follow the low poly mesh.

 

The other purpose of baking is to add mesh maps such as curvature, world position etc which can be used when texturing to automatically adjust the way textures such as edge wear lie on the surface.

 

Dave

 

 

1 reply

davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 2, 2023

You have grasped it correctly. Baking the high poly to low poly means that a normal map is used with the low poly model to give the illusion of surface detail when rendering. The upside is that a low poly mesh takes up less memory and is faster to render. The downside is that surface detail is not really there and the difference is easily spotted along edges, against other parts of the scene, which of course follow the low poly mesh.

 

The other purpose of baking is to add mesh maps such as curvature, world position etc which can be used when texturing to automatically adjust the way textures such as edge wear lie on the surface.

 

Dave

 

 

W
Wolfer123Author
Known Participant
July 3, 2023

Yeah I was always thinking that baking changed the low poly mesh to have the high details just when I heard about it scanning and putting detail i thought it was literally adding to the mesh in a way like fake detail which is it but it not doing anything to the mesh, it just doing it to the normal map and all. You could say to simplify if this was a clay model, i'm not adding more clay to it by baking, baking is just drawing on it to give it the look of more detail then adding more to it. So the other things you mention about, that useful to really help set it up so when i put in edge wear it know how to flow on the mesh item well.

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