billboards_base

Chapters:

The billboards_base material is used to create coverings for multiple Billboards.

Prior Knowledge

This article assumes that you have prior knowledge of the following topics. Please read them before proceeding:

Materials Settings
The mesh_base material

States#

States

States tab

Default#

Deferred Buffer	If enabled, the material is rendered to the deferred buffers.
Auxiliary Rendering	Toggles the auxiliary rendering pass for the material on and off. This pass can be used for custom post effects. Enabling the pass activates the auxiliary texture and the auxiliary color parameter.
Lock Axis X	If enabled, locks billboards orientation along the X axis (by default billboards always face the camera).
Lock Axis Z	If enabled, locks billboards orientation along the Z axis (by default billboards always face the camera). Billboards can be also locked along both X and Z axes, so they will be oriented perpendicularly to Y axis.
Screen Aligned	If enabled, sets billboards parallel to each other. If they are not axis-locked, they are oriented strictly towards to the screen plane.
Angular Size	If enabled, sets billboards to always be of the same size regardless of the camera position.

Options#

Emission	Toggles on and off rendering of the emission effect and an additional emission texture.
Emission Texture	The option allows selecting the texture to be used for the emission effect: Albedo or Emission.
Angle Visibility	Enables the parameters that set limits for visibility of the billboards at a certain horizontal and/or vertical angle. Can be used to simulate directional light based on billboards.
Angle Visibility Fade	Toggles on and off the Angle Fade parameter for the Angle Visibility option. If enabled, allows creating an effect of gradual fading at a certain range.
Geometry Inflation	Toggles on and off limiting the minimum billboard screen size (in pixels) to a fixed value set in the Inflation Scale parameter in order to provide visibility from far distances.
Soft Interaction	Toggles on and off soft depth interaction of billboards with objects. This option can be used to avoid visual artefacts in the areas where billboards and objects overlap. Enabling this option activates the Soft Interaction parameter. Notice This state is available for all transparent materials except materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled.
Haze	If enabled, billboards are overlapped by the haze. Notice This state is available for all transparent materials except materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled.

Light Passes#

States tab, Light Passes section

NoticeThe states are available for all transparent materials except materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled.

Environment	Enables rendering of the material illuminated by the ambient light.
Light Omni	Enables rendering of the material illuminated by an omni light.
Light Proj	Enables rendering of the material illuminated by a projected light.
Light World	Enables rendering of the material illuminated by a world light.

Post Processing#

Post Processing options activate post processing effects for the material.

States tab, Post Processing section

SSAO	Toggles screen space ambient occlusion on and off. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
SSR	Toggles screen space reflections on and off. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
SSS	Toggles subsurface scattering on and off. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
DOF	Toggles the depth of field effect on and off. Available for both opaque and transparent materials.
Motion Blur	Toggles the motion blur effect on and off. Available for both opaque and transparent materials.
Sun Shafts	Toggles sun shafts on and off. Available for both opaque and transparent materials.

Textures#

Textures tab

Base#

Diffuse	The diffuse texture defines the color of the surface. The texture is 4-channeled (RGBA): RGB values store color information. The Alpha (A) value stores transparency information: White color indicates the visible area. Black color indicates the transparent area.
Normal	The normal texture stores information about the surface's contours in order to create the illusion of depth and is used to add details without adding additional polygons. The texture is 2-channeled: RG values contain two components of a normal, and the third component's value is calculated from the given components at run time.
Specular	The specular texture defines the surface's shininess and highlights color. The texture is 4-channeled (RGBA): RGB values store reflection color and intensity (black color means no reflection). The alpha (A) value specifies the specular power: 0 means specular highlights are very bright and intense, 256 — specular highlights are faded.

NoticeThe base textures with the _d, _n and _s postfixes in the name respectively, located in a folder named uncompressed, are automatically compressed by the engine.

Options#

Emission	Emission texture stores information about the light emission. This texture is available only if the Emission option is enabled. The texture is 4-channeled (RGBA): RGB values store the glowing color. The Alpha (A) value stores the glow mask: black is for non-glowing areas, white — for glowing ones.
Auxiliary	Auxiliary texture is used for rendering into the Auxiliary buffer.

Parameters#

Parameters tab

Default#

Material Mask	Specifies a material bit mask that is used for projecting the decal. If the material mask of the surface material matches the decal material mask, the decal is projected onto it.

Base#

Diffuse	A color picker to choose the color of the diffuse map.
Specular	A color picker to choose the color of the specular map.
Gloss	A coefficient to modify size of the highlight of the specular map: Low values imitate wider highlights, typically appropriate to create a diffuse reflection from the matte surface. High values imitate pinpoint highlights, typically appropriate to create a uniform reflection of light rays from the glossy surface.
Normal Intensity	A coefficient to scale the intensity of the normals (provided by a normal map). The higher the value, the more the normal texture effect is.
Translucency	Scale of the translucency effect, which permits light to pass through the object, but diffuses it so objects on the opposite side are not clearly visible. Notice This parameter is operating with non-transparent materials only.
Microfiber	Coefficient to scale the intensity of the microfiber effect. The higher the value, the more pronounced the microfiber effect is.
UV Transform	Transformation of the base texture coordinates. The field contains a vector of four float components: The first pair of coordinates scales the texture along the X and Y axes. The second pair of coordinates offsets the texture respectively to its initial position along the X and Y axes. Notice For more details about the UV Transform parameter, see the Texture coordinates transformation chapter of the mesh_base article.

Emission#

Emission parameters are available at enabling the Emission option in the States tab.

Color	A color picker to choose an ambient emission color for the emission texture.
Scale	Visibility scale for the emission texture. Raising the value increases visibility of the emission texture: light areas become lighter and brighter.
Visibility Distance	Distance from the camera up to which the emission from the billboard will be visible, in units.
Visibility Power	Power multiplier to scale distant dependent visibility of the emission texture. It determines the way the intensity of the emission effect changes depending on the distance from the camera.

Geometry#

Billboard Scale	A factor to manage the billboard size.
Inflation Scale	Minimum permissible size for the billboard, in pixels. The parameter is available only if the Geometry Inflation option is enabled in the States tab.

Visibility#

Geometry parameters are available only if the corresponding item of the Angle Visibility option is enabled in the States tab.

Horizontal Angle	Angle limit in the XY plane relative to the -Y direction, in degrees. The billboards are visible within the [-value; value] range of angles.
Vertical Angle	Angle limit relative to the Z axis, in degrees. The billboards are visible within the [-value; value] range of angles.
Fade Angle	A portion of the Horizontal and/or Vertical Angle within which fading occurs, in degrees. If equals to 0, the billboards disappear at the limit of a visibility angle without fading; if, for example, equals to 10, each billboard would fade gradually within the last 10 degrees of a visibility angle. The parameter is available only if the Angle Visibility Fade option is enabled in the States tab.

Other Parameters#

Auxiliary Color	A color picker to choose an auxiliary color for the Auxiliary rendering pass. Available only if the Auxiliary option is enabled in the States tab.
Soft Interaction	Depth factor that controls fading of the billboards depending on their position relative to the object. Available only if the Soft Interaction option is enabled in the States tab.

Last update: 2020-01-14

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