Hi, I have painted a cube using vertex paint. I’m trying to “Bake” the vertex to a texture map. In “Blender Render” Mode under “Bake” I can select "vertex color, but in “Cycles Render” Mode under “Bake” there is no “vertex color” option. So I guess it’s only possible to bake a vertex color in “Blender Render” Mode?
Problem:In Blender Render Mode when I Select the “Bake” button I get the following message!
“No Objects or Images Found to Bake to!”
Here are my steps. Please tell me where I’m going wrong.
In Blender Render Mode I Paint cube with vertex paint
In “edit” mode I unwrap the cube. Tutorial says I don’t need to save the UV map.
In the (UV editor) tutorial says to select “New” Button to create a new UV Map.
Then tutorial says to go to the (Render Icon > Bake) and select "Vertex Paint from the Bake Options.
I then Press “Bake”
I get the Message: “No Objects or Images Found to Bake to!”
If someone knows why I am getting this message and how to fix it I would appreciate it. Thks.
Ok, I think I figured it out on my own, but I still have a few questions.
As a test, I exported the mesh as an .obj and then imported it into a new Blender file. I then created a new material and loaded the baked texture map. The baked map seemed to look correct.
Is this the correct procedure to use if I want to use the model in another Blender file?
It’s pretty unusual to bake vertex colors to a uv mapped image texture. I mean, why not just paint the uv texture in the first place? You get a lot better resolution. So short answer no, most people do not bake vertex colors to image textures and then import an .obj file and create a new material using the baked texture. You ask about reusing models, and you can just append (or link) an object from another file by going to file, append, and navigating to the object you want. You certainly don’t need to recreate objects every blend file you want to use them in.
I get the feeling you have a deeper question about a more complex workflow, so can I ask, what is your ultimate goal here? forget what you have done so far.
Yes you can, and you should. It’s a bit wonky to paint using vertex colors and then baking that to a texture.
When you uv unwrap an mesh and then paint a texture on it (using texture piant) you have a lot more control (resolution) than when you paint using vertex paint. You can even write words/designs. There are many tutorials out there on texture painting. Don’t forget to save your image texture after you paint! The basic steps are this:
unwrap your mesh, you may need to mark seems first to get a decent unwrap
add a new image texture. in the uv editor close any opened images and hit ‘new’ name it ‘mypaint’ or something. In the node editor, add a image texture node and select (mypaint) from the dropdown. That image etxture node must be selected (highlighting in orange) in order to paint on it.
switch to ‘texture paint’ mode and use the tools panel (hit t) on the left to paint right on the object.
when you are done, in the uv editor, click image,‘save as image’ and save it as a png/jpg
I’m not quite sure what you mean. You paint the texture save it as a png or jpg and then use that image , there’s nothing to bake. You save it, not bake it.
