Final Video Script: Texture Baking
Basic Texture Baking
In this section, I will be covering texture baking. I mentioned normal mapping earlier, in this section, normal map baking from a high detail object to a low detail object is a key component of what I will be covering. The main point of texture baking is to take a very high detail object that is too detailed for a game and turn it into a low detail object while retaining as much of the illusion of detail as possible. Detail in 3D objects is more taxing on the computer than detail in textures (2D), so the objective is to cram all of your detail into your textures while keeping the number of 3D polygon faces low.
Part I: Wooden Panels
Show side by side panels
individual panels with 102 faces vs flat plane with 1 face
move light over surface
hide textured plane and unhide untextured plane
Normal Baking
One object on top of other
-Blender calculates the surface difference between the two objects and translates it into a normal map custom fit for the object you are baking to
Bake normal map
Texture Baking
Projects the texture from one object on to another
Bake texture map
Ambient Occlusion Baking
Helps accentuate the form further
Bake AO map
Part II: Tree Branches
Show tree branch master file
Zoom to individual texture face
-scanned actual evergreen branches, cut them out in GIMP
-same as grass demonstration
Zoom out to reveal whole tree
-manually attached, rotated, and resized each piece
-duplicated branches
Go to camera view
-rendered out a 2D image of the branch
-the 2D image can now be mapped to a simpler object
Unhide the simple branch
-demonstrate lower detail level
Open tree file
-demonstrate area of simple branch planes
-show lower branches with higher detail
-show simplified model for distant trees
-the further away objects are, the simpler they are
In this section I covered some texture and detail baking techniques. The objective behind these techniques is to cram as much detail into your scene in the most efficient way possible. Normal baking calculates surface detail differences between two objects and writes that information to a normal map. Color baking takes the color texture from one object and projects it on to another. Finally, with traditional render setups, one can create a complex object and simplify it for distant object display.
