Blender 2.91 Hardsurface Sculpting : Baking the Normal Map

[@SoDaPrice1998]

Finally a properly detailed video on Normal Map Baking...... Thank You So Much........

[@JayAnAm]

You are very welcome

[@iamjohnhult]

I've been doing quite a bit of normal baking recently and for anyone that has issues with sems etc, make sure to set the image node to non-color and set color management to raw with look "none" and sequencer to non-color as well. That way you get a 'pure" normal map. You can also set the cycles render samples to 1. Works just as well for baking and will save you a looot of time.

[@JayAnAm]

Thx for the tips

[@iamjohnhult]

@@JayAnAm I just had a bit of struggling so I figured someone else might into the same issues. Happy to help, great tutorials btw!

[@piorism]

Non-color is indeed very important. It's also good to note that the option to switch from RGB to non-color may not appear instantly after the bake. But once the map is packed or saved as, the option will show up.

[@akshatpaniker]

I don't understand why we should use non-color as a normal map has rgb colors to.Could you please explain

[@JayAnAm]

@@akshatpaniker The color of the normal map is just used to calculate vectors, These vectors will then by added the shader - but no color. See the color as an input, but not as an output. Also setting it to Non-Color means that there is no gamma correction made for the output for this node - as it is for the base color / Albedo.

[@TheInternetwatcher]

Thank you for this great tutorial, helps that it is short and to the point. Now I'm going to make a bunch of practice sculpts and make normal maps just to practice so this information will stick in my brain.

[@nidgithm]

thank you! i used a different tutorial that wasnt for hard surface and the result came out pretty bad, but this gives a smooth clean normal map

[@thethirdkate]

Thanks, tried several tutorials and this is the first that worked!

[@OopsWrongButton-d1i]

Best normal map tutorial I've seen so far.

[@RealityXHD]

I like your tutorials, short, clear and straight to the point. Thanks a lot!

[@JayAnAm]

Thx m8

[@joshoxy]

Your explaination was clear thank you

[@MarcoPaints]

Holy moly this is useful- instant sub for this!

[@JayAnAm]

Holy moly... thx a lot:-)

[@krosshj]

Thank you, every detail is very clear

[@JohnnyCashOriginal]

Thank you Sir for this concise explanation!

[@jakubrpawlowski]

Thank you for sharing Jayanam! My current project is stylized the way it doesn't need normal maps, but I will definitely come back to it again in the future!

[@JayAnAm]

Ok great!

[@Jaakeup]

Thank you so much for this. I was going through multiple other videos where people drone on for 20+ minutes and this was exactly what I needed

[@darkcult99]

Subscribed! Total Blender noob here. Thank you! 👍

[@howgii7140]

Thanks, I will try this later!

[@MwSama]

this really helpful. im glad u taught us to use the shrink wrap, because i think that's what i needed

[@ahmetomercicek5848]

Thank you .

[@Numocron]

This is such an awesome Blender tutorial right here Jayanam I love it.😃👍

[@Arpichus]

You are a life saver, been following a couple of baking videos and yours was the shortest and easiest to follow, thank you SO MUCH

[@fpatrocinio]

Great video, thank you for sharing

[@quapex35tr]

WOWO, I wasn't expecting that. The texturing...

[@Nemesis-fp1yc]

Awesome thank you so much. Very usefull method for verts reduce.

[@sodiumoperatedgirl]

Love this! Thanks for the tutorial - this looks like a great way to capture details on some models.

[@user-meta]

Thank's man! It's very helpful!

[@nico-s5k]

Dude, I love you

[@_s_s_world_]

its working!!!! thx!

[@ismailcansener8704]

Thaks VERY HELPED i am grateful

[@JayAnAm]

Great !

[@bru-no6708]

Thank you so much! Subscribed! Looking forward for more of these!

[@Rootfury]

That was really helpful, thank you.

[@blendershots]

this cannel have very useful tutorials....i found most of the solutions from here

[@JayAnAm]

Glad to hear that!

[@hazchickgames2840]

Was having an issue with the shrinkwrap that others might be having so hopefully posting the solution here will help someone. I was shrinkwraping with the LP sitting next to the HP and it was just squashing the mesh to the side of the HP. For the shrinkwrap to work properly, the LP and HP have to occupy the exact same space in 3D space. Can achieve this by clicking on the HP Mesh and shift-clicking the LP in object mode, right click and goto Snap > Selected to Active. Then apply your shrinkwrap :)

[@sanselva9761]

Super helpful tutorial. Thanks a lot

[@ksormon1]

Life saver! Thank you!

[@tomsonpl123]

Hahaha this tuts is like a on-demand for me :-D Thanks so much!

[@JayAnAm]

:-) Great to hear

[@mendezcreative]

Thank you for this tutorial!

[@satinigames203]

Awesome video, thanks a lot!

[@samhein321]

Thanks, this was simple and easy to do and follow. :)

[@jessicalindblom5795]

great tutorial!

[@thefriendlyaspie7984]

thanks so much, it would be lovely if you could add the link to the next video :)

[@shimmuus]

Thank you!

[@JayAnAm]

You're welcome!

[@lukasrockdriguez5230]

THANK YOU! I've tried to bake for a while following old tuts and I could never get a decent result, everyone was talking about the ray distance, the trick is to tweak the extrusion value. I finally got it right!1

[@snowsnow4231]

Finally understood how baking works, but the whole selection Ctrl thing is a bit tricky

[@danielserna5222]

Finally! Thank u

[@JayAnAm]

You are very welcome

[@zacharybarrnibaa6682]

thank u

[@Badwolf2743]

Hi love that your video is so quick and simple making it one of the best videos about baking in blender I've seen out of many. I had one question, how would I be able to fix these smudges I get near the end/corner of my model when baking normal maps? Thanks for the amazing video.

[@brak_mi_slow]

thanks, now I understand

[@CGRunLough]

Nice

[@brothermalleus4525]

Thank you so much my friend :D

[@JayAnAm]

You're welcome!

[@rodolfoxavierneto6667]

Bruh! So useful thx a lot

[@danielf5651]

Perfect! Danke

[@jtmcdole]

So I made a quick mesh, then went to town roughing it up, even put in big dings on the high poly. Ultimately the low polly looked awful. I'm guessing because I didn't start the the big chunks modeled like your first video. Back to testing!

[@user-gq1ij]

This was very helpful Can you please explain 3:14, on what basis should I change it

[@Tether504]

so amazing thank you

[@JayAnAm]

Glad you like it!

[@adalissaaa]

Oh, this was incredibly helpful, my German friend! Thank you so much! Is this the typical method for achieving a stylized edge look? I couldn't find a video demonstrating this technique, despite my extensive search.

[@alertcriminal]

love this tutorial finally got my baking working after 5 hours!

[@BramvanVliet]

Awesome tutorial Jayanam, always useful and clear! Thank you

[@JayAnAm]

My pleasure 😊

[@strobolare]

By following this procedure you can also see all the edges that form the model like a quilt, where could I go wrong?

[@samarthmadhwani]

this is so cool!

[@JayAnAm]

Hey thx!

[@baderuk73]

Super!

[@JayAnAm]

Thank you very much!

[@ultrahigh5961]

Every time I try to bake I get a black texture with some grey parts

[@rasqet]

waiting for next tutorials. thanks..

[@JayAnAm]

Thx, next one comes on Monday

[@ozgurkahraman8845]

THANK YOUYUUU

[@suryanshkulshreshtha4095]

Thanks

[@dzdigitaldesigngaming1143]

the Bake tab doesn't show up for me, but when i change the device back to CPU it showed up. it turns out you need to choose CUDA in the Cycle render device in preference to use GPU Compute for baking ( i was using OptiX ). hope this help.

[@Ijustlikewatchingvideosman]

Thanks! I use OptiX normally and I couldn't figure out why it was giving me transparent normals. This solved the issue!

[@maab7928]

help, i'm trying to bake a normal map for a bolt so i can put it on a low poly one without the thread but when i finish baking the normal map nothing changes

[@keeansnediker2642]

following along step by step and im having a problem with the bake. its telling me i need a UV of the high poly mesh. i didn't see you make on in yours at all, I'm not seeing anyone else having this issue in the comments. why is it forcing me to make a uv unwrap of the high poly? its a 300,000 vert high poly.

[@valhum]

You mentioned to play around with the Selective to Active/Extrusion value to what looks better. Once you Bake it, is it just a matter to modify the value and Bake again? will that override the baked image?

[@albertstulov3339]

I cant save non-color map with the same colors. If i change image type to non-color and try to save picture separated, blender saves it just like its regular RGB or BW picture. But when i created new picture with floats, and saved it, everything was fine with correct colors and brightness. So how can i save normal map in the same state if i use non-color space?

[@dandan-mf4sr]

i heard people say low poly need to use shade smooth. why and what does it mean? when i use shade smooth on my low poly, my baked normal map shows triangles bumps near bevelled corners.

[@hounsker]

this is so cool, I just baked an igloo! thank you, Jayanam! 🤩🇧🇷

[@JayAnAm]

Very welcome m8

[@hounsker]

@@JayAnAm Here's the igloo I baked using that technique: skfb.ly/6Z8vZ 🐻‍❄️

[@A-D-S-P]

👌 blender3D the Best 🐒

[@kenalpha3]

What exactly is [the high poly baking] for? If I save export the low poly to FBX with bake texture, [then import it to a game], Does it turn the low poly into the [textured] look of the highP, but without the extra polys in game?

[@VIZFORGE]

Amazing!!!

[@JayAnAm]

Thanks!!

[@ZenMonkeyGod]

I just have one question; I'm sculpting using the Multiresolution modifier, and cranked it up to 3. I have the viewport at 1. But I'm wondering, when I bake the normals, will it still bake as the high-detail version or look as low-res as the 1 subdivision setting? I guess what I mean is, when I try to have the viewport at 3, and I try to bake, Blender has a heart attack and crashes. Every time. So, if I lower or even hide the modifier, will it still bake the sculpts properly?

[@andyone7616]

In Blender 2.9 issue - no Bake button if you check GPU Compute! waiting for your next Tutorial!!! for Cavity!

[@JayAnAm]

No, that's strange. Did you set it to Render Engine Cycles?

[@andyone7616]

@@JayAnAm Yeah Cycles, have Bake when i only set CPU, once i choose GPU Compute no Bake button

[@snateraar]

@@andyone7616 set your system to CUDA instead of optix

[@andyone7616]

@@snateraar yeah that helped 👍🏻

[@alexanderhandjiev2845]

@@snateraar scrolled through 10 tutorials with the comment sections and nobody talked about it :\

[@namanbisht975]

I baked it but there are lines like sharp lines even though I didn't put any.

[@MrAlgear]

Does the high poly version need to be unwrapped aswell?

[@JohnnyBuxton]

It's converting the high quality geometry to a pixel based texture.. so No, the source doesn't require UVs. Technically there's cases where you might want to blend a normal map with it, but for the process in the vid, Nah :)

[@ratus69]

If bake option doesn't show up with GPU compute (especially in 2.91) switch to CUDA as Optix is not supported or use CPU instead

[@UnityGamer2077]

Please keep update, and also make stylized painting texture, many thanks

[@JayAnAm]

Ok, you're welcome

[@andrewburyakov436]

Very nice dude! Thank you for this video. Is different kind of tutorials, but also very helpful(i actualy started from Andrew Price). Is fun, but i remember old game NetStorm, and i so want to make a world of this unregular strategy :-) and this will help me also)

[@JayAnAm]

Alright, sounds interesting, thx for the input.

[@mohamedal-gazpacho9685]

So the point of baking normals is to have a high res of a sculpt on a low poly mesh?

[@desolatedwrld6183]

Please someone help with the circular dependency issue I keep experiencing it's really annoying when I'm trying to do this.

[@adammolnar2029]

Maybe my comment wont reach out anyone, and maybe sounds stupid, but this technique can work with even characters? and more complicated models? This technique can keep every models details, meanwhile the model i will use it is low poly?

[@MaxCBPCenter]

Good tutorial. But I have questions. Maybe someone here knows. Why is it better to work with the lowpoly mesh with a normal map instead of the high poly mesh? Only performance or is there something else to it?

[@JayAnAm]

Yes, performance. In game engines you cant work with high poly meshes.

[@АлексейБунин-ь1б]

Супер! Очень помог! / Super! Very helpful!

[@isman2145]

that awesome. this is what i need for now. thank alot👏👏👏

[@JayAnAm]

Thank you m8, glad to hear!

[@u.r.specialkelley6390]

Hi J, Question, on your earlier Mirroring video. Is it possible to center origin point on the both mirrored objects thus making both sides individual objects? for example in making EYES. Great videos very clear. thanks very much.

[@sanketvaria9734]

How to do the same thing in blender 3? things have changed.

[@md.samsuzzaman6459]

which of this need more data space? medium detailed mesh with one texture or low poly mesh model with multiple texture😢

[@julioperone6857]

Excellent explanation, I dont understand this. For the baking is not necesary retopology? Or we need both process for optimization the model? Thanks for this video!

[@JeffRamos9000]

First of all, thank you, this works! Second, I get a blue error that says I have a circular dependency, but it still works. Any idea why?

[@JayAnAm]

I think it's a Blender bug, I also noticed but it seems to work anyway

[@JeffRamos9000]

@@JayAnAm yeah, I figured as much. still seems to work. thanks for the video!

[@samighasemi3333]

Niiiiiice

[@michaelkukula5926]

Hello. Anyone having an issue where the shader editor is empty?

[@tylerdaniels9000]

How do you use Textools add-on or similar baking add-ons for the baking instead of using cycles and node?

[@yvnghenri]

I dont know what im doing wrong but every time i press "bake" blender just instantly crashes...

[@SuperVeggieHero]

If you aren't already using the LTS version of Blender it might help as they are more stable.

[@FaithWasntTaken]

How can i do this in eevee?

[@paulojonathan3161]

I don't quite understand, How can I add a texture or even change the color to the normal map? HELP!?

[@bigometer]

Normal maps are only used for mesh details. You'll need to change the bake type to diffuse to get the base color or do combined for other maps included as well.

[@paulojonathan3161]

@@bigometer two weeks ago I had no idea what a normal map was, now I finally understand them, thanks Bigometer,

[@joeg7096]

Is there any advantages to using substance painter for baking over Blender? I was trying forever to get my bake to work in substance painter with no luck but got it working pretty well in Blender

[@tome4161]

Hey, What program do you uses to display pressed keys and buttons on your screen for this tutorial? thanks

[@wiggywoo2233]

Great video!! Used this so much when creating my environments!! However I have tried using this technique with my character model and it hasn’t worked as well, whenever I add the image texture, the mesh always gets discoloured at sections (at the models seams) it doesn’t seem to be an issue with the normals either. Could this be an issue with the models topology? Or is there something else I’m missing? Great video, though!!

[@peachy_lili]

"I've been doing quite a bit of normal baking recently and for anyone that has issues with sems etc, make sure to set the image node to non-color and set color management to raw with look "none" and sequencer to non-color as well. That way you get a 'pure" normal map. You can also set the cycles render samples to 1. Works just as well for baking and will save you a looot of time." from above