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How to Decimate and Bake Atlas in Autodesk 3ds Max

November 06, 2025

General Information

This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Plugin Actions Knowledge Base. It shows how to Decimate and Bake Atlas on Autodesk 3ds Max; if you'd like to know more about it, please check out the following links:

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Tutorials & Videos

  • Use the 3ds Max Plugin
  • Select a part
  • Run "Decimate and Bake Atlas" Action
  • Examine the results

This tutorial shows how use the RapidPipeline Processor Plugin in 3ds Max to simplify the geometry of a model with decimation and bake the material and texture information into a new UV atlas. For more information see the 3ds Max Plugin Documentation.

See below a preview of the processing´s output: the input shoe (top) has 145 K faces and the output (bottom), less than 50K faces: --->

Screenshot of the input model
The shoe input model and the texture maps.
Screenshot of the input model
The shoe after the optimization and the texture maps (baked).

Decimate and Bake Atlas Action

  1. First step is to make sure the RapidPipeline Processor Plugin for 3ds Max is installed and ready to use.
  2. Open the Plugin via the Menu Bar, clicking on RapidPipeline and Load Plugin.
  3. Select the model you want to optimize (if no selection is made, the whole scene will be processed).
  4. Inside the Plugin window, choose the Action Decimate and Bake Atlas.
  5. Press the Run button.
Screenshot of the input model
Location of the UI in the Menu Bar.
Screenshot of the input model
The Decimate and Bake Atlas Action opened in the Plugin.

Examine the Results

To see the results with proper shading and the effect of the texture baking, enable “High Quality” from the Viewport Shading drop-down menu.

Screenshot of the input model
"High Quality” option in the Viewport Shading drop-down menu.

To fully check the topology optimization by enabling “Edged Faces” from the Viewport Shading drop-down menu, so you can see a wireframe view of your models.

Finally, you can compare the materials and texture count of input and output by selecting each of them and opening the Material Editor (shortcut M). Then, click on Materials and Get from selected from the top bar.

Screenshot of the input model
"Get from Selected” option in the Material drop-down menu.
Screenshot of the input model
"Materials & textures from input model.
Screenshot of the input model
"Materials & textures from output model.

Next Steps

Learn more about importing files with the Import 3D and CAD files Actions!

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3D Knowledge Team

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