Texture baking is the ability to record various surface effects created by lighting on a 3D object. From reflection to shadow, any attribute can be burned onto a 2D texture that can be used in game engines, virtual 3D environments such as Second Life or web applications like Flash. The advantage of baking textures is that many effects like ambient occlusion, reflections and refraction take far more system resources than just one image map with the effects applied. So, this allows you to have 3D models with incredible visual depth of highlights and shadows without the overhead of complex real time light systems. This How to Learn Texture Baking in Blender page will demonstrate the technique step-by-step.

1. If your imported object is too rough, you can smooth the edges while getting the added benefit of lessening the appearance of artifacts at the object's poles during the baking process.
   Tab key -> W -> set smooth

2. Want to soften the cast shadows even more? Add a fill light facing the shadow side of your object and place it lower than the key. Your main fill light should be around 60% weaker than the key light.

3. Is the back of your model still too dark? Add a back light behind your object. Your back light should be around 60% to 90% weaker than the key light. If you are attempting to get a rim light effect, the back light will need to be much stronger and higher.

4. If you don't want the extra lights to cast a shadow on the floor, turn the shadows off on the lights.
   F5 -> light bulb button -> Ray Shadow button

5. Move the camera around and take renders from various angles around the object to be sure that you like the shadows across the whole surface before baking. Readjust the light positions and strengths to get the desired effect.

6. When creating a new image in UV/Image Editor, use an image size twice as big as what you will be using in the final application. This will make it easier to fix render errors or add details later in an image editing program.

7. Don't forget to size the final image down by 50% after the post-processing image manipulation. This will create a less pixelated, smoother image.

F5 - shading menu

F12 - render current frame

F10 - Scene menu

Spacebar - creation menu

Tab - switch between edit and object mode

Shift and D - duplicate

Numpad 0 - camera view

Numpad 1 - front view

Numpad 3 - side view

Numpad 7 - top view

Alt plus Left Mouse Button - rotate the view

Shift plus Middle Mouse Button - pan the view

Right Mouse Button - select an object

A - unselect

W - edit properties

To begin, you will need a flat plane and a featured object. The feature object can be anything from a vase to a complicated head model. Just make sure that you use a shape that is substantial enough to show the potential of the effect. In other words, don't use a cube. Most importantly, both objects need to be UV mapped for the texture baking process to work.

First, you need to clear the default scene that appears when Blender opens.

1. Right click the Blender cube then press the delete key on your keyboard.
2. Choose ok from the popup menu.

At this point, you can either create your objects within Blender using their creation tools or import an object modeled in a third party program.

Importing

1. Go to the main menu and pick file -> import.
2. Choose the appropriate file type for your object.

Vase Added to Scene

For this tutorial, we will use a neutral ambient occlusion lighting environment. However, in a real production, you want to use a lighting setup that matches your final output. Let's say that you will have your finished object in a room with sunlight streaming in from the left. Then, you will want to mimic that same condition for the texture bake. If your object will be placed in unknown and various lighting situations, it's best to stick with a neutral setup.

Example Lighting Environment

There's more than one way to create neutral lighting, but many prefer the soft shadows and depth created with the following method.

1. Push the F5 button on your keyboard to open the shading menu.
2. Then, open the world menu by selecting the button that looks like a globe.
3. Click the ambient occlusion tab, then use the ambient occlusion button to turn it on. (Refer to link below for detailed settings.)
4. Now, just place a lamp light where you want the main source of light to appear.
5. Make a full render of your scene by pressing F12 to test the look. Move the light or add additional ones to get the look you require.

Detailed Screenshot of AO Settings

Now, you just apply your texture to the object. It can be either procedural or an image map. Remember that you can take advantage of any of the advanced surface techniques in the material window that you want. Whatever you choose will be baked onto the final image map by the program. Add a new material to the scene: F5 -> material button -> add new

Vase Textured in Blender

You should create a new window next to your active one to make it easier to see your model while working with your texture baked image.

1. Right click any window edge and choose split area to give yourself a new window.
2. Place the line where you want a new edge.
3. Change the window to UV/Image Editor.

UV/Image Editor

1. Make a new image in the editor window by entering edit mode and selecting all the faces on the model you wish to bake: Tab -> A
2. Then, go to the image menu and create a new image: image -> new
3. Name the image and choose a size.
4. Bake the texture: F10 -> bake tab -> full render button -> bake
5. Once it is done rendering the texture, save it: image -> save
6. Pick a folder to hold the render.
7. Repeat these steps for each object in the scene.

Flat Plane Texture Baked Image

Finally, you can take your baked texture into your favorite image editor such as Photoshop or Gimp to make any needed adjustments. You can remove render artifacts or jagged lines. Often color or levels need to be adjusted. This would also be the time to add logos or other details to the final image.

Before And After Image of Vase Texture Baked Map

After all your hard work is complete, simply upload your image and model to the program you will use it in. For this example, I used the 3D virtual world of Second Life to test the end result.

Final Texture in Second Life