Auto Bake has undergone several version changes since its launch, featuring major improvements, significant updates, and bug fixes. Here, you can find a summary of the changes made in each version.
Improvements
Bake Map Visibility Control: Instead of using simple toggles for categories, a new window now allows each bake map to be individually disabled or enabled, moved within categories, or transferred into another one. Categories can also be created, deleted, renamed, and moved.
Bake List Import: One-click solution for instantly importing (via the Load by Linked option) bake maps into the bake list by Ctrl-clicking on the bake list's add button.
Customizable Default Item Values: Options to set default list item scale, multiplier, and map values.
Scale and Multiplier Step Control: Options for adjusting the scale and multiplier step values, controlling how much they increase or decrease when changing them.
List Design Customization: Five different list design options for controlling the look of the queue, tile, and bake lists.
Edited List Item Focus: Automatically selects the edited list item (scale, type, multiplier, tile).
Split Texture Export Settings: Allows choosing between two export settings for each bake map that will be used when exporting the baked textures.
Per-Map Bit Depth Setting: Enables setting the bit depth for each bake map individually.
New Target UV: Target UV option 'New', it creates a new UV map using Blender's Smart UV Project with the set UV name. If a UV map with that name already exists, it will be used instead of creating a new one.
Keep Bake Map Preview: When the previewed and selected bake list item's type is changed, it automatically re-enables the preview for the changed map.
Baking Multiresolution Maps: The multiresolution modifier is now automatically removed from the final object if a normal or displacement texture was baked from it (avoiding double normal or displacement strength).
Texture Interpolation: Option to change the default texture interpolation method for the baked textures.
Texture Name Filtering: Names are no longer pre-filtered for characters reserved by the operating system. Filtering now only occurs during export, affecting only the exported texture file's name.
Object Name Filtering: Exported object file names are now also filtered for characters reserved by the operating system during export.
Filename Character Filtering: Two new options for setting which characters to filter from the file names and what characters to replace them with.
Final Material Synchronization: Option to synchronize the final material with the final object (by default, the final material is matched to the final object).
Material Cleanup Synchronization: Option to synchronize the material cleanup option with the final object (by default, material cleanup is matched to the final object).
Texture Export Synchronization: Option to synchronize texture export with object export (by default, the texture export settings match the object export).
Changes
Panel Property Display: Changed the display method of properties within the folder, object, material, image, bake list, queue, and selected-to-active panels.
Map Menu Order: Inverted the order of maps by categories within the bake type menu.
Bake Start Popup: Set the "Bake by material" option to be disabled by default as shown in the bake start popup window. Added descriptions to the category markers to improve clarity.
Preset: Removed the Color Override option and its properties from the presets and moved the "Bake by material" option from the Materials into the Bake List's menu.
Text Alerts Update: Removed the "Alerts (All)" and "Bake Errors" options since they are no longer used.
Preferences Menu: Adjusted the preferences menu to reflect new and removed properties. New categories have been created, and some existing ones have been renamed.
Property and Button Descriptions: The descriptions for some buttons and properties were updated to improve clarity and correct typos.
Use Render Sampling Option: The option was moved to Preferences > Map Method > Sampling.
Auto-Pick Sampling Option: The auto-pick sampling option was removed and is now enabled whenever the Sampling Map Method is set to split.
Node Tiling Option: The option was moved to Preferences > Material.
Bake by Material: The option was moved to the Bake List's dropdown menu from the Material panel.
Target UV Set: The option was renamed from "Set" to "Selected."
Load by Linked Rename: The option was renamed to "Import", and its popup window's 'Item Placement' and 'Reset Source' options were removed.
Shortcut Function Updates: Certain buttons had their Ctrl, Shift, and Alt functionalities modified, including the list add, remove, up, and down buttons. See button descriptions for details.
Icon Behavior Update: This change ensures that toggle options no longer change their icons based on their states (only checkmark icons are used).
Final Object Visibility: The option was moved from Object > Final panel to Preferences > Assorted section.
Baking Multiresolution Modifier: Changed to use the first enabled multiresolution modifier in the stack instead of the first one, whether it is enabled or not.
Panel Title Behavior: Clicking on the panel's name now always opens or closes the panel whether there is a checkbox in the title or not.
Fixes
Bake Map Preview: Resolved a breaking issue where an undo operation caused the bake map preview to get stuck and prevented it from being disabled with the preview button.
Baking Unset Multiresolution: Addressed an error that occurred when baking a multiresolution texture while the object's multiresolution modifier was disabled or had no subdivision level.
UV Overwrite: Corrected the UV overwrite option when baking multiple objects with shared textures enabled.
Invalid File Paths: Fixed valid file paths flagged in certain cases as non-existent.
Final Material (Standard) Normal: Handled the baked (Standard) Normal texture to also automatically set up for the final material.
Remove Duplicates: Resolved the remove duplicates button removing all the duplicates instead of leaving one instance of the duplicated list items.
Bake Queue: Fixed an issue where no instance of the duplicated bake list items was added to the bake queue.
Improvements
Option for multi target object mode for selected to active. Each target object has it's own source objects, cage settings, and extrusion values.
Option to change the add-on's panel location from the default 'Render Properties' to either the '3D Viewport' or the 'Shader Editor'.
Option to preview all the bake types in the shader category.
Options to toggle the visibility for each bake type category.
Bake profiles/presets can be saved, and the saved presets are shared and available across all blend files. The properties that are saved with the presets can be customized in the add-on preferences.
Option to restart a bake from the result list for a single texture or for an object with all its textures.
Option to reuse past elements (textures, final materials, final objects) for new bakes. If enabled, and a final object, material, or texture (with the same type and size) already exists, a new one won't be created and the previous one will be reused.
Option to view the baked textures on the baked object or on the final object if it's created.
Option to replace the baked with the final object when confirming the bake results. The bake object will be deleted, and the final object will be placed at its location.
Panel 'Addon' and its properties are moved into the add-on preferences window, so their values are now shared between blend files.
Option to delay the time when the final object is created. Either creating it with the first or with the last bake.
Option to change the default texture color to use when creating them.
New 'bevel' bake type to bake smoothed sharp edges.
Option for the ambient occlusion (shader) to use the materials' normals.
Option for the queue gate to disable the queue item either for the currently baked object only or for all objects in the queue.
Option to cancel the queue for all the objects or the queue items only for the currently baked object with the 'cancel' button.
Option for the post export lists to keep the disabled items instead of removing them from the export lists.
Object export panels and properties update for 4.2.
Button to create a cage object from the target object with the option to assign the extrusion value to it.
Option to visualize the extrusion value for selected to active.
Selected to active auto search for cage object and high poly objects based on target object's name.
Option to transform the target object's global location to all it's source objects for the bake, and restore them when the object is baked.
The bake start popup window received a UI rework to better suit its purpose.
Option to auto-select the object's target UV map: either find one with the specified name, use the render UV as the target, or use the currently selected UV as the target.
Smart UV project for target objects without a UV map or if the set target UV map is missing.
Export path preset options for desktop, blend file, system temporary folder, blend file temporary folder.
Master folder option so it can be disabled.
Options to set the color space and sample groups for each bake type individually.
Item specific visibility control (name, color space, sampling group).
Control all options for confirm popups, reports, and text alerts.
Option to post export the final objects with the 'export' button.
Bake session results are now stored even after restarting Blender.
Image editor is updated with the active texture in the result list.
Option for the 'roughness' bake type to invert its value, and converting it into a smoothness map.
Buttons for each 'channel packing' bake type's channel to edit the channel type's sub-properties.
The multiresolution modifier is now removed from the final object after it's finished baking and the bake queue contains a bake type from the multiresolution category.
Local only option for standard bake types: ambient occlusion, combined, transmission, glossy, diffuse, shadow.
Options to remap the values for ior, subsurface scale, subsurface ior, emission strength, coat ior, film thickness, and film ior bake types.
Option for post export to ignore broken textures (those that are not saved and have no data to save).
Name structure editor got extended with blend, material, object, and uv map elements.
Load by linked new source option to import items from multiple objects.
Queue by material option to enable and disable the bake queue items based on the materials of the source objects.
Option to create alpha channels for textures.
Changes
Final object is now created with the first bake.
Bake types got redesigned with new icons and sub-categories.
Final object and material moved into their own sub-panels.
UI alert added when using final object without final material.
The bake queue has been moved into its own panel, which only appears when the bake queue list contains items.
Use cage and cage object properties got merged into a single row.
Texture export checkbox removed from the export button.
Bake list and UDIM bake list is merged into a single list and they now share the same items.
Empty material slots are auto-removed from the target object.
Missing material error is not shown for a bake queue when the only queue items are multiresolution bake types.
Standard ambient occlusion bake type's local only option's selected method changed to use all the source objects when selected to active is enabled, when disabled only the active object is used.
Bake types got fixed indexes to prevent unintended type changes on version change.
Source objects are now filtered by type to avoid incompatible object types for bakes.
Load by linked option now not adds already existing items.
Type specific influence settings are now independent of one other.
Render and viewport disabled objects are re-enabled instead of throwing an error.
Bake queue item name changed from 'Base Color - 512' to 'Base Color 512'.
Texture settings are moved into 'Elements' -> 'Texture'
Option 'Use float' got renamed to '32-bit Float' and it's moved to 'Image' -> 'Texture'.
Image format settings moved into 'Image' -> 'Export'
Option 'Item details' got renamed to 'Type Specific'.
UDIM image texture nodes padding is changed to avoid overlap.
Default texture item scale change from 512 to 1024.
Bug Fixes
Standard ambient occlusion bake type error when using local only option.
Source object collection got falsely alerted for selected to active.
Emission color bake type unintentionally also baked "Color" name sockets.
Differentiator were not removed from the textures' name when the object's name was used as prefix.
Object export python error fixes for certain versions with certain export formats.
Margin size could not be edited during a bake session.
The result list did not display UDIM textures as UDIM after Blender restart.
Result list error displaying a deleted object's name.
The split high and low sampling settings occasionally gave an error.
Channel packing had the wrong values assigned to the blue and green channels when the channel type's sockets were unconnected.
Load by linked option incorrectly added items with certain linked node sockets.
Texture export error when exporting certain type of textures in certain file formats.
Shader displacement bake type error fix when using source only and having shader groups.
Python error fix for disabled Multires modifier for Normals and Displacement bale types.
Improvements
Extended shader support for full compatibility with emission, translucent bsdf, transparent bsdf, refraction bsdf, diffuse bsdf, sheen bsdf, glass bsdf and partial support for hair bsdf, toon bsdf, glossy bsdf, volume absorption, volume scatter, principled hair bsdf, principled volume, and subsurface scattering.
Option to share the textures, and bake the objects on the session onto the same textures.
Option to select the final material's shader type.
Option to use low and high sampling settings for the selected bake types.
Option for adaptive margin size scaling based on the baked texture's size.
Ambient occlusion (shader) bake type is now usable for channel packing.
New pointiness bake type is added and it can also be used for channel packing.
Option to choose lists layout padding styles.
Multiresolution bake types got an integer input to change the low poly mesh level on the multires modifier.
Option for the selection helper to load the active object as the target.
Changes
Newly added items won't be alerted if the only duplicate is the previous item in the bake list.
Previously none of a duplicated marked item were loaded into the bake queue, now one will from the duplicates.
Selection helper UI alert for empty list is moved from above to below the list.
Sampling settings are now independent of Blender's default settings.
Advanced controls to which settings are shown in the bake start button's popup window.
Normal specific settings are now also visible for tangent, coat normal, subsurface radius bake types.
The option to force the texture's name is removed and is now the default.
Load by linked got updated to match the extended shader support.
'Composite' bake type got renamed to 'Channel Packing'.
All bake types got their descriptions updated to specify what they can bake.
State based text change for buttons and properties are removed to avoid confusion.
Bug Fixes
Error when starting a bake session with an empty bake list.
Missing 1001 UDIM tile bugged the add-on.
Selection helper occasionally made the wrong object active.
Keyframe got disabled for all the add-on's properties.
Loading no objects into the selection helper with clear list enabled removed the entry item.
Removing all bake list items with the 'remove all' button did not alert the bake start button for empty list.
Improvements
Option to create a final material where all the baked textures are also placed so the original materials can be kept clean.
Option to connect all the baked textures on the final material to their corresponding sockets.
Option to create a final object, from the baked object, to what the final material will be applied automatically if it was set to create one. The final object's location can be either the copy of the baked object's with an additional offset to the selected axis direction or it can be cleared and placed into the world's origin.
A differentiator suffix is added for either the final or the baked object's name (can be selected to which one) to prevent name conflicts in Blender.
A collection can be set to place all the final objects, if the collection is not specified every final object will be kept in the same collection as its source/baked object.
Option to export the final object as fbx, gltf, or obj after it's finished baking.
Option to delete the final object after it's exported.
Option to pack the successfully baked images into the .blend file.
Bake start button now has a popup window with a collected of the main add-on settings: create final material & object, export textures & objects, use selected to active.
Changes
Name structure editor shows the active object's name if the prefix is none and the active object is not none.
The set 'add new' method is inverted with Ctrl + Click instead of using it as 'advanced'.
Bake report data got the baked and exported merged if they are equal in number. From 'Baked: 2; Exported: 2' to "Baked & Exported: 2".
Report data order is changed from 'Baked, Canceled, Failed, Mixed' to 'Baked, Canceled, Mixed, Failed'.
Bug Fixes
Auto-continue with the next object in the bake session option did not work properly.
Exported textures were not counted as successful in the bake summary report.
Improvements
Multi object bake is added to allow baking multiple object with a single bake session. Selecting multiple objects before starting the bake will bake the set textures in the bake list for all the selected objects. After an object is finished baking all its textures, the next object will start baking automatically if it's set to and all the textures were baked successfully, else it will wait for user input to continue with the next object.
Viewport object selection is now ignored during bakes.
Color override reworked to export textures with raw color settings by default.
Bake session's end report from the data of the baked objects and their texture's baked success status.
Options to select what to report during the bake session including bake start & finish, object bake start & finish, texture & object export, bake error, object bake summary, textures bake summary.
Bake session results are stored to allow user review of the bake session for each baked object and their textures.
Export target folder name is editable for post exported images.
Vertex (Color Attribute) bake type is reworked and got a target attribute input field.
Option to auto confirm the session's bake results.
Changes
Move active and move finished bakes options are also affect the object bake queue.
Prefix is ignored when baking multiple objects in a bake session.
Confirm button changes to 'next object' button when baking multiple objects.
Bug Fixes
Crash got fixed from cross nested shader groups in materials.
Texture's name could be set to none in the post export list.
Canceling the last bake queue item made the queue bugged and made the bake session unable to finish.
Image start locations were not updated at the start of a bake for a material that was already were baked once.
Improvements
Multi-principled bsdf and nested node groups are now supported for materials.
Load by linked option now also takes an object as source and it loads from all its materials.
Image texture nodes can be auto-labeled with the type's custom name or with the type name.
Displacement bake type is added to bake the material output or it's source height/color values.
Changes
Image nodes start locations for materials are calculated with the first bake and kept for the later.
UV bake type got a target UV map input field.
List alerts are now placed below the lists instead of above.
Bug Fixes
Empty prefix values ("") were unintentionally removed from the string field & empty prefix ('') were used as it is instead of no prefix.
Improvement
Category based color space setting are added.
Standard bake types' influence settings are alerted if wrongly set.
Changes
Type specific influence settings got UI change.
Bug Fix
Load by linked ran into an error with empty bake list.
Linux's default file path gave error.
Node tiling got wrong start location for standard bake types.
