Master the Art & Science of Texture Baking

Texture baking is the technique of applying geometric data from one 3D model to another through image textures. Conceptually it's simple to understand but execution can be trickier than you might expect.

If you're interested in game asset creation, texture baking is an important technique to master. While Blender includes a full set of baking features, it's not always the most intuitive.

This course is designed to comprehensively explain baking as a concept, troubleshoot the potential issues, and share expert workflow insight.

What you will learn

• Proper steps for baking textures in Blender's Cycles engine
• Why and when to use cages
• The importance of face orientation
• The effects of mesh triangulation when baking
• Fixing wavy baked projections
• Knowing when and where to sharpen edges
• Solving pixel bleed with pixel margin
• Baking inverted stacks
• Utilizing floating geometry

Chapter 1  Theory

Learn core concepts of the texture baking process. We will cover important ideas that you'll need to understand to ensure you have a solid foundation for the rest of the course.

Chapter 2  Pitfalls

Baking can produce a surprising number of technical issues. From overlapping geometry to pixel bleed to flipped faces, this chapter diagnoses a myriad of common problems and how to troubleshoot them.

Chapter 3  Techniques

We can do some clever things to make the baking process easier and more effective. Gain expert insight to enhance your baking prowess.

Chapter 4  Homework

Put your fresh baking knowledge to the test! These exercises begin with problematic bakes that you need to troubleshoot and resolve.

About the instructor  Chunck Trafagander

Hello there! As a Biome Artist at Mighty Canvas Inc, I spend most of my days creating game assets. By night, I'm an instructor teaching Blender, Instamat, and Substance mostly. Check out my other courses for CG Cookie as well as my YouTube channel if you're interested!

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