How do you use normal maps to enhance your textures and materials?

3 How to set up the baking process?

The next step is to set up the baking process in Blender. You need to make sure that both meshes have UV maps, which are coordinates that map the 3D surface to a 2D image. You can create UV maps in Blender, using the UV editing mode and the unwrap tools. Then, you need to create a new image texture in Blender, where you will store the baked normal map. You can name it as you wish, and choose the resolution and the color space that suit your needs. Finally, you need to select both meshes, with the low-res mesh as the active one, and go to the bake panel in the render properties.

4 How to choose the baking settings?

The bake panel has several options and settings that you can adjust for your normal map. The most important one is the bake type, which you need to set to normal. This will tell Blender to bake the surface normals of the high-res mesh onto the low-res mesh. You can also choose the space of the normal map, which can be either tangent or object. Tangent space is more common and compatible with most engines and software, while object space is more accurate but less flexible. You can also tweak other settings, such as the ray distance, the margin, and the cage, to improve the quality and accuracy of your normal map.

5 How to bake and save the normal map?

The final step is to bake and save the normal map. To bake, you simply need to click on the bake button in the bake panel, and wait for Blender to finish the process. You will see the normal map appear on the image texture that you created earlier. To save, you need to go to the image editor, and click on the save icon. You can choose the format and the location of your normal map file, and name it as you wish. You have now successfully baked a normal map from a high-res to a low-res mesh.

6 How to use the normal map in your materials?

The last thing you need to do is to use the normal map in your materials. You can do this in Blender, using the shader editor and the nodes system. You need to create a material for your low-res mesh, and add a normal map node. Then, you need to connect the color output of the image texture node that contains your normal map, to the color input of the normal map node. You also need to connect the normal output of the normal map node, to the normal input of the principled BSDF node, or any other shader node that you are using. You can also adjust the strength of the normal map node, to control how much it affects your material. You can now see how your normal map adds detail and realism to your low-res mesh.