Guide Baking
Simple Export ships with 2 baking presets: Highpoly-default and Lowpoly-default. This video illustrates how to set up a baking collection and export it using the Simple Export addon. Simply select the preset from the dropdown menu. And create a new export Collection. In this example I use different methods to create the export collection:
- Plus button in the Export List
- Right click on the collection in the Outliner
- Right click on the collection in the 3D Viewport
All have the same effect. The export collection will be created with the correct settings and the baking preset applied. The collection will be saved in a newly create 'bake' folder relative to the .blend file. The export path can be adjusted in the Export Collection settings.
Warning
Relative paths are currently not supported by the input field and appear red in the text field. This is a known issue and a current limitation by blender. This has no effect on the functionality of the addon.
Highpolu-default Preset
| Setting | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Path Mode | AUTO |
Removes texture path since UE handles it |
| Scale | 1.0 |
Blender and UE share the same scale |
| Apply Scaling | FBX All |
Ensures correct transformations |
| Forward Axis | - Y Forward |
Matches Unreal’s coordinate system |
| Up Axis | Z Up |
Ensures proper world orientation |
| Apply Unit | ✅ Enabled |
Ensures proper world orientation |
| Use Space Transform | ❌ Disabled |
Helps maintain consistent transforms |
| Apply Transform | ❌ Disabled |
Avoids hierarchy issues with animations |
| Smoothing | Face |
Edge smoothing can cause shading issues |
| Apply Modifiers | ✅ Enabled |
Ensures the final mesh is exported |
| Tangent Space | ❌ Disabled |
Required for correct normal maps in UE |
| Triangulate Faces | ❌ Disabled |
UE prefers triangulated meshes for LODs |
| Add Leaf Bones | ❌ Disabled |
Unreal doesn’t need extra bones |
| Animation Export | ❌ Disabled |
Only exporting static meshes |
Tangent Space and Triangulate Faces are disabled for high-poly meshes compared to the low-poly preset. This is because it is sometimes easier to get nice shading on high-poly meshes with N-Gones and triangulaten changes that shading as well as tangent space export does not work with N-Gons. As long as the shading looks good these settings do not matter for the high poly.
Lowpoly-default Preset
| Setting | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Path Mode | AUTO |
Removes texture path since UE handles it |
| Scale | 1.0 |
Blender and UE share the same scale |
| Apply Scaling | FBX All |
Ensures correct transformations |
| Forward Axis | - Y Forward |
Matches Unreal’s coordinate system |
| Up Axis | Z Up |
Ensures proper world orientation |
| Apply Unit | ✅ Enabled |
Ensures proper world orientation |
| Use Space Transform | ❌ Disabled |
Helps maintain consistent transforms |
| Apply Transform | ❌ Disabled |
Avoids hierarchy issues with animations |
| Smoothing | Face |
Edge smoothing can cause shading issues |
| Apply Modifiers | ✅ Enabled |
Ensures the final mesh is exported |
| Tangent Space | ✅ Enabled |
Required for correct normal maps in UE |
| Triangulate Faces | ✅ Enabled (Recommended) |
UE prefers triangulated meshes for LODs |
| Add Leaf Bones | ❌ Disabled |
Unreal doesn’t need extra bones |
| Animation Export | ❌ Disabled |
Only exporting static meshes |
Triangulation and Tangent Space are enabled for low-poly meshes. This is to ensure the shading will look exactly the same when baking and in engine.