Baking a simple map in Unity

Baking is always a bit tricky, but we try to make it as easy as possible.

The simplest method is to have everything inside Unity, provided that’s possible. For baking extremely large meshes, the files can be referenced externally. For this tutorial, we will be assuming that everything has been loaded into a Unity scene.

Step 1 – Open the scene and import your meshes.

• Create a new scene, or use an existing one.
• Import the mesh you want to use the texture on. This is typically a low poly mesh. We call this the ‘target mesh’, i.e. we are baking from a high res mesh onto this one..
• Import the mesh you want to use source of the detail. This is typically a high poly mesh. We call this the ‘source mesh’, i.e. where you get all the information from.

These meshes should be a single object or a simple hierarchy of meshes under each.. For more complicated baking, see our grouping and name matching tutorials.

Your scene should look roughly like this..Imaage

Step 2 – Create a new bake component on a new object using the MightyBake workflow window

• Image showing the window.

Step 3 – Set up the basic settings

• Set the name of the textures you want
• Set the root directory you want them output to
• Choose a normal map (default) to bake

Step 4 – Add the meshes to the default group

• Click on the ‘edit’ button in the default group (image). .This will open a MightyBake Bake window that can be used independent of the selection.
• Move it to the tabbed window of your choice so you can easily get to it.. image.
• Select the mesh you want to use as your target mesh (Low Poly) and then click the ‘Add Selection’ button in the Target Mesh area in the default group (image)
  • You should see your mesh appear under neath
• Select the mesh you want to use as your source mesh (High Poly) and then click the ‘Add Selection’ button in the Source Mesh area in the default group (image)

You’re now ready to bake.. Your scene should look roughly like this:

Image

Step 5 – Click ‘Bake’

• you can either click ‘Bake All’ which wil bake this map
• Or you can click ‘Bake’ next to the map name
• Both of these options will do the same thing
• MightyBake will begin loading the meshes and then rendering will start
• Loading may take longer for larger meshes
• When rendering starts, you will see

Step 6 -(Optional) Cancel

• If you see the map is coming out wrong, you can cancel, which will let the baker quit after the completion of the next tile

Step 7 – Wait, and Close the window

• When the mesh is finished, there will be a new button allowing you to close the render window..
• MightyBake will have automatically hooked up the baked texture

Step 8 – Hook up your texture

• Click on the baked texture in and it will highlight in the asset browser
• you can then use this texture in any of the shaders for your low poly object

If you want more details on preparing meshes, see here.

If you want more details on using groups, see here

If you want more details on normal maps, see here.

If you want more details on other maps, see here.