Bake

Bake copies textures from painted meshes onto a new one. Some steps, such as Boolean, Remesh or a fresh Smart UV, rebuild a mesh’s faces or UVs and leave its textures behind. Paint the pieces first, run the step, unwrap the result with Smart UV, then Bake: wire the result into a, and the original painted pieces into b, c and d.

Which surface a texel copies

Each spot on the new mesh copies the nearest source surface within Max distance, from whichever source is closest. Only surfaces that face the same way as the new mesh count: the back of a source is ignored. So on a thin part, such as a panel or a blade, each side copies its own side of the source even where the other side is nearer. A one-sided source, such as a single plane, can’t be copied from behind; if a spot finds nothing, flip the source’s normals first.

Black spots from hidden surfaces

AI-generated models paint every surface another part covers black, because the generator never saw it: the post under a rope wrap, the top of a post under a beam, the floor under a post. On the original model those spots are hidden. After Polyreduce or Fill Holes, the new mesh no longer hugs the source exactly, and a spot just past a rope’s edge can find that hidden black surface as its nearest source.

Fill hidden source (on by default) catches these. For each point of the sources, Bake casts short rays (10 cm) around it; when other source geometry blocks at least Hidden when of them (90 % by default), the point is buried. A spot that copied a buried point takes its colour from the visible spots around it in the same UV island instead. A spot whose whole island is buried takes the colour of the nearest visible spot. Base colour, metallic-roughness and emissive are filled; the normal map keeps what it copied, because the buried surface’s shape is real.

If a thin dark rim is left around a covered area, lower Hidden when a little. If a real painted crevice gets repainted, raise it, or turn the option off.

Seeing how far the bake reaches

While a Bake node is selected, the viewport draws a see-through reach shell around the new mesh: its surface pushed out by Max distance. That is how far each spot looks for a source. Drag Max distance and the shell moves with it once the bake finishes.

The shell is tinted by what the bake found under each spot:

Faint gray where a source surface facing the same way was found.
Red where the nearest source surface faced the other way and was skipped, such as the back of a thin part. The spot then copied a farther surface, or nothing.
Violet where no source surface was within reach at all. These are the spots the node’s warning counts; they keep the new mesh’s own texture.
Amber where the source spot found was hidden under another part, so Fill hidden source replaced its colour from the visible surface around it. Expected on AI-generated models, so there is no warning.

The toolbar above the viewport shows the share of the mesh in red, violet and amber. Raise Max distance until violet is gone, and keep it as low as that allows, so a distant piece can’t bleed onto the wrong surface. Turn the shell off and on with Reach in the toolbar, or press H. The shell is only for viewing: it never changes the mesh, the baked textures or the exported file.

Shape from a detailed mesh

Bake also copies how the sources are shaped, through the normal map. Bake a detailed mesh onto a simplified copy with smooth normals, and the bumps and sharp edges the simplification lost light up again on the new mesh. This works even when the source has no textures at all.

Where a source has a normal map of its own, the new mesh shows that source’s surface exactly. Where it has none, the source’s shape comes through and the new mesh keeps any normal map it already had on top. A painted decal baked onto a model doesn’t wipe out the model’s normal map under it.

The normal map is written in the same tangent space that game engines and Blender use. The exported file carries those tangents, so the mesh lights the same in the engine as in the viewport.

Imported models

Bake also copies an imported model’s textures, normal maps included. Import the model, unwrap it with Smart UV, then Bake with the unwrapped mesh in a and the Import in b. Each texture lands where the model showed it, even one that tiles, is moved by a texture transform, or uses a second UV set. After the Bake, Paint Fill and Paint Masked can paint over all of them.

If the mesh in a is itself imported, Bake paints over its textures only where a source reaches it, at each texture’s own size. The rest of the picture stays exactly as the file had it.

Bake can’t copy an ambient occlusion texture, and the new material draws solid and one-sided even when the source was cut out, see-through or double-sided. The node shows a warning when this happens.

Inputs

Mesh a

The target: the mesh that receives the textures, with its new UVs.

Mesh b

A textured mesh to copy the textures from.

Mesh c Optional

Another textured mesh to copy from.

Mesh d Optional

Another textured mesh to copy from.

Outputs

Mesh

The target with the textures of the other inputs copied onto its surface.

Parameters

Parameter	What it does	Default
`Max distance`	How far from the target's surface to look for a source. Raise it if parts come out blank; keep it small so a distant piece does not bleed onto the wrong surface.	10 cm
`Fill hidden source`	Repaints spots that copied a hidden, black part of the source.	On
`Hidden when`	How enclosed a source point must be to count as hidden. Shown when Fill hidden source is On.	90
`Resolution`	How detailed the baked textures are. An imported texture on the target keeps its own size. Options: 256, 512, 1024, 2048	2048