Baking normal maps for game model

Zen BBQ
1

P3

Hello. I know you can bake Zenbbq results onto an unwrapped model, but I was wondering if you can make normal maps from higher poly and detailed Zenbbq model, onto a lower poly and less detailed model.

I would like to avoid keeping the final model as a mid poly model with smooth edged normal maps slapped onto details.
I want a low poly model to use normal maps baked from the Zenbbq mid poly model, without some of the actual geometry and details from the mid poly model itself.

Thank you for any help or assistance.
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2

NightVision

I can try to achieve something like that… tho, isn’t it just like the baked normal map, and zenbbq on top?

If you have a material with a normal map, it should add ZenBBQ on top
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3

Valeriy Yatsenko

Thanks, <@212920648127873024> . I hope I understood question correctly. Bevels created with ZenBBQ are shader bevels. This means that we can create them for any model. For hi-poly, mid-poly, something between lo-poly and billion-poly. Accordingly, these bevels will be baked on the lo-poly model, provided we know how to bake normal maps correctly.
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4

NightVision

Sorry, I’ve re read it for the 10th time. lol
The answer is Yes, you can bake a mid poly model WITH ZenBBQ into a lowpoly

This is the bake

This is the midpoly with ZenBBQ

And this the lowpoly

midpoly without ZenBBQ. You can clearly see it baked WITH ZenBBQ from the first image


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5

Hey!

Can you show how you set up high poly and low poly meshes in BBQ?

As far as I know BBQ allows to bake normal from mesh with bevel shader but only on to the very same mesh.

6

Yes, you are right—Zen BBQ only bakes from an object to itself. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t bake using Blender’s native workflow. Setting up objects for baking is completely standard. If you’re familiar with baking in Blender, here are the minimum required steps:

1. Select the High Poly object.

2. Apply bevels to it using the Zen BBQ addon.

3. Select the Low Poly object and create a UV Map for it without any overlaps.

4. Select both the HP and LP objects, making sure the LP object is active.

5. Use Blender’s standard High Poly to Low Poly baking process.

7

Blender’s standart baking process is rather finicky, and baking not just normal maps but also additional maps for multiple UDIM tiles turns into a real nightmare. It is easier to use more user-friendly baking addons.
It would be great if Zen BBQ included a high poly to low poly baking feature.