What’s more, we’ve included the ability to export a layered PSD file, which includes all your outputs, with base values and layer masks automatically set up for the material property maps. When I’m happy with my bake settings, I can output a myriad of maps such as tangent and object space normal maps, ambient occlusion, curvature, height, and material properties such as albedo, gloss, and specular. Toolbag 3 provides instant feedback when you change settings, so any issues are both easy to spot and correct. Once my high poly is finalized, and I’m happy with my base materials, I’ll import my low poly and do a quick test bake. For instance, when I create assets, I use Toolbag to preview my high poly as I block it out, including setting up material values to mimic various surfaces. One of the main benefits of baking maps in Toolbag 3 is how the process can be approached in a holistic manner. We knew that if we really wanted to capitalize on the success of the first version, we had to improve image quality, and really focus on usability to ensure that Toolbag would be a critical part of the game artist’s toolkit. The codebase for Toolbag was re-written from scratch to modernize the renderer, redesign the interface, and build a solid foundation for future development. Around this time, a major change was taking place as well. Some time later, 8monkey Labs was disbanded, and a new company, Marmoset, was formed to focus solely on development tools such as Marmoset Toolbag. With feedback from our excellent users we base began serious development of Toolbag as a standalone product. The initial release was little more than a model viewer we created to preview in-development art assets for DoD, however, we started to see a lot of interest from art communities like Polycount. Somewhere along the line, we realized that we were better at making tools than games, and released the first version of Marmoset Toolbag. The history of Marmoset dates back to 8monkey Labs, which was a development studio focused on creating an epic time-traveling first person shooter called Darkest of Days.

Could you talk a little a little bit about Marmoset?

Marmoset toolbag preview material