Transfer HIGH POLY details to LOW POLY object in Blender

In this tutorial you will learn how to drastically reduce polygon count in blender by baking a normal maps to a low poly object. You can use this technique to make game ready assets.
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[@Dapper_the_slapper]

When creating your texture map for your normals bake, if you check the 32bit float box it will bake a 16bit normal map. It will be a more accurate representation of your high poly and have no artifacts. Very important if you are baking normal maps for objects that have very low roughness.

[@Grizzermacht]

Sad that the Starfield devs didn't see this video before release.

[@RadiantMantra]

The AutoCAD sandwich still gets me

[@brunolopez9645]

@@RadiantMantra what do you mean with AutoCAD swandich, is it mean what i thought?, like model made in AutoCAD?

[@bogdanborcea9788]

They don't have the engine for it.

[@RadiantMantra]

@@brunolopez9645 it's a sandwich seemingly made in a CAD software, no joke. The bread is like 100 n-gons and the lettuce and ham are like 20,000 faces. It's so funny

[@durt214]

@@brunolopez9645 The circulated image was fake and made after the game's release, but basically the sandwich had 70k faces.

[@gamingneeded1902]

Render with a single sample, it makes no difference to use more but makes the bake instant

[@ExtrymGamingLTU]

Hehe funny

[@MangaGamified]

New here. At which timeline?

[@watchitdogs2280]

Doesn't matter timeline just stay at first frame and 1 sample and bake it'll work

[@noyz-anything]

chat is this true

[@nekkovia8660]

@@noyz-anything I mean it worked for me and it's decent

[@Shining4Dawn]

I think you can also go backwards with this process, meaning you can make a low poly model, then add a multires modifier, use sculpting tools to add details and then bake the normal map to keep the model low poly.

[@farisazhari3583]

nice idea! I'm new to blender, do you have a tutorial to do this?

[@Shining4Dawn]

@@farisazhari3583 Grant Abbit has a series of tutorials where he walks you through modeling a game-ready model of an axe. He makes a low-poly model, then duplicates it and increases the poly-count and adds detail with sculpting and then bakes the normal maps just as seen in this video.

[@farisazhari3583]

@@Shining4Dawn I just saw the channel and I will follow it, thanks for the info bro

[@Duhya]

This is super helpful for working quickly. But also i grew out of it because i found it easier to just work on a high poly and worry about simplifying later, as far as mental workload. Would prevent me from advancing on stuff because id just be thinking about how id low-high poly it, instead of simply adding as many details as i want.

[@grayslimeguy8444]

i mean that makes sense but why would you want a higher poly count if you can replicate the look with low poly (this is coming from the stand point as a solo developer)

[@user-yp3nl4qc1b]

This is amazing! I've been trying to find a more streamlined process to go from high poly to a model that can actually be used in maya to create large scenes and this is beyond helpful. Thanks!!

[@ThreeDCreate]

This is very helpful this will work great on a full landscape from millions of polys down to a minimal amount thanks for sharing!

[@RomanPittroff]

I like this Video, particularly good explanation shows all the complete workflow without confusing things added on!

[@Maxwolford]

Excellent! I feel much more confident after seeing how simple you made this process.

[@bigtprime]

You will be less confident when you will apply it. The video has been made with a very simple object with not much cavity. Depending on what you intend to bake, you can encounter lot of additionnal difficulties.

[@noahbeyer7421]

I worked for 1.5 days to figure this out by using the cage method. I tried everything to get my realistic head sculpt to have detail, but this tutorial worked. For some reason the cage methods kept letting me down but this alternate way did not. Amazing work please keep it up!

[@andreacrisante6575]

Finally someone who goes straight to the point! Amazing explanation about Blender bake on youtube, surely the best one. I don't like the way you unwrapp (because for sure you can do it better) but anyway nice choise, you made it simple things pretty hard to understand. Thank you.

[@Brett3am]

Very clear and efficient process! Thank you!

[@giovafncreative]

Thank you! The decimate modifier is so good! I made a bunch of rocks to use as a landscape decoration in my game, but they were around 10k triangles, now it's 500 triangles and they still look good🙂

[@davidjade1921]

This tutorial helped me out a lot! Thank you!

[@sofyamakingart]

Thank you for explaining it so well, so happy I found this tutorial!

[@sottozen]

Loved this tutorial very much! Thanks!

[@Byt3me21]

Thank you very much, this was a great lesson!

[@valdoryon]

Excellent video, couldn't be more clear, thank you!

[@Digital_Creation_Y.C.]

Thank you man! that was so difficult to understand before watching your tutorials , still in progress but I'm closer than ever! keep up the amazing work !

[@needthistool]

Really fantastic walkthrough. Thanks!

[@Kuyuup]

Such an important tip! Thanks for sharing you're amazing

[@samuelsimango120]

It was a really good lesson... I always render scenes with lot of polygons.... Thanks brow.

[@tanguybarbaray5362]

You resolved my issue with a fast video because other youtuber show plugin or other method, but this two method was fast and precise, so thanks. Ho, and now you are one French follower.

[@Maxboun3204]

man i was stuck on this topic for so long, just now because of you i understand it, thanks

[@ravendaee]

Super useful tutorial, thank you !

[@xpmsplay]

Great lesson. Thank you.

[@liridoncani]

Thank you so much for the multires method.Something new I learnt today

[@JoaoVSAguiar]

You say BAKE with so much energy. Loved it, even tho I'm not into blender or 3d rendering.

[@dreddd7980]

Finally a tutorial that helped me bake the normals of my object thanks so much

[@arminkhorsandipour]

Wow, That was helpful Thank you so much✨

[@jjjulien5380]

Thank you, for the nice video! It helped me a lot.

[@wulfaxe7661]

this tut would have helped me so much back in february when i started doing things with normals hahaha, all tutorials were a bit convoluted, and i couldn't understand them very well, but i eventually figured things out

[@J_GAN8]

Just amazing, thank you so much !

[@ContradictionDesign]

Thanks! Very helpful. Good luck on your KZbin journey! It is quite the endeavor.

[@BarrettSmithBB]

There's an addon called "JBake" that essentially automates that whole process. If you plan on baking a lot of normals, it's a worthwhile addon to have.

[@user-ut6tw2ps4k]

Is it free?

[@user-mu9tz1xc6n]

@@user-ut6tw2ps4k completely open source add-on, it's on git-hub and downloadable from some other places as well.

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

Yes@@user-ut6tw2ps4k

[@stealthygripen]

@@user-ut6tw2ps4k Yes, it’s made by KZbinr Jayanam who also makes Blender tutorials.

[@rajendrameena150]

Yes, it is

[@SLEEPING313]

Thanks 🤣🙏 I tried every tutorial and it was always doing smth weird or they were not explaining well or too fast but you explained this thing so easily and clearly

[@3Dnot2D]

I'm glad that you like it.

[@moonmooooonnn]

Finally I understand about baking! Thank you so much!!!😭

[@najhonbanjon]

Good explanation THANKS

[@KristianKivisalo]

Very useful, thank you 👌🏻

[@user-gv9hd2fi5h]

Great video! Thank you 🫶🏻

[@dertobbe1176]

I live what you did here. Rly helpful

[@ArtyDc600]

Superrrr video..very helpful .. was searching exactly this.. thanks a ton !!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@vivekjha9597]

I've been learning blender for about 6 months. It's amazing in many ways compared to fusion 360. Guys like you make every little tip so easy to understand. Thank you.

[@MauvaisGouh]

thanks for the time it took u to share, so usefull

[@Artistram3d1]

Nemanja, I never knew you had a Blender channel, this is Exciting! I've always followed your Outstanding tutorials on Photoshop!

[@3Dnot2D]

I started this channel recently, because a lot of people requested Blender tutorials. And I can't do it on my Photoshop channel. 💪🏼😎

[@jungcave]

thank you! super helpful!

[@joryo3d]

amazing!! thank you!!

[@GRUBBNSTUFF]

I'm working on a tree for project of mine and I got it from 8 million faces down to 996!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@paulrmoss]

Super useful, thanks

[@williammccormick3787]

Thank you for this

[@ahmetomercicek5848]

Thank's brother , it helped me .

[@alexandrearaujo4256]

great video. thank´s

[@igorgilewicz1549]

Just see this video in my youtube suggestions. Watched it and subscribe immediately. You making good explanation of things! Keep going!

[@3Dnot2D]

Thank you.

[@mntota]

Thanks, man!

[@neondaybreak4548]

Thanks so much 🙏🙏🙏

[@dertobbe1176]

Best guy for this. Ty

[@kekekepi]

i needed this so badd

[@randomtask99]

I couldn't get the first technique to work on Blender 3.6 but the multires modifier worked OK. Thanks.

[@n0ni22]

earned a sub!

[@madbeef.]

Using a decimal separator in the thumbnail makes it seem like your turning a really low poly model into a higher poly one!

[@NN-wc7dl]

Nice!

[@sherrydowns4052]

Tyvm

[@mrbcstewart]

That was extremely helpful! Based on mostly this tutorial, I've tried to make a step by step workflow for this. Thought I'd pass it along in case it is helpful to anyone. If anything is wrong, please reply to the comment with the correction. Recipe for Baking detail from High Poly to Low Poly Mesh: (HTab = Horizontal Tabs across top left of Blender) (VTab = Vertical Tabs in bottom right panel of HTab-Layout in Blender) 1.HTab_layout - Copy High Poly and rename like … Mesh_High and Mesh_Low a.Shift-D to duplicate, Right click to cancel motion (so they exist in the same space) 2.Turn on Statistics overlay (top right icon, Hollow Sphere hanging from Solid Sphere) 3.Make the Low Poly model, well…. Low Poly… (reduce geometry) a.Option 1: VTab_Modifier(wrench) - Use Decimate Modifier i.Lower Ratio to See affect ii.Remove without applying (since we are using Remesh instead) b.Option 2: VTab_Data(three connected dots) - i.Still in Object Mode, change to Wireframe to see the faces that make-up the Mesh ii.Remesh_Section (Note: There is also a Remesh Modifier that does the same thing) 1.Set Voxel Size to get less faces 2.Press Voxel Remesh button … note Face difference iii.Normals_Section- check that Auto Smooth is off on High and Low Poly c.I ended up using a combination of Decimate, both UnSubdivide, and Collapse, as well as ReMesh 4.HTab_UV-Editing - Smart unwrap the Low Poly a.A Key(select all)… U Key->Choose Smart Unwrap (S Key) b.Set margin to .02m (then press OK) c.At this point, you could save your UV Map for use later… Left Viewport, Viewport Menu Ribbon -> UV ->Export UV Layout (pick a location in your project, and save) 5.HTab_Layout - Split Screen (or you could just do this in HTab_Shading) a.Switch left viewport to Node editor 6.Shade Smooth on High and Low poly meshes (right click in Viewport) 7.Make sure that both High and Low Poly models are in the same position in space (right on top of each other, intersecting vertices) 8.Two options, MultiRes or Not-MultiRes a.If MultiRes…. i.Hide the High Poly Mesh (eyeball icon in the Object Heirarchy) ii.VTab_Modifier - Add MultiResolution Modifier 1.In the modifier details, Subdivision_Section, Press “Subdivide” button until Low Poly Mesh look like the High Poly Mesh 2.Change “Level Viewport value to 0 9.VTab_Modifier - Add Shrink-wrap Modifier to Low Poly … target the High and Apply 10.Create New Material on Low Poly mesh 11.Create image texture node and normal map node in Node editor and wire to BSDF 12.On Image Node, create New “map image” on image texture (set width and height) sRGB -> Non-Color (unless Diffuse) 13.VTab_Render - a.Change to Cycles Engine and switch to GPU if you have one b.Sampling Section - Change “Max Samples” to 128 c.Bake Section i.Switch Bake Type to Normal (Diffuse, etc depending on what kind of image map you want to Bake) 1.Note, if Baking Diffuse, if you only want color, turn off Direct and Indirect (unless you also want to capture the lighting) ii.If NOT MultiRes, click Checkbox for “Selected to Active” 1.Three options for specifying the baking area/constraint (Oven)… 1. Cage, 2, Extrusion, 3. Max Ray Distance (tutorial uses #2) a.If Cage (Surrounds bake source and target to constrain render area for logic of the bake to operate) i.Duplicate Low Poly for use as Cage… make bigger than both other meshes (rename this copy to Mesh_Cage) ii.Checkbox - Cage option iii.Use Eyedropper to choose duplicated low poly mesh that you are using as the cage b.If Extrusion just set value to something like .5 m c.If Max Ray Distance just set value d.Note: Normal map that is generated should only be on the purple/pink spectrum, otherwise, adjust Extrusion amount, Max Ray Distance, or Cage size and rebake 2.Unhide Both Meshes if hidden 3.Make sure that the Image Node that is the baking target is selected in the Low Poly Material 4.In Object Hierarchy, Select High Poly, then CNTL-Select Low Poly iii.If MultiRes, click Checkbox for “Bake from Multires” iv.Double check settings … click Bake 14.Shading Tab - Image Panel, preview Normal image 15.Hide High Poly to see Baked Low Poly 16.Play with HDRI and BSDF shader (see tutorial) to compare meshes 17.If you used MultiRes modifier, now that you are satisfied with the bake, go ahead and apply this modifier 18.Save the baked image to disk. HTab_Shading - Lower Left Image Preview Panel - hamburger Menu -> Image -> Save As… a.In the Node Editor - Image Node - Click on the Folder icon and point it to your saved image 19.Repeat baking steps (from 10 above) for each image type that you want to bake from High to Low, usually at least Normal, Diffuse(for Base Color)

[@sandom_saddom]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@taftphotography]

Very helpful Nemanja as usual

[@3Dnot2D]

I'm glad that you like it.

[@mertality2329]

ThX

[@tapikoBlends]

thanks

[@adamzeiun892]

so smart 👍

[@LafeSpace]

Nice

[@megapixeler]

One way to make this video extra useful (specially to newbies) is to explain a little more what you are doing and why, and not just explain how to do it.

[@mrbcstewart]

I found it really useful (as an intermediate Blender user) that you kept this as short as possible and explained the concise methods of getting it done. BlenderGuru is awesome if you want a full explanation of the why's (see Anvil tutorial)

[@Danny-rp2hk]

Thanks this video is so helpful to all 3d artists

[@3Dnot2D]

You're welcome.

[@JJforYoutube]

thank you i finally baked a normal map

[@user-ll4on9my7h]

Texture baking is very important to learn.

[@Hydr312]

0:00 left high poly and right low poly. You can see it in the silhouette. The left one has way more structure/smooth the right one has harder egges.

[@jungcave]

for some of you who will bake diffuse color from high poly mesh to simple 2d plane for texture atlas - dont forget in ouliner to turn off all render icons of the rest unbackable objects, because it may collide with your baked map )))

[@Krakius]

Thanks

[@3Dnot2D]

Thank you!

[@Jackson-bh1jw]

he never deleted the high version and always covered the low one, gg genious.

[@kmanL3G3N3D]

Simple bake is a must have for Blender. It would help save time

[@dertobbe1176]

It probably could save time If there were an option in the remesh Systems

[@Mohammad-t3m]

The Garten of banban devs played this video in reverse lol

[@WasifRBX]

Alternative title: How to bake rocks with minimal resources

[@satriadiutama7010]

i cant believe this channel only have 3k subs, i thought some 600k

[@3Dnot2D]

Thanks. Maybe one day 🙂

[@ninjutsu_bujin]

Nice. 🙂

[@3Dnot2D]

Thanks!

[@kolper6799]

We need to send this to that guy who made 70k polygon sandwitch in starfield.

[@SayceBuckleyFreak]

i loved that HDRI lol ! do you know which one you used?

[@davestomper3428]

Hey Thanks for the information man this is super good to know Is this something you would use for like hard surface modeling or is it primarily used for Organic models?

[@doeeman1]

i love you

[@kampkrieger]

you can tell which is which. Look at the edges (transition to background) the low poly version has uglier more clunky edges. This is important, that is how you know how far you can go with this. You example is still high poly enough that it does not become apparent enough to be a problem.

[@vizdotlife]

Thanks for the tutorial! This is great. One question. You mentioned it was very important to switch to Cycles from Eevee. Does this not work in Eevee too, but of course lower quality?

[@3Dnot2D]

In order to bake normals you need to switch to Cycles. You can later use Eevee for render...

[@AlisonReidMe]

Thank you, I'm glad you showed both methods. Excellent !! A very helpful video for a difficult concept.

[@3Dnot2D]

You're welcome 😊

[@omiorahman6283]

suppose i want to paint the rock do i paint the high poly and just transfer the color using normal maps or do i have to add another color image for the low poly and uv unwrap both high and low poly mesh

[@feraspielt]

This is the first tutorial which I understand with first try xD thanks! as my model has 20 million polygons, I still wait for the result^^ Hope it worked Can I display the baked texture in texture painting or vertex paint, so I could for example paint dino scales scale for scale in different colours? I have another question: in sculpting my model mirror is not 100% the same... Normaly I model the clay on the right side with X mirror... But the left side (the mirrord side) isnt exat the same.. its like you modeling the right side with 100% strengh and the left side just with 90% strengh. Do you know why this happens? its with every model i made

[@milanzeeman4454]

I could also just use quad remesher from exosuit?

[@starfoxdelta]

Does this work for character models as well, or would another method be needed?

[@grey3318]

Normal maps are witchcraft. Super helpful video though. Saving this one for reference.

[@stevannikolovski]

Seems like Multires bake way is faster and easier. Thanks for nice and straightforward video.

[@deltagaiya7681]

Great video! Question, which Mac are you running for your work? OR just straight up how much memory do you have?

[@3Dnot2D]

Thanks. I'm using M1 Max MacBook Pro with 64 GB of RAM

[@KidamaruDesigns]

In fact, it's amazing why such a basic tool as baking can't be made easier. Conditionally, you do low and high. Click bake, make small settings in the window that appears and bake occurs with automatic binding of normal maps to the low model. Baking one object is still OK, but if there are 20 such objects, it's terrible.

[@YannHubert]

Hy, very great tuto (i just begin with photogrammetry). Your solution is very helpful but how to export this amazing rendering in glb or obj format ? Thank you for your answer :)

[@DianaProbst]

My muddy rock is now a shiny low-poly meteor!

[@mr.j7899]

I think you can optimize it more by manually doing retopo. 1.2k tris is still a lot as a rock. But important thing is you demonstrated the worflow. Subbed!

[@pumpkinpiecrust8435]

Geniunely wondering where manual retopo fits into this workflow. Would you do it instead of the decimate? Do it with a fairly high poly count just to have nicer topology (not necessarily more optimized just cleaner to work with for UV's and such) and THEN decimate it? Im curious

[@mr.j7899]

@@pumpkinpiecrust8435 I do both. I decimate in ZBrush then place it in Maya for retopo. Great for creating assets for games. You just gotta know how to UV unwrap properly.

[@thomassilvestri4434]

Does this work well with characters, or do you need to strategically retopologize and seam for unwrap.

[@3Dnot2D]

Depends on a character. It can work. But you should always have a good low poly topology and transfer details on that one.