Surface BakingBy Thomas UsterThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330All models and textures created by Andy RaderIntroductionThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330 - The goal of surface baking is to decrease render times.- When render times get costly surface baking can be very useful.- Surface baking is popular in games because fast loading graphics creates smooth game play.- My tutorial uses the floor of a hanger.SummaryThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330 - We will create a UV Map Texture. - Bake the UV Texture in Layout with the Surface Baking Camera - Switch the texture for the floor with the new baked jpegBefore and AfterThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330 - Here are the before and after jpegs of the scenes with their floors and render times.Render Time: 4m 18s Render Time: 1m 40sStepsThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330 - We will create a UV Map Texture- Open The object you wish to create a baked texture for.Creating a UV mapStep 1Step 2Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330-In the Upper left hand view port scroll down to UV Texture.Step 3Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- A drop down menu appears to the right of UV Texture.- Scroll down too load image and select the texture you wish to bake.Step 4Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Your modeler should be viewing the UV texture in the upper left hand corner like so.Step 5Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Click on Surface editor.-Select the Surface you wish to change. Hit T for texture.Step 6Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Uncheck the Texture.- Your surface should become un textured in the perspective view port.Step 7Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Next we want to select the polygons of the surface we just hid the texture of.- In polygon mode hit ‘w’.- The Polygon statistics Box appears- Select the surface we just hid.- Hit the plus symbol to select those polygons.Step 8Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Your surface polygons should now be selected.- Click on the Map tab.- Under the Texture column hit “Make UV’s”.Step 9Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- The Assign UV Coordinates box appears.- Make the Texture name something descriptive.- Make the Map Type and axis being textured the same as the hidden texture.- Hit CreateStep 10Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Now Go back into the Texture editor. - Surface Editor -> Select T on surface- Click Copy -> Selected Layer… to Copy our hidden layer.- Click Paste -> Add to layers… to preserve our old layer.Step 11Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Change Projection to UV- Change UVMap to the UV Map we created in step 9. It should be the only one available.- Make sure your texture is selected for ‘Image’.Step 12Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- In the perspective View you now see that your polygons are textured.- To edit how the map is applied to the texture adjust the polygons or points in the UV map view port.- I will have to rotate my square polygon like so.Step 13Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Now go into your scene of the object your working with.- Click on camera.- Click on properties.Surface BakingStep 14Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Click the Camera Drop down menu.- Select Surface Baking Camera.Step 15Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- The Surface Baking Camera Box appears.- Make the Mesh the Object with the surface you are baking.- Make the UV map the New UV texture you created.- For more details about other options click here.Step 16Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Hit F9 and to take a render.-Make sure ray trace shadows and other light settings are turned on.- It will now render a new texture with lighting and shadows.- Save the render.- Go back in modeler.- Change the image we are using to texture from our render.Step 17Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330Step 18Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Save your object and go back into Layout.- Shadows and light changes should now be seen on your object.shadow in textureStep 19Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Go into camera properties.- Click the drop down menu where Surface Baking Camera is.- Select classic camera.Step 20Thomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330Speeding Renders- To speed up my render I simply turned off ray trace shadows because the majority of my shadows in the scene are on my surface.NotesThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330- Perhaps you baked a surface texture on a more contained object in the scene and you no longer need the object lit by certain lights.- If you want a light to no longer illuminate your object go into light properties -> Object Tab -> And check the box of your object.Links And ReferencesThomas Uster-Tutorial-APCG 330 - These links are very helpful!- UV Mapping- Surface Baking Camera- Lightwave 6.5 Surface BakingAll models and textures created by Andy
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