Baker Node

Baker Node adds a node to Blender's shader editor that can quickly bake its input to an image, color attribute or sculpt mask.

Installation

Download the latest baker_node ZIP file from the releases section, then from the Add-ons section of Blender’s preferences click Install... and select the downloaded .zip file. Enable the add-on labelled “Node: Baker Node”.

For installing from source see the Documentation

Uses

Quickly create stencil masks or brush masks/textures from shader nodes.
Use shader nodes to set or modify an object's sculpt mask.
Improve shader performance by baking the results of complex node setups.
Use the outputs of various Cycles-only nodes in Eevee.
Easily export texture maps from any part of the shader.

Features

Can bake to an image, color attribute or the sculpt mask of the active object.
Supports baking in the background (Blender 3.3+).
Baker nodes can be synced so that multiple nodes can be baked with one click.
Option to automatically create target images or color attributes when baking.
Supports baking both color and alpha.
Use masking to limit the areas affected when baking.
Bake multiple frames to image sequences (see Tips in the documentation).

Target Types

Image (UV) - Bake to an image using a UV map of the active object.
Image (Plane) - Bake to an image using the co-ordinates of a plane. Useful for creating brush textures/masks.
Color Attribute - Bake to a color attribute on the active object.
Sculpt Mask - Replace or modify the active object's sculpt mask.

For the Image (UV) and Image (Plane) target types an automatically updating preview of the bake can be displayed by expanding the Preview section on the node.

Usage

Location: Shader Editor > Add > Output > Baker

Connect the baker node's input, set the target type and (optionally) select or create the image/color attribute to bake to. Then press the bake button on the node.

If no baking target is set then one can be created automatically (if enabled in the add-on settings).

The baker node's Baked Color and Baked Alpha sockets output values from the target image or color attribute. They can be used to improving a shader's performance by inserting the baker node after slow sections of the shader.

Settings such as the number of samples and the object to use when baking can be set in the node's Settings menu accessed by clicking the gear icon on the right of the node.

License

Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2. See LICENSE.txt for details.