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BLBlender

Atlas Bake

by John Deligiannis·Workflow

Images © John Deligiannis. Used for product review; image policy.

Why we like it

Atlas Bake earns its place by automating the manual texture-baking chain—color spaces, UVs, scalar reroutes, and packed outputs—while running in a background subprocess that leaves the working .blend untouched.

What is Atlas Bake?

Atlas Bake is a Blender add-on that condenses complex, multi-material shaders into a compact set of engine-ready textures for engines like Unity and Unreal. It bakes Base Color, Emission, Normal, Metallic, Roughness, AO, and Opacity, each written with the correct color space, and uses a safe temporary Emission reroute for Metallic and Roughness scalar accuracy.

Beyond per-map baking, it builds custom channel packs or applies the MS, HDRP Mask, and ORM presets, handles UVs through MANUAL or SMART unwrapping with Angle Limit and Island Margin, and supports High→Low projected baking with Max Ray Distance, Cage Object, or Virtual Cage Extrusion. Normals can be baked as OpenGL (Y+) or DirectX (Y−). The add-on runs in a background headless Blender subprocess, so your open .blend stays untouched.

Version 2 adds multi-mesh baking in a single job, a parallel task queue with a Tasks panel and live progress, per-job task names with output subfolders, FBX export sub-options, and the option to keep a final .blend gathering all baked meshes and their textures together.

Who is Atlas Bake best for?

Atlas Bake is best for baking clean, engine-ready PBR textures for engines like Unity and Unreal, including channel-packed maps and FBX-ready exports.

How much does Atlas Bake cost?

Atlas Bake is completely free to download and use.

Key features

  • Per-map baking of Base Color, Emission, Normal, Metallic, Roughness, AO, and Opacity, each with the correct color space
  • Custom channel packs plus the MS, HDRP Mask, and ORM presets
  • UV handling via MANUAL (pick existing UV) or SMART (auto-create and unwrap with Angle Limit and Island Margin)
  • High→Low projected baking (Selected→Active) with Max Ray Distance, Cage Object, or Virtual Cage Extrusion
  • Multi-mesh baking in a single job with a parallel task queue and a Tasks panel showing state and live progress
  • Optional FBX export per mesh with Include Armature, Include Shape Keys, and Include Animations sub-options
  • Runs in a background headless Blender subprocess so the open .blend stays untouched

Tags

#texture baking#PBR maps#channel packing#FBX export#UV unwrapping#game engine assets#Blender add-on

Frequently asked questions

Does Atlas Bake work with Blender 4.2 on Mac?

Atlas Bake targets Blender 4.2 and later, and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It works through a background headless Blender subprocess, so the baking job runs separately while your currently open .blend file stays untouched. For the exact build you are running and any platform-specific notes, check the developer's page before installing, since supported versions can change between releases of the add-on.

Which channel pack presets does Atlas Bake include?

Atlas Bake ships with three channel pack presets—MS, HDRP Mask, and ORM—and also lets you build your own custom packs. Packs are dependency-aware and reusable through a preferences folder, with both absolute and relative paths supported. Per-map baking covers Base Color, Emission, Normal, Metallic, Roughness, AO, and Opacity, each written with the correct color space, and Metallic and Roughness use a safe temporary Emission reroute for scalar accuracy.

Can Atlas Bake bake several meshes in one job?

Atlas Bake supports multi-mesh baking, letting you select multiple meshes and bake them all in a single job, with each mesh getting its own textures, UV pass, and material configuration. A parallel task queue can start bakes on several objects at once, and a Tasks panel tracks each job's name, state—Running, Done, Error, or Canceled—and a live progress bar. Jobs persist across Blender sessions. Note that High→Low baking with Bake to Target allows only one source mesh.

What can Atlas Bake include in an FBX export?

Atlas Bake offers optional FBX export per mesh with UV0 enforced. When Export FBX is enabled, three sub-options appear: Include Armature for skeleton and weights, Include Shape Keys for blend shapes, and Include Animations for NLA actions. Include Armature and Include Shape Keys are on by default, while Include Animations is off by default. Separately, Atlas Bake can also keep a final .blend that gathers all baked meshes and their textures in one file.

Is Atlas Bake free to use?

Atlas Bake is listed as free in our catalog and is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. For current licensing terms, download options, and any conditions tied to the add-on, check the developer's page, since licensing details can change over time. The add-on outputs textures aimed at engines like Unity and Unreal, and can optionally export FBX per mesh or write a single clean final .blend containing all baked meshes and their textures together.

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