Blender, how do I add shadows to pre-textured linked creations

[LouiseDeBlois]

Hi there, just a quicky. I have a item in blender, all parts textured differently, and joined together. How would I add shadows to them? is there anyway to draw in shadows? I tried texture baking, no real luck :(

 

Where am I going wrong?

 

Object had 3 different textures. Joined together.

 

Tried shadow baking with objects around it (following tutorials) no luck.

 

Seen people "hand draw textures" wanting to know if I can add simple shading to a UV map... oor something

[MIstahMoose]

export the textures on the objects, then bake AO for the objects. Export the new baked textures as well 

Take both of the already made textures and the AO textures into a photo program and combine the AO ontop with its layer set to multiply

[Chic Aeon]

Typically I bake ambient textures WAY before joining . So for example if there are chair legs and arms (wood style) they would be baked. Then I would bake the padded areas (just an example) on one texture and then let's say the draped cloth that flows over the back of the chair.

If all THREE of those pieces are on ONE map, then you could bake just the one map as an ambient occlussion map.

 

I add my textures to the map in a graphics program. That is just ONE way to do it.

I understand that you can do a full bake of both textures and ambient shadows. Following the directions given, I have never pulled that off. And actually I like the option of adding different textures to the map easily to get different looks. I don't necessarily know which textures will look the best when I am modeling.

After the ambient map is exported, you layer it with the texture (or textures) that you want to appear on your model and choose MULTIPLY from the blending options.

Good luck.