Getting Started

This guide walks you through installing the addon and baking your first complete set of PBR textures. By the end, you will have a full texture set exported and ready to import into your target engine.

Prerequisites

• Blender 4.2 or later -- The addon uses APIs introduced in Blender 4.2
• Cycles render engine -- The addon uses Cycles bake functionality. EEVEE is not supported for baking
• An object with at least one material using a Principled BSDF node

Step 1: Install the Addon

1. After purchasing, download the addon ZIP file from your account dashboard.
2. Open Blender and go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons.
3. Click Install and select the downloaded ZIP file.
4. Enable the addon by checking the box next to One-Click PBR Bake & Export in the addon list.
5. The addon is now active. No restart required.

Step 2: Select Your Object

1. In the 3D viewport, select the object you want to bake textures from.
2. The object must have at least one material slot with a material that uses a Principled BSDF node.
3. If your object has multiple materials, the addon will bake from the active material slot by default.

Step 3: Open the PBR Bake Panel

1. Press N to open the N-Panel (sidebar) in the 3D viewport.
2. Click the PBR Bake tab.
3. The panel displays all bake settings organized into sections: Engine Preset, Output, Channels, Packing, and Advanced.

Step 4: Choose an Engine Preset

1. In the Engine Preset dropdown, select your target engine:
   • UE5 Standard -- 2048px, PNG, DirectX normals, ORM packed (recommended for Unreal Engine)
   • Unity Standard -- 2048px, PNG, OpenGL normals, smoothness inversion
   • Web/Low-Res -- 1024px, PNG, OpenGL normals
   • Film/High-Res -- 4096px, EXR 32-bit, OpenGL normals
2. The preset automatically configures resolution, format, normal map mode, and channel packing settings.
3. You can override any individual setting after selecting a preset.

For detailed preset information, see Engine Presets.

Step 5: Set Output Directory

1. In the Output section, click the folder icon next to Output Path.
2. Browse to and select the directory where baked textures should be saved.
3. Files are named using the pattern: {ObjectName}_{ChannelName}.{ext} (e.g., MyRock_BaseColor.png).

Step 6: Click BAKE ALL

1. Click the large BAKE ALL button at the top of the panel.
2. The addon begins baking each enabled channel in sequence.
3. A progress bar appears showing the current channel being baked and overall progress.

Understanding the Progress Bar

During baking, the panel displays:

• Current channel name -- The channel currently being baked (e.g., "Baking: Roughness")
• Progress bar -- Overall progress across all enabled channels
• Channel indicators -- Each channel shows a status icon:
  • Gray circle -- Pending
  • Spinning indicator -- Currently baking
  • Green checkmark -- Complete
  • Red X -- Failed (hover for error details)
• Cancel button -- Stop the bake after the current channel finishes

Output Files

After a successful bake with the UE5 Standard preset, you will find files like:

output/
  MyObject_BaseColor.png
  MyObject_Normal.png
  MyObject_ORM.png          # Packed: AO (R) + Roughness (G) + Metallic (B)
  MyObject_Emission.png

The exact set of files depends on which channels are enabled and whether channel packing is active.

Troubleshooting

Bake produces a solid black texture

• Verify the material uses a Principled BSDF node (not a custom shader group)
• Check that the object has proper UV coordinates (UV Map must exist)
• Ensure the Cycles render engine is selected in Render Properties

Bake produces artifacts or seams

• Increase Bake Margin in the Advanced section (default is 16px, try 32px)
• Ensure UV islands have adequate padding
• For normal maps, check that your mesh has proper face orientation (normals pointing outward)

Some channels are missing from output

• Check that the channels are enabled in the Channels section
• Channels that have no connected input on the Principled BSDF will produce a default value texture

Performance is slow

• Reduce Samples in the Advanced section (16-32 is usually sufficient for PBR baking)
• Enable Denoise to get clean results with fewer samples
• Lower the resolution for initial tests, then bake at full resolution for final output
• Use GPU rendering if available (set in Render Properties > Device)

Next Steps

• Channels -- Learn about all 11 PBR channels and their bake methods
• Engine Presets -- Detailed preset configurations
• Channel Packing -- Understand ORM and custom packing
• Batch Baking -- Bake multiple objects at once
• API Reference -- Full operator and property reference