Name: Atlas Bake
Brand: John Deligiannis
Price: 9.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Atlas Bake

John Deligiannis in Rendering

Installation

Download the packaged .zip.
In Blender: Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Install… and select the file.
Enable Atlas Bake.
Find it in 3D View → N-Panel → Atlas Bake.

Add-on Preferences

Enable Logs: write detailed bake logs (e.g., logs.txt) into the output folder.
Custom Channel Pack Folder: where your pack definitions live (absolute or // relative to the current .blend).

Add-On Preferences.

Quick Start - Simple model baking

Select one source mesh.
In Textures, enable the maps you want.
Choose UV Mode:
- MANUAL → pick your UV map, or
- SMART → set UV Angle Limit & UV Island Margin.
In Materials to Include, check materials to process (default: all).
Pick Normal Convention (OpenGL vs DirectX); optionally Flip Normal Y.
Set Resolution, Samples, Bake Margin (px), and optionally Use GPU.
(Optional) Add Custom Packs (or use the presets: MS/HDRP/ORM.)
Choose a valid Output Folder.
(Optional) Enable Export FBX / Keep Final .blend.
Click Bake and watch the status/progress as your open file stays safe.

Result: Game ready asset packed with the selected basic textures.

Custom Channel Packing, a Metallic–Smoothness example

Why pack channels? Engines often require packed maps to reduce sampler count and bandwidth, and to match expected inputs: Unity Standard/URP uses Metallic + Smoothness (A), glTF/Unreal use ORM (R=AO, G=Roughness, B=Metallic), and Unity HDRP uses a Mask Map (typically R=Metallic, G=AO, B=Detail, A=Smoothness).

Key concept: Metallic–Smoothness means R = Metallic, A = 1 − Roughness (Smoothness). ORM means R = AO, G = Roughness, B = Metallic.

Follow the Quick Start steps to set up your bake.
Open Custom Packs → New Pack, name it MetallicSmoothness_Unity, set Output Format = RGBA (8-bit).
Map channels:
- R → Metallic
- G → None (0)
- B → None (0)
- A → Roughness with Invert (Smoothness)
Ensure Metallic and Roughness inputs are enabled for the pack. Alternatively, use Add Presets to append MS / ORM / HDRP mask in one click.
Click Bake to generate the packed texture.
Assign in-engine (Unity): set Base Map = BaseColor; Metallic Map = the packed Metallic–Smoothness (A channel drives Smoothness).

Custom channel pack settings for Metallic Smoothness

Custom pack settings for Metallic–Smoothness.

Result: one RGBA packed map driving Metallic (R) and Smoothness (A).

High → Low poly baking, a keyboard / keys scenario

Goal: Bake the High keyboard (with text meshes) into the Low keyboard (no text meshes) so the low-poly keycaps get textures containing the legends.

The high-poly and low-poly models.

Follow Quick Start to prepare your settings.
Select Source & Target: Select High (source), enable Bake to Target, set Target = Low (receiver). Keep both objects aligned with identical origins.
Projection control:
- Start with Max Ray Distance ≈ 0.2–0.5% of model size.
- For tight gaps/decals, use a Cage or Cage Extrusion (~0.2–0.5% outward).
- Thin legends: add slight thickness on High (e.g., 0.2–0.5 mm) or rely on a cage to capture shallow relief.
Click Bake and monitor the progress UI.
Assign the baked textures to the Low model and verify the result.