Bake High to Low Poly Normal Maps in Blender

Baking a normal map in Blender allows you to transfer intricate geometric details from a high-polygon model onto a performance-friendly low-polygon mesh. This process captures surface lighting details, creating the illusion of complex depth without adding extra geometry, which is essential for game engines and real-time 3D applications. This step-by-step guide walks you through aligning your models, unwrapping UVs, configuring material nodes, and executing a clean normal map bake using the Cycles rendering engine.

1. Prepare the Meshes

  1. Place both the High-Poly and Low-Poly models in the exact same location in 3D space (aligned origins).
  2. Ensure the Low-Poly mesh is properly UV unwrapped with minimal stretch and adequate padding between UV islands to prevent bleeding.
  3. Select both meshes, right-click, and select Shade Smooth.

2. Set Up the Low-Poly Material

  1. Switch to the Shader Editor tab with the Low-Poly model selected.
  2. Ensure the Low-Poly object has a material assigned to it.
  3. Press Shift + A, search for Image Texture, and place the node in the editor. Do not connect it to anything yet.
  4. Click New on the Image Texture node:
    • Name your image (e.g., Normal_Map).
    • Set the resolution (e.g., 2048 x 2048).
    • Uncheck Alpha unless needed.
    • Click OK.
  5. Change the Color Space of the new Image Texture node from sRGB to Non-Color.
  6. Ensure this Image Texture node remains active (highlighted with a white/yellow border).

3. Configure Render and Bake Settings

  1. Go to the Properties Panel on the right and select the Render Properties tab (camera icon).
  2. Change the Render Engine to Cycles (Normal baking is not supported in Eevee).
  3. Scroll down and expand the Bake section:
    • Set Bake Type to Normal.
    • Check the box for Selected to Active.
    • Expand the Selected to Active dropdown menu.
    • Increase the Extrusion value slightly (e.g., 0.01 to 0.1 meters) to cover surface variations between the two models. Alternatively, use a custom Cage object for complex shapes.

4. Perform the Bake

  1. In the 3D Viewport, select the High-Poly mesh first.
  2. Hold Shift and select the Low-Poly mesh second (the Low-Poly object must be the active selection, outlined in bright orange).
  3. Confirm that the Image Texture node is still selected in the Shader Editor.
  4. Click the Bake button in the Render Properties panel.
  5. Wait for the bake progress bar at the bottom of the screen to complete.

5. Save and Connect the Map

  1. Open the Image Editor workspace and select your baked texture map (Normal_Map).
  2. Go to Image > Save As... to save the generated image file to your computer.
  3. In the Shader Editor, connect the Color output of the Image Texture node to a Normal Map node (Shift + A > Vector > Normal Map), then connect the Normal Map node's output to the Normal input of the Principled BSDF node.