Why Bake Textures in 3D Graphics Programs?

For many people the trouble and complications that come about from actually baking textures onto a sculpted or modeled 3D object can be a complete hassle. However, the typical 3D graphics professional can agree that the results are much nicer when the texture is baked to capture natural shadows and this is often what makes it worth all of the trouble.

Most of the time, simply applying a flat texture to a 3D object can give it a nicer impression than it would have without a texture at all. To give it a much more realistic appearance the purpose of baking comes into play. By baking a texture, you are placing highlights as well as shadows onto the texture so that once it is applied to the sculpted or modeled object it will have the shadows and highlights in the exact place that you want them.

This is all done by setting up lighting for the scene. By moving the lights around, you can move and modify the shadows that are placed onto your texture when you bake the textures. However, it is likely that you will have to do a lot of trial and error before you are able to actually bake the textures on in a manner that you are truly satisfied with. A poorly baked texture just does not offer the quality look that you are going for, so a bit of practice will be required.

In order to get started baking textures you need to first learn how to setup the scene to offer the lighting that is needed. For example, heavy lighting and light lighting will offer significantly different results. In order to really determine the look that you are going for, adjusting the lights until you get just the right desired effect is necessary.

After you have taken the time to carefully master baking textures you will find that it is incredibly easy to get the results that you are after. A good 3D artist will always agree that much of the determination of how good the overall model is will lie in exactly how good the textures are. Quality textures with properly baked shadows will always offer a much better finished model than anything else you could possibly do. After all, a very carefully baked texture can even be useful in covering up some small errors with the model that you might not have realized existed prior to the export.