What is thickness and how to bake it?

[Rayn_H (RaynHawk)]

I see a lot of post on Reddit and here taking about thickness map. What is it and is there a way to bake it?

[Okidoki]

From PolycountWiki : Texture Types → thickness:

• Thickness maps are a measurement of how thick/thin a surface is. Typically used for faking light passing through a surface when lit from behind, such as a cat’s ear or a stretched hide.

You may also have a look here (even if this is from 2018):

Blender 2.8 - Baking thickness maps

Some even older explanation (and since it’s for SubSurfaceShattering ):

SSS_map and how generate

Someone can explain how to generate a SSS_map to use in pbr node? I hear its also called Weight map, but i never heard before about this one. So many maps:eek: Thanks Guys!

[oo_1942 (Kim)]

It is a representation of the phenomenon in which light penetrates to a certain depth and then reflects diffusely.

The object that can easily observe this phenomenon is the candle.