Material editor
Build your own material by connecting nodes. Use it when the standard material types cannot give you the look you need.
Open it with Material editor in the left rail. It opens as a panel at the bottom of the screen.
To pick a material for an object, or to set its colour and textures, you do not need this panel. Use the object's Material component in Element settings.
Start a material
When no material is open, the panel shows two buttons:
- + Create material starts a simple graph: one colour connected to the output.
- Clone an existing material starts from a copy of a material you already have: a built-in type such as Standard, one of your graphs, or a saved material. The original stays as it is. This is how you change a built-in material.
Each new material is saved as a file in your project assets. To open one later, click it in Project assets. You can also create one there: right-click, then Create asset → Material graph.
To use the material, pick it in an object's Material component, like any other material.
Header buttons
While a material is open, the header shows its name and these buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Close material (the arrow) | Goes back to the start screen, so you can create or clone another material. |
| Clone an existing material | The same as on the start screen. |
| Save to team library | Saves the material to your team library, so other projects can use it. |
| Panel menu | Maximize fills the viewport, Tile window to bottom docks the panel again, Undock makes it a floating window. |
A material saved to the team library still points at this project's textures. In another project, those textures come out missing.
Build the graph
A graph runs from inputs, through maths, to the output node. The output is what the surface shows.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Add a node | Right-click empty canvas. Search, or pick from a category. |
| Connect | Drag from a port to a port. |
| Add a connected node | Drag from a port and drop it on empty canvas. The menu shows only the nodes that can take that wire. |
| Move or remove a wire | Grab it. Drop it on another port, or on empty canvas to remove it. |
| Node menu | Right-click a node: Set as material output or Delete. |
| Select several | Drag a box on empty canvas. |
| Pan | Drag with the middle mouse button, or hold Space and drag. On a trackpad, drag with two fingers. |
| Zoom | Scroll the mouse wheel, or pinch on a trackpad. |
| Reuse another material | Drag it from Project assets onto the canvas. It becomes a node. |
| Find your nodes | If they are off screen, click the arrow at the edge (Fit all). |
What each node does, and how to build common effects: Material graphs.
Preview, surface and code
The right side of the panel has three parts:
- Preview shows the material on a test object.
- Surface has the settings no node can change: Side (Front, Back or Double), Blend (Normal, Additive or Multiply), Cutout (from 0 to 1: parts with a lower alpha are not drawn at all), and Writes depth.
- The code area shows what the graph turns into. It is read-only and has a Copy button.
A graph can have several output nodes. The star in the code area marks the one the material uses. Click another star to switch.
To give the graph more room, click Hide panel. Show panel brings the right side back.
Next: Events — make objects react to taps, keys and more.