Decal Blend Types & Master Materials

Choose your Decal type

There are a number of Decal Blend types/modes with different available features depending on your required usage. The type is controlled by the Decal Master Material parent in the Material Instance of your Decal, which can be changed at any time.

Master Material Features Table

Material feature cheat sheet

Choose your Decal Master Material

Decals come in 11 different blend modes, listed on the left in the table above. Not all features are compatible with every blend mode and so the Master Materials have been set up to only expose parameters which work with their respective blend mode.

Examples of all of these decals are in the Decal Blend Modes map Content>DecalDesigner>Maps>DecalBlendModes

Choosing the right Decal Master Material can improve performance and reduce memory usage. Use the table above to help you to decide which features you need. For example, a decal which adds a little roughness variation to a polished table surface in a baked lighting environment, use the DBuffer_R Master Material as it only affects Roughness.

The following example Decals all use the same source Textures but use different blend modes

Basic Decals

Regular Decals that don't work with baked lighting

Translucent

M_Decal_Translucent

A translucent decal blend mode which can use Diffuse, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Opacity, and Normal.

MI_Example_Translucent

Stain

M_Decal_Stain

A modulate type blend with Diffuse and Opacity

MI_Example_Stain

Normal

M_Decal_Normal

Uses Opacity and Normal and only affects the Normal map it is projecting on

MI_Example_Normal

Emissive

M_Decal_Emissive

Uses Emissive and Opacity only

MI_Example_Emissive

DBuffer Decals

The DBuffer decals can be used with baked lighting

DBuffer Decals are not on by default and must be enabled in the Project Settings > Rendering section.

DBuffer Color Normal Roughness (Default Decal)

M_Decal_DBuffer_CNR = DBuffer Color Normal Roughness

This is the Default Decal type being used for the Library. Uses Color, Opacity, Roughness, Normal and Emissive to work with baked lighting.

MI_Example_DBuffer_CNR

DBuffer Color

M_Decal_DBuffer_C = DBuffer Color

Uses only Color, Opacity and Emissive to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_C

DBuffer Color Normal

M_Decal_DBuffer_CN = DBuffer Color Normal

Will use only Color, Normal, Opacity and Emissive to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_CN

DBuffer Color Roughness

M_Decal_DBuffer_CR = DBuffer Color Roughness

Will use only Color, Roughness, Opacity and Emissive to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_CR

DBuffer Normal

M_Decal_DBuffer_N = DBuffer Normal

This will only use the Opacity and Normal channels to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_N

DBuffer Normal Roughness

M_Decal_DBuffer_NR = DBuffer Normal Roughness

This will only use the Opacity, Roughness and Normal channels to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_NR

DBuffer Roughness

M_Decal_DBuffer_R = DBuffer Roughness

This will only use the Opacity and Roughness channels to work with baked lighting

MI_Example_DBuffer_R

Changing Decal Master Material

You can freely swap Master Material at any time on a Material Instance to change the required blend mode or available features. You will not lose any of the parameter values you have already changed previously on this Material instance when you swap Master Material.

1. Open any Material Instance window by double clicking

2. Scroll down to General

3. Under Parent, click the dropdown arrow

4. Search for "m_decal" or

5. Swap to any of the other Decal Master Materials, prefixed with "M_Decal_"

The Decal Master Materials are located in Content>DecalDesigner>Master>Material