mesh_base

A mesh_base material is a physically based material featuring PBR (physically-based rendering) and SSR (screen space reflections) technologies. It provides the realistic reflections and lighting model. The material is available in the Materials list and is used as the default one.

Options available in the States tab enable different features thus activating additional textures and their parameters.

The main thing about the PBR material is a workflow. There are two workflows for Unigine PBR materials: Metalness and Specular. The specular workflow works with the old standard of textures that was used in the mesh_base material (diffuse, specular, gloss). Metalness works with the new standard of textures (albedo, metalness, roughness).

We've kept the Specular workflow to make it easier to upgrade your projects that have the old texture standard.

We strongly recommend to use the Metalness workflow for creating materials in new projects as it uses a less number of texture channels, and material parameters of the Metalness workflow are more similar to material parameters of the real world.

By using the Workflow field you can specify the workflow of the material:

• Metalness — with the new standard of textures.
• Specular — with the old standard of textures.

Deferred Buffers option specifies if deferred buffers of the material should be filled.

Multiple Environment Probes option specifies if several environment probes affect a transparent object and map their cubemaps to this object. This option should be enabled for a transparent object to be affected by baked voxel GI.

Multiple Environment Probes is on	Multiple Environment Probes is off

Terrain Lerp allows marking material to make objects be covered by projected textures of the ObjectTerrainGlobal.

Terrain Lerp is off	Terrain Lerp is on

Emission simulates glow from extremely bright surfaces, therefore imitating real light sources and highlights. It can be used, for example, to simulate a glow of distant objects. Enabling the option activates an additional emission texture.

Emission Texture#

Emission map stores information about the light emission. It is blended additively over a texture, so areas which do not glow at all should be pure black on the glow map, and any brighter colors will appear to be emitting light.

Emission state disabled	Emission state enabled, with emission texture

The texture is 3-channeled.

• RGB values store information about a glowing color.

Emission Parameters#

Cross Section enables rendering of cross-sections of an object to which the material is applied (can be useful for complex CAD models).

A cross-section of the object is created by the near clipping plane of the camera (player) viewing frustum that cuts this object. If the camera's near clipping plane is oblique, you can change its obliqueness and, therefore, change transformation of the cross-section. All plane sections are highlighted with a color.

Cross Section Color#

Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) is a real-time imitation of the diffuse indirect light and its shadows.

Enabling the option activates the Ambient occlusion field that specifies which UV coordinates of the mesh will be used for textures.

Ambient Occlusion Texture#

Ambient occlusion (AO) texture modulates the global environment illumination, for example, when an object is lighter at the top from sky above, and darker at the bottom from the ground below.

Without AO texture	With AO texture

The texture uses only R channel.

Ambient Occlusion Parameters#

Auxiliary activates the auxiliary texture and parameters.

Auxiliary Texture#

Auxiliary Color#

The vertex color is a color assigned to each vertex of the 3D model in any third party 3D editor. After being imported to Unigine, such model can be used in a number of ways allowing you to reduce the amount of used texture and broaden the diversity of the final materials.

The Vertex color checkbox enables an additional Vertex color options field used for per channel modulation of the albedo, AO, lightmap, emission, detail and auxiliary textures.

For the AO and detail textures, you can choose which texture channel (R, G, B or A) to use. For albedo, lightmap, emission, and auxiliary textures, RGB channels are used simultaneously.

For example, using the vertex color of the albedo texture allows you to create a detail material. At the pictures below there is a model containing vertex colors (brown spotted). Left to right:

1. No texture is used, Vertex color is disabled.
2. No texture is used, Vertex color is enabled, the Albedo RGB mode is used.
3. The diffuse texture (light wood) is assigned, Vertex color is enabled, Albedo RGB mode is used.

The mesh_base material features a dynamic planar reflection technique. The reflecting power of the material depends on two parameters: metalness and roughness.

By using planar reflection options, you could create flat mirrors and flat dynamic reflective surfaces: parquet, flat varnished surfaces, etc.

The engine renders dynamic reflections for planar reflection by computing the position of the reflection camera. Reflection camera represents a camera on the other side of the reflective surface: the distance from reflector to camera is the same for real camera and reflection camera.

Planar reflections don't reflect each other: they render environment cubemap instead. Also, planar reflections miss post-effects.

To enable planar reflections for the material, click the Planar reflection checkbox. After enabling the option, the additional Planar reflection group becomes available. Ensure that the material has dynamic reflections. If not, tune the following parameters: Metalness and Roughness for metalness workflow, Microfiber and Gloss for specular workflow.

Map Size#

Two Sided#

Show Pivot#

Blur#

The Blur option enables blurring of the planar reflection texture making reflections look more plausible.

Blur disabled	Blur enabled

Planar Reflection Parameters#

The mesh_base material allows creating materials for vegetation foliage and stems. Enabling the Vegetation checkbox activates a set of additional animation and geometry parameters.

Animation#

Leaves#

Leaves specifies the way to render the leaves geometry:

• Disable — leaves are not rendered.

• Billboard — leaves are rendered as billboards that always face the camera. This is the most performance-friendly way of animating distant vegetation. Animation uses UV channel 2 of an object as follows: in the UV grid, [0,1] is the pivot point for the billboard's movements, and the billboard's size can be changed by scaling the polygon in the UV channel.

  If a billboard object uses the below UV map for animation, it would be represented by three objects rotating around their centers.

• Geometry UV-based — leaves are rendered as standard polygons. Animation uses UV channel 2 of an object as follows: in the UV grid, [0,1] is the pivot point for the object's movements and the stiffest part of the object, and towards [1,0], the object becomes more flexible.

  In the diagram below, the stiffest part of the object is against the white background, and the most flexible — against the blue background.

• Geometry Vertex Color based — leaves are rendered as standard polygons; vertex colors are used for animation. Vegetation movements are configured using RGB channels as follows:

  	Red channel is used for animation of smaller or peripheral parts of vegetation (leaves). Bright parts are animated, and dark parts are not animated.
  	Green channel is used to define the movement order for branches in order to desynchronize them. The movement sequence starts from the brightest element to the darkest.
  	Blue channel is used to define which parts of branches can be bent. Brigher parts indicate bendable portions, and darker parts — stiff portions.

Notice

If leaves are rendered, their animation is controlled by the animation parameters.

Examples#

Animation -> Enable Leaves -> Billboard	Animation -> Enable Leaves -> Geometry UV-based	Animation -> Enable Leaves -> Geometry Vertex Color based

Shadow Offset#

Vegetation Velocity#

Vegetation Parameters#

Animation Parameters#

Animation parameters are available on the Parameters tab if the Animation option is enabled.

Animation parameters, Parameters tab

• Stem Noise Scale — a coefficient to scale spatial noise that diversifies the movement direction of vegetation stems. This coefficient should be identical for the stem and the leaves that are related to this stem to synchronize their movement.

  

  Stem Noise Scale: 0.0, 0.5, and 1.0

• Stem Offset — a coefficient to scale an amplitude of horizontal movement for the vegetation stem. This coefficient should be identical for the stem and the leaves that are related to this stem to synchronize their movement.

  

  Stem Offset: 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5

• Stem Radius — a coefficient to scale an amplitude of vertical movement for the vegetation stem. This coefficient should be identical for the stem and the leaves that are related to this stem to synchronize their movement.

  

  Stem Radius: 0.0, 5.0, and 10.0

• Stem Animation Speed — a coefficient to scale the speed of stem movements. This coefficient should be identical for the stem and the leaves that are related to this stem to synchronize their movement.

  

  Stem Animation Speed: 0.0, 4.0, and 8.0
• Field Mask — a mask that specifies an area of the animation field to be applied to stems and leaves (if rendered). This mask must match the field mask of the animation field.
  Notice

  The Field Mask parameter is available only if the Animation state is set to Field.

If leaves are rendered, the following animation parameters are also available:

Animation parameters, Parameters tab

• Leaves Noise Scale — a coefficient to randomize the orientation and direction of rotation for leaves (seen only on several nodes with the same material). By the minimum value of 0, all leaves are synchronized in their movement. Higher values make leaves randomly move in different directions.

  Leaves Noise Scale: 50.0	Leaves Noise Scale: 1.0, 10.0, and 20.0	Leaves Noise Scale: 0.0 and 3.0

• Leaves Offset — a coefficient to scale leaves rotation amplitude. By the minimum value of 0, leaves do not move at all. Higher values make leaves move with a greater amplitude.

  Leaves Offset: 1.785	Leaves Offset: 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1	Leaves Offset: 0.05 and 0.1

• Leaves Animation Speed — a coefficient to scale the speed of leaves rotation. By the minimum value of 0, leaves do not move at all. Higher values make leaves move faster.

  Leaves Animation Speed: 0.765 and 2.287	Leaves Animation Speed: 0.0, 1.0, and 4.0	Leaves Animation Speed: 2.0 and 5.0

• Branch Offset — a coefficient to scale the rotation amplitude for a whole branch. Available for the vertex color based geometry only.

  

  Branch Offset: 0.1 and 0.3

• Branch Animation Speed — a coefficient to scale the rotation speed for a whole branch. Available for the vertex color based geometry only.

  

  Branch Animation Speed: 3.0 and 8.0

Shadow Offset#

Shadow offset, Parameters tab

The parameter sets an offset of leaves shadows. Available in the Parameters tab when the Shadow Offset option is enabled.

Shadow offset = 0.0	Shadow offset = 0.1

2D noise enables a spatial color noise based on a 2D texture. Enabling the option activates the following texture and parameters:

2D Noise Texture#

2D Noise Parameters#

2D noise parameters

Intensity#

Noise texture intensity. By the maximum value of 1, the color noise is fully visible.

Intensity = 0.0	Intensity = 0.5	Intensity = 1.0

UV Transform#

Noise texture native coordinates transformation represented by a vector of the four float components.

3D noise specifies if additional spatial noise and color gradient textures will be added. These textures add a random color variation to leaves.

Disabled 3D noise	Enabled 3D noise

Enabling the option activates the following textures and parameters:

3D Noise Textures#

3D Noise Parameters#

Intensity#

Noise texture intensity. By the maximum value of 1, the color noise is fully visible.

Intensity = 0.0	Intensity = 0.5	Intensity = 1.0

UV Transform#

Noise texture native coordinates transformation along X, Y and Z axes. A vector of the three float components:

• By high values, color blobs are small in size (for example, several blobs per leaf). Tiles of the spatial noise texture are small and repeat often
• By low values, color blobs are big (for example, several blobs for the whole tree). Tiles of the spatial noise texture are big and repeat a few times

UV transform = vec3(0.1)	UV transform = vec3(0.01)

Detail rendering activates a set of textures (diffuse, normal, specular for the Specular workflow; albedo, normal and shading for Metalness workflow) to form a material layer. It is applied for bringing detailing to the material.

Available options are (when the state is enabled):

• Blending — the type of the detail material blending.
  • Alpha blend — an alpha blending mode.
  • Overlay - depending on the base texture (diffuse or albedo) color, the base and detail textures colors are either multiplied (for dark color pixels) or screened (for light color pixels), which leads to the contrast increase while preserving highlights and shadows. Grey pixels are not effected at all.
  • Multiply — the base texture (diffuse or albedo) color is multiplied by the detail texture color, resulting in darker colors. White pixels are not effected at all.
    Notice

    If detail textures are not visible enough in the resulting image, try increasing its color scale parameter (Diffuse or Albedo).

  Alpha blending mode	Overlay mode	Multiply mode

• Angle fade — detail angle fade.
  • Disable — disable overlapping of the base material.
  • Object transform (overlap) — overlap the base material by using the object transformation (detail textures will be rotated with the mesh). This option can be used to create stone material with moss, rust and corrosion atop.

    Base albedo texture	Detail albedo texture

  • World transform (overlap) — overlap the base textures by using the world transformation (no matter if you rotate the object, the detail textures will always be projected atop). This option can be used to create stone material with moss, rust and corrosion atop.

    Base albedo texture	Detail albedo texture

    Notice

    These two overlap options (Overlap (object transform) and Overlap (world transform)) replaced the old mesh_overlap_base material.
• Mask — a flag indicating that a texture mask is used for blending base and detail materials selectively (the detail textures will be shown according to the mask).
  Notice

  This option replaced the old mesh_layer_base material.
  Enabling the mask activates the Detail mask field that specifies which UV coordinates of the mesh will be used for the detail mask.
• Normal Substitute — enabling this flag makes the detail normal texture overlap the base normal texture. If disabled, the base and detail normal maps are combined.

  

Enables use of procedural effects: SSBevel and SSDirt.

SSBevel enables rendering of the screen-space bevels for the material.

Procedural Texture#

SSBevel Parameters#

SSDirt enables rendering of the SSDirt effect for the material, allowing you to simulate worn scratched edges and accumulation of dirt and dust in cavities.

This effect uses the Procedural texture described above.

SSDirt Parameters#

Normal map specifies the type of normal mapping that is used for a model.

• Object space normal maps are characterized by their full spectrum (rainbow-colored) appearance. They are used for meshes vertices of which cannot be deformed (the model must remain in its original orientation). Object space normals are best for things that can move, but cannot be deformed, like walls, doors, cars, weapons, etc. It's easier to generate high-quality curvature because object space normal map completely ignores crude smoothing of the low-poly vertex normals.
• Tangent space normal maps are easily recognized by their mostly blue appearance. Tangent Space normal maps can be rotated and deformed, therefore they are ideal for characters or objects that need to have vertex deformation, like water or tree limbs.

Opacity map indicates the alpha channel of which texture to use:

• Main - use the alpha channel of the main (albedo or diffuse, depending on the current workflow) texture.
• Normal - use the B channel of the normal map.

Lightmap activates an additional lightmap texture therefore specifying that the material will be rendered lit by it. The material color (diffuse or albedo) is multiplied by the lightmap and the ambient color.

Enabling the state activates the Lightmap option that specifies which UV coordinates of the mesh will be used for the lightmap texture.

Lightmap Texture#

Lightmap Parameters#

Lightmap with ambient allows the lightmap to take into account ambient lighting. If disabled, only the lightmap will be rendered.

The state can be used for materials in scenes with the baked lighting and changing time of day.

Lightmap with ambient disabled	Lightmap with ambient enabled

Specular map enables using a specular texture channel of the shading texture as a specular multiplier.

Specular AA enables anti-aliasing of specular highlights. This anti-aliasing is performed by increasing roughness at places where normals change their orientation. Geometry of the model is used, the normal map is not required.

Specular AA Parameters#

When the Metalness workflow is used, the Microfiber state activates the microfiber texture channel in the shading texture.

When the Specular workflow is used, the Microfiber state activates the microfiber texture.

In the example below, on the first picture, only a part of the mesh is napped according to the microfiber texture. On the second picture, the whole mesh is napped as the microfiber texture doesn't define otherwise.

Microfiber state enabled	Microfiber state disabled

Translucent map activates an additional translucent texture.

Translucent Texture#

Translucent texture stores information on material's translucency. For example, by using this texture, it is possible to specify parts of the object that aren't translucent (the Translucent parameter won't affect them).

The texture is single-channeled.

In the example below, the following texture is used:

Translucent texture

Translucence is disabled	Translucent = 1.0, no translucent texture is used	Translucent = 1.0, translucent texture is set

The texture can be used, for example, to specify non-translucent areas of vegetation:

Translucence is disabled	Translucent = 1.0, no translucent texture is used	Translucent = 1.0, translucent texture is set

Translucence is disabled	Translucent = 1.0, no translucent texture is used	Translucent = 1.0, translucent texture is set

Parallax mapping enables the parallax effect that provides a convex relief based on a parallax (height) texture.

Disabled Parallax mapping	Enabled Parallax mapping

Available options are:

• Depth cutout - apply the depth cutout effect that provides smooth connection of the object with the real mesh. The option enables to make a plane looks like real geometry. Also, the depth cutout effect improves the SSAO calculation on surfaces with parallax maps.

  Disabled Depth cutout	Enabled Depth cutout

• Cutout - apply the cutout effect that provides smooth edges between the opaque and transparent areas.
  Notice

  This effect works correctly only when mesh edges match the UV edges.

  Disabled Cutout	Enabled Cutout

Parallax Texture#

Parallax Parameters#

Parallax parameters

Parallax Height#

Height is a coefficient to scale the power of the parallax texture displacements. The higher the value, the bigger the normals are.

Height = 0.01	Height = 0.03	Height = 0.05

Min Layers#

Min layers parameter specifies the minimum step of the parallax mapping.

Max Layers#

Max layers parameter specifies the maximum step of the parallax mapping.

Noise#

Noise parameter specifies the size of the noise used for parallax mapping. The higher the value, the less visible the layers.

Cutout UV Transform#

Parallax texture coordinates transformation.

Notice

The parameter is available if the Cutout option is enabled.

Parallax Shadow Parameters#

Parallax shadow parameters

Shadow Min Layers#

Shadow min layers parameter specifies the minimum step of parallax shadows.

Shadow Max Layers#

Shadow max layers parameter specifies the minimum step of parallax shadows.

Shadow Noise#

Shadow noise parameter specifies the size of the noise used for parallax shadows. The higher the value, the less visible the shadow layers.

Shadow Intensity#

Shadow intensity specifies intensity of shadows provided by the parallax effect.

Shadow intensity = 0.1	Shadow intensity = 0.5	Shadow intensity = 1.0

Shadow Softness#

Shadow softness specifies softness of shadows provided by the parallax effect.

Shadow softness = 0.0	Shadow softness = 1.0

Calculate tangent space enables calculating the tangent space in the shader. It can be used for materials applied to geometry with incorrect tangents or to geometry without tangents.

If enabled, Normals Rotated to Camera makes all normals of the surface oriented towards the camera ignoring the geometry normals. This option can be used for vegetation to make the fact that leaves and grass blades are composed of polygons less noticeable.

Geometry inflation allows you to apply an additional visual effect without real geometry changing. By using this option, you can create wires and balloons by specifying the type of inflation.

Available options are:

• Disabled - disables geometry inflation.
• Wire - wire type. It will bloat the geometry normals to provide more realistic wire depending on the distance to the mesh.
• Balloon - balloon type. It bloats the geometry by specified constant.

Geometry Inflation Parameters#

Angle fade enables cutting out the surfaces that are not perpendicular to the camera view direction vector. This option can be used to gain performance.

The option activates the Angle Power and Angle Offset parameters.

Angle Power#

Angle Offset#

Jitter transparency enables creating deferred transparency by using jittering. The state can be used when such result is acceptable and post-effects are applied to the material.

Jitter transparency disabled	Jitter transparency enabled

Refraction enables post-processing refraction for the material. You can adjust global refraction settings via the Render -> Postprocess section of the Settings window.

Refraction disabled	Refraction enabled

The following group of options becomes available when Refraction is enabled.

Information Lost Fix#

Enables correction of refractions for "information lost" areas. The source of refraction is the whole screen and not only the internal volume of the object

Information Lost Fix option disabled	Information Lost Fix option enabled

Front Side Only#

Enables rendering of refractions only for front faces. This option can be used for glass objects with no cavities inside, or for glass tanks containing some liquid.

Notice

When enabled, the surface shall overlap all transparent objects located behind it (i.e., they won't be visible).

Front Side Only option enabled	Front Side Only option disabled

Use Shading Texture (R-Channel)#

Refraction Parameters#

Refraction parameters

IOR#

IOR sets the Index of Refraction (IOR) for the materal. The higher the value, the more intense the refraction is.

Power = 1.04	Power = 1.16

Ray Length#

Ray Length represents length of refracted rays. This parameter is used for visual correction of refractions, depending on the distance from the surface to objects behind it.

Ray length = 1.0	Ray length = 2.0	Ray length = 5.0

Normal Map#

Normal map is a coefficient to scale the intensity of the normals (provided by a normal map). The higher the value, the higher the normal texture effect is.

Normal map = 0.0	Normal map = 1.0	Normal map = 2.0

Transparent blur enables creating transparent matte objects (e.g. matte glass).

In the example below, the transparency preset is Additive.

transparent_blur#

Transparent blur disabled	Transparent blur enabled (transparent_blur parameter is set to 0.2)

These options control rendering of shadows cast on transparent objects.

Lerp Cascades#

Filter Mode#

Penumbra Mode#

Filter Noise#

Penumbra Noise#

Transparent Shadow#

These options specify which UV coordinates of the mesh will be used for textures.

Base Map#

Detail Map#

Detail Mask#

Ambient Occlusion Map#

Lightmap#

SSBevel Map#

Post processing options activates post processing effects for the material.

• SSAO - enables screen space ambient occlusion. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
• SSR - enables screen space reflections. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
• SSS - enables subsurface scattering. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).
• DOF - enables the depth of field effect. Available for both opaque and transparent materials.
• Motion blur - enables the motion blur effect. Available for both opaque and transparent materials.
• Shoreline wetness - enables the wetness effect for objects near the shoreline. Available for opaque and alpha test materials (materials with the Alpha test transparency preset enabled).

• Environment and emission - enables rendering of the material illuminated by an environment probe.
• 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.

All of the textures fields have set default textures, which can be replaced by your own ones. Availability of some textures depends on the set States values.

Metalness Wokflow: Base Textures#

Material window, Textures tab.

Albedo Texture#

Albedo texture specifies the color of the surface.

Without albedo texture	With albedo texture

The texture is 4-channeled:

1. RGB values store color information.
2. An alpha (A) value stores transparency information:
   • White color indicates that the area will be visible.
   • Black color indicates that the area will be transparent.

Shading Texture#

Shading texture is a container for four different textures:

• The R channel stores a metalness texture.
• The G channel stores a roughness texture.
• The B channel stores a specular texture.
• The A channel stores a microfiber texture.

Metalness Texture#

A metalness texture stores information about material's metalness:

• White pixels indicate that material is metal.
• Black pixels indicate that material is dielectric.

The whole applied texture channel is white	The applied texture channel is partially white (reflective areas) and black (non-reflective white splashes)

Roughness Texture#

A roughness texture stores information about material's roughness:

• White pixels indicate that material is rough.
• Black pixels indicate that material is smooth.

Without the applied texture channel	With the applied texture channel

Specular Texture#

A specular texture stores the light reflectance information. It defines shininess and a highlight color of the surface. The lighting is calculated as a Lambertian lighting model plus a surface angle, light angle, and viewing angle dependent specular highlight (Blinn-Phong lighting model).

Notice

To use this channel, enable the Specular state.

• White color indicates that the area will be reflective.
• Black color indicates that there will be no reflections.

Without the applied specular texture channel	With the applied specular texture channel

Microfiber Texture#

A microfiber texture creates an effect of napped surface. The lighter the pixel, the more napped material will be.

Notice

To use this channel, enable the Microfiber state.

Without fibers texture	With fibers texture

Normal Map#

Normal map stores height information required to achieve an effect of Normal Mapping (a technique creating the illusion of depth for adding details without using additional polygons). When calculating lighting of the surface, the mesh geometry is overridden by the normals value.

Without normal map	With normal map

The texture is 2-channeled:

1. RG values store two components of a surface normal.
2. B value is calculated based on the R and G values in run-time.

Specular Wokflow: Base Textures#

Material window, Textures tab.

Diffuse Texture#

Diffuse texture specified the color of the surface. It is lightened according to a Lambertian lighting model (light intensity is permanent regardless of the camera motion and rotation and depends solely on the angle between the surface and the light direction).

Diffuse texture

The texture is 4-channeled:

1. RGB values store color information.
2. An alpha (A) value stores:
   • Transparency information (if the Alpha test option is enabled):
     • White color indicates that the area will be visible.
     • Black color indicates that the area will be transparent.
   • Detail mask.

Normal Map#

Normal map stores height information required to achieve an effect of Normal Mapping (a technique creating the illusion of depth for adding details without using more polygons). When calculating lighting of the surface, the mesh geometry is overridden by the normals value.

Diffuse map + Normal map

The texture is 2-channeled:

1. RG values store two components of a surface normal.
2. B value is calculated based on the R and G values in run-time.

Specular Map#

Specular map stores the light reflectance information. It defines shininess and a highlight color of the surface. The lighting is calculated as a Lambertian lighting model plus a surface angle, light angle, and viewing angle dependent specular highlight (Blinn-Phong lighting model).

Diffuse map + Normal map + Specular map

The texture is 4-channeled:

1. RGB values store reflection color and intensity:
   • White color indicates that the area will be reflective.
   • Black color indicates that there will be no reflections.
2. An alpha (A) value specified the specular power (Gloss):
   • White color indicates that the specular highlights are very bright and intense.
   • Black color indicates that the specular highlights are dull.

Microfiber Texture#

Microfiber texture creates an effect of napped surface. The lighter the pixel, the more napped material will be.

Notice

The texture is applied when the Microfiber state is enabled.

Without microfiber texture	With microfiber texture

The texture uses only R channel.

Detail Textures#

Texture Coordinates Transformation#

Texture coordinates transformation parameter is an arbitrary expression (script) executed at run time. It is treated as a vector of four float components, consisting of two pairs of vector elements:

• Scale texture coordinates, along the X and Y axes.

  For example, by the scale of 2 ;2 the texture will be repeated four times on the surface. See the second picture below.

• An offset of the texture respectively to its initial position along X and Y axes.

  For example, by the offset of 0.5 along the X axis the texture will be repositioned to the right (so the left edge of the texture will be rendered in the center). See the third picture below.

Edit Texture Coordinates

Click the Gear icon to open the drop-down menu.

There are three modes available:

• Simple mode provides adjustment of the default parameters for texture coordinates transformation.

  • Scale X - the first component of the vector defining the scale along the X axis.
  • Scale Y - the second component of the vector defining the scale along the Y axis.
  • Offset X - the third component of the vector defining the offset along the X axis.
  • Offset Y - the fourth component of the vector defining the offset along the Y axis.

• Animated mode provides the parameters of procedural animation of texture coordinates.

  

  • Scale X - the first component of the vector defining the scale along X axis.
  • Scale Y - the second component of the vector defining the scale along Y axis.
  • Frequency - the frequency of the circular motion.
  • Amplitude - the maximum extent of the circular motion, in pixels.
  • Velocity - the velocity of the constant linear offset, in pixels per frame.
  • Angle - the direction of the constant linear offset, in degrees.

• Expression mode allows using expressions in the parameter field. The type of the expression result must be one of the following:

  • int - an integer number.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(4.0f, 4.0f, 4.0f, 4.0f)

  • long - a long integer.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f)

  • float - a floating point value.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(3.0f, 3.0f, 3.0f, 3.0f)

  • double - a double value.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(7.4, 7.4, 7.4, 7.4)

  • vec3 - a vector of three float components.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f, 1.0f)

  • vec4 - a vector of four float components.

    

    The result will change in Offset Y each frame due to time.

    

  • dvec3 - a floating point value.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f, 1.0f)

  • dvec4 - a floating point value.

    

    The result will be equal to vec4(2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f, 2.0f)

  A number of aliases to variables and functions are available from the expression, for convenience:

  • ifps - a global variable referring to the engine.game.getIFps() function.
  • time - a variable referring to the engine.game.getTime() function.
  • noise( float pos, float size, int frequency ) - a function referring to the engine.game.getNoise1() function.
  • random( float from, float to ) - a function referring to the engine.game.getRandomFloat() function.
  • getNode() - a function returning a current node pointer.
  • getParent() - a function returning a parent node pointer.
  • getNumChildren() - a function returning the number of children nodes.
  • getChild( int num) - a function returning a node child by its number.
  • getState( string name ) - a function returning a specified state of the current material.
  • getParameter*( string name ) - a function returning the value of a specified parameter of the current material.

Material Mask#

Base Textures Shading Parameters#

Metalness Workflow: Base Textures Shading Parameters#

Base parameters

Albedo#

Albedo is a multiplier of the base color of the surface provided by the albedo texture.

Different Albedo parameters for the white albedo texture

Metalness#

Metalness is a multiplier of metalness.

Changing the Metalness parameter, from 0 to 1

Specular#

Specular is a multiplier for the intensity of highlight provided by the specular texture.

Specular = 0.0	Specular = 0.5	Specular = 1.0

Roughness#

Roughness is a multiplier of the roughness of a surface.

Changing the Roughness parameter, from 0 to 1

Normal Intensity#

Normal Intensity is an intensity of the relief of the normal map.

Changing the Normal parameter, from 0 to 1

Translucent#

Translucent is a 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.

Translucent = 0.0	Translucent = 0.5	Translucent = 1.0

Microfiber#

Microfiber is a coefficient to scale the intensity of the microfiber (provided by a microfiber texture). The higher the value, the higher the microfiber texture effect is.

Transparent Multiplier#

Transparent multiplier is a multiplier of material's transparency. The higher the value, the less transparent the material.

Notice

The parameter is available for transparent objects only.

Transparent multiplier = 0.7; Transparent pow = 1.0	Transparent multiplier = 1.0; Transparent pow = 1.0	Transparent multiplier = 1.3; Transparent pow = 1.0

Transparent Pow#

Transparent pow is a power of material's transparency. The higher the value the more transparent the material.

Notice

The parameter is available for transparent objects only.

Transparent pow = 0.5; Transparent multiplier = 1.0	Transparent pow = 1.0; Transparent multiplier = 1.0	Transparent pow = 1.5; Transparent multiplier = 1.0

UV Transform#

Base textures coordinates transformation.

Triplanar Blend#

Notice

The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Specular Worklow: Base Textures Shading Parameters#

Base parameters

Diffuse#

Diffuse defines the base color of the surface.

Specular#

Specular is a color picker to choose the auxiliary specular color for the specular texture. It can be used for specifying different specular colors for one texture or modifying the texture color on the spot. The specular color of the texture and this color will be blended.

Gloss#

Gloss is a coefficient modifying the size of the highlight (Phong shading). Low values imitate wider highlights, typically appropriate to create diffuse reflection from mat surfaces. High values imitate pinpoint highlights, typically appropriate to create uniform reflection of light rays from glossy surfaces.

Microfiber#

Microfiber is a coefficient to scale the intensity of the microfiber (provided by a microfiber texture). The higher the value, the higher the microfiber texture effect is.

Normal Intensity#

Normal intensity is a coefficient to scale the intensity of the normals (provided by a normal map). The higher the value, the higher the normal texture effect is.

Translucent#

Translucent is a 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.

Translucent = 0.0	Translucent = 0.5	Translucent = 1.0

Transparent Multiplier#

Transparent multiplier is a multiplier of material's transparency. The higher the value, the less transparent the material.

Notice

The parameter is available for transparent objects only.

Transparent multiplier = 0.7; Transparent pow = 1.0	Transparent multiplier = 1.0; Transparent pow = 1.0	Transparent multiplier = 1.3; Transparent pow = 1.0

Transparent Pow#

Transparent pow is a power of material's transparency. The higher the value the more transparent the material.

Notice

The parameter is available for transparent objects only.

Transparent pow = 0.5; Transparent multiplier = 1.0	Transparent pow = 1.0; Transparent multiplier = 1.0	Transparent pow = 1.5; Transparent multiplier = 1.0

UV Transform#

Base textures coordinates transformation.

Triplanar Blend#

Notice

The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Detail Textures Shading Parameters#

Metalness Workflow: Detail Textures Shading Parameters#

A set of the shading parameters for detail textures:

Notice

Detail parameters are present if a Detail option is enabled.

Albedo#

Albedo is a multiplier of the detail color of the surface provided by the detail albedo texture similar to the base texture Albedo parameter.

Metalness#

Metalness is a multiplier of metalness provided by the detail metalness texture similar to the base texture Metalness parameter.

Roughness#

Roughness is a multiplier of the roughness of a surface similar to the base texture Roughness parameter.

Microfiber#

Microfiber is a coefficient to scale the intensity of the microfiber (provided by a microfiber texture) similar to the base texture Microfiber parameter. The higher the value, the higher the microfiber texture effect is.

UV Transform#

Detail textures coordinates transformation.

Triplanar Blend#

Notice

The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Visibility#

Visibility specifies a multiplier of visibility of the detail texture.

In the example below, Angle fade is set to Object transform.

Visibility = 0.5; Visibility threshold = 1.0	Visibility = 1.0; Visibility threshold = 1.0	Visibility = 2.0; Visibility threshold = 1.0

Visibility Threshold#

Visibility threshold influences to sharpness of the smooth transitions between the base and detail textures.

In the example below, Angle fade is set to Object transform.

Visibility threshold = 0.0; Visibility = 1.0	Visibility threshold = 0.5; Visibility = 1.0	Visibility threshold = 1.0; Visibility = 1.0

Albedo Visibility#

Albedo visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture albedo over the base texture albedo.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base albedo texture is yellow and the detail albedo texture is red.

Albedo visibility = 0.0	Albedo visibility = 0.5	Albedo visibility = 1.0

Metalness Visibility#

Metalness visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture metalness over the base texture metalness.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base texture metalness is set to 0.7 and the detail texture metalness is 0.1. So, increasing the metalness visibility leads decreasing the resulting metalness of the material.

Metalness visibility = 0.0	Metalness visibility = 0.5	Metalness visibility = 1.0

Roughness Visibility#

Roughness visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture roughness over the base texture roughness.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base texture roughness is 0.5 and the detail texture roughness is 1.0. So, increasing the roughness visibility leads increasing the resulting roughness of the material.

Roughness visibility = 0.0	Roughness visibility = 0.5	Roughness visibility = 1.0

Microfiber Visibility#

Microfiber visibility parameter specifies the influence of the detail texture microfiber over the surface.

Notice

The parameter is available only when the Microfiber state is enabled.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base texture microfiber is 1.0 and the detail texture microfiber is 0.0. So, increasing the microfiber visibility leads decreasing the microfiber effect for the material.

Microfiber visibility = 0.0	Microfiber visibility = 0.5	Microfiber visibility = 1.0

Specular Visibility#

Specular visibility parameter specifies the influence of the detail texture specular over the surface.

Notice

The parameter is available only when the Microfiber state is enabled.

Normal Visibility#

Normal visibility parameter specifies the influence of the detail texture normal over the surface.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay.

Normal visibility = 0.0	Normal visibility = 0.5	Normal visibility = 1.0

Detail Mask Parameters#

Detail mask parameters

Notice

The parameters is available if the Mask option is enabled.

• UV Transform is detail mask texture coordinates transformation.
• Triplanar blend
  Notice

  The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Detail Angle Fade Parameters#

Angle fade parameters

Notice

The parameters are available if the Angle fade option is enabled.

• Fade is a coefficient to scale the angle at which detail texture fades.
• Threshold influences to sharpness of the smooth transitions between the base texture and the detail texture for which the Angle fade option is enabled.

Specular Workflow: Detail Textures Shading Parameters#

A set of the shading parameters for detail textures:

Notice

Detail parameters are present if a Detail option is enabled.

Diffuse#

Diffuse is a multiplier of the detail color of the surface provided by the detail diffuse texture similar to the base texture Diffuse parameter.

Specular#

Specular is a color picker to choose the auxiliary specular color for the detail specular texture similar to the base texture Specular parameter.

Gloss Scale#

Gloss is a parameter modifying the size of the highlight of the detail texture similar to the base texture Gloss parameter.

UV Transform#

Detail textures coordinates transformation.

Triplanar Blend#

Notice

The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Visibility#

Visibility specifies a multiplier of visibility of the detail texture.

In the example below, Angle fade is set to Object transform.

Visibility = 0.5; Visibility threshold = 1.0	Visibility = 1.0; Visibility threshold = 1.0	Visibility = 2.0; Visibility threshold = 1.0

Visibility Threshold#

Visibility threshold influences to sharpness of the smooth transitions between the base and detail textures.

In the example below, Angle fade is set to Object transform.

Visibility threshold = 0.0; Visibility = 1.0	Visibility threshold = 0.5; Visibility = 1.0	Visibility threshold = 1.0; Visibility = 1.0

Diffuse Visibility#

Diffuse visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture diffuse over the base texture diffuse.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base diffuse texture is yellow and the detail diffuse texture is red.

Diffuse visibility = 0.0	Diffuse visibility = 0.5	Diffuse visibility = 1.0

Specular Visibility#

Specular visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture specular over the base texture specular.

Gloss Visibility#

Gloss visibility specifies the influence of the detail texture gloss over the base texture gloss.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay, the base texture gloss is 0.5 and the detail texture gloss is 1.0. So, increasig the gloss visibility leads increasing the resulting gloss of the material.

Gloss visibility = 0.0	Gloss visibility = 0.5	Gloss visibility = 1.0

Normal Visibility#

Normal visibility parameter specifies the influence of the detail normal texture normal over the surface.

In the example below, Detail blending is set to Overlay.

Normal visibility = 0.1	Normal visibility = 0.6	Normal visibility = 0.9

Detail Mask Parameters#

Detail mask parameters

Notice

The parameters is available if the Mask option is enabled.

• UV Transform is detail mask texture coordinates transformation.
• Triplanar blend
  Notice

  The parameter is available when the Triplanar mapping is used to project the texture.

Detail Angle Fade Parameters#

Angle fade parameters

Notice

The parameters are available if the Angle fade option is enabled.

• Fade is a coefficient to scale the angle at which detail texture fades.
• Threshold influences to sharpness of the smooth transitions between the base texture and the detail texture for which the Angle fade option is enabled.