Material layers

Intermediate Artist Programmer

You can combine layers of materials to build more complex materials. For example, this screenshot shows the blending of a rust material (left) with a gold material (right):

media/material-layers-2.png

This diagram shows the definition of the materials blended in the screenshot above:

media/material-layers-3.png

Blend maps

Blend maps are material maps that determine how Game Studio blends layers. For example, you can use a texture as a blend map:

Blend map diagram

Blend map diagram

Note how the blend map texture corresponds to the patterning on the result.

Blend maps work the same way as any other kind of material map. For more information, see Material maps.

Shading models

Stride blends materials differently depending on whether their shading models (eg diffuse models, specular models, etc) are different.

If you blend materials that have identical shading models, Stride collects the attributes of the materials, then applies the shading models to all of them. This saves GPU.

If the materials have different shading models, Stride applies each material's shading models to that material's attributes, then blends the results. This uses more GPU.

Add a layer

  1. Select the material you want to add a layer to.

  2. In the Property Grid (on the right by default), next to Layers, click Green plus button (Add).

    Add a layer

    Game Studio adds a layer to the material.

    Empty layer

  3. Next to the layer, click Hand icon (Select an asset).

    The Select an asset window opens.

    Select an asset

  4. Specify a material you want to add as a layer and click OK.

    Game Studio adds the material as a layer.

    Added layer

  5. Next to Blend Map, click Blue arrow button (Replace) and select the type of blend map you want to use to blend the layers. For more information about blend maps, see Material maps.

    Select blend map

Game Studio blends the material layers using the blend map you specified. You can add as many layers as you need.

Layer properties

Property Description
Material The material blended in this layer
Blend Map The blend map used to blend this layer with the layer above
Layer Overrides UV Scale: A UV scale applied to all textures UV of the material of the layer (excluding the occlusion map)

See also