Version 12.1

Automatic rebaking
A mesh map can be rebaked continuously as its baking parameters are adjusted, removing the need to manually trigger a bake after each change. Auto-rebake is toggled per map and applies to a single map at a time. This is particularly convenient for the skew painting workflow, but also when adjusting general bake settings.

Skew correction painting
When the cage is set to Distance-based mode, skew corrections can be painted directly onto the low-poly mesh to control the projection direction used during baking. The brush, eraser, and polygon fill tools are available, with a compact grayscale value picker, symmetry, and the usual brush controls (Ctrl + Right-click to resize the brush, X to invert the painted value). Skew painting actions can be undone.

Edge protection
When painting skew correction, a new edge protection option preserves the high-poly softness projected onto hard edges. Its result is controlled by the Edge Distance and Edge Contrast parameters.

Redesigned mesh map list
The mesh map list provides per-map controls: toggle a map as the viewport preview, quick bake a single map, toggle its auto-rebake, and sync its settings across Texture Sets (available when the project has several Texture Sets). Each control has a tooltip on hover.

Simplified bake button
The viewport bake button has been replaced with a single Bake button that displays the number of maps to bake (Texture Sets x UV Tiles x selected mesh maps).

New OpenPBR shader and default workflow
A shader implementing the OpenPBR 1.1 specification is available and used by default. A new project created without a template uses the OpenPBR shader, and the first entry of the new project window is now labeled OpenPBR instead of ASM. New project templates for OpenPBR are included, and the sample projects have been updated to use it.

Shader selected from the project template on import
When importing a USD or GLTF file, the shader is now set from the project template rather than guessed from the file content. A message is reported in the log when a material and a template use mismatching workflows.

OpenPBR naming convention on export
The Export Textures window has a new dropdown to choose the naming convention. It defaults to OpenPBR when at least one shader in the project uses it, and the selected scheme is reflected in each Texture Set’s list of maps.

USD and MDL support
OpenPBR materials are supported through the USD format. A new MDL has also been added to allow rendering OpenPBR materials in Iray, providing more accurate material representations.

Hard surface unwrap mode
A Hard surface option is available in the automatic unwrap settings. It minimizes UV distortion and produces UV layouts aligned orthographically, which makes it better suited to mechanical and hard-surface meshes.

Add or remove several channels at once
Following the introduction of OpenPBR, a new window accessible from the Texture Set settings allows selecting multiple channels at once, which is convenient when setting up the large channel list used by the OpenPBR workflow.

• The new window is accessible in the Texture Set settings via the Add or remove channels button.

  

• The window gives an overview of all the channels that can be used in Painter.

  

• The Apply to all Texture Sets button can be used to edit the channel configuration of all Texture Sets at once.

  

Flatten all instances across Texture Sets
A new Flatten all instances option is available on instanced layers and groups. It produces a flattened result across every Texture Set where the instance appears, going down the whole instance tree, and is recorded as a single undo step.

Unified undo history
Baking and painting modes now share the same undo history. Switching between Baking mode and Paint mode is recorded as an undoable step, so actions can be undone only in the mode where they happened.