MAT - Material Operators

MATs define the appearance of 3D geometry (SOPs). They are assigned to Geometry COMPs.

Key MATs

Phong: The standard material for lighting, textures, and reflections.
Constant: A flat color material that ignores lighting.
PBR (Physically Based Rendering): For high-quality, realistic materials using Roughness/Metallic maps.
GLSL: Write custom vertex and fragment shaders.

MATs are essential for giving your 3D geometry (SOPs) an actual surface appearance when rendered.

Adding a MAT: Open the OP Create Dialog (Tab) and select the MAT family (yellow color).
Assigning a Material:
- You don’t connect wires directly from a MAT to a SOP.
- Instead, drag and drop your MAT onto a Geometry COMP (which contains your SOPs) and select “Material” from the pop-up menu.
- Alternatively, type the MAT’s name into the “Material” parameter of the Geometry COMP.
Applying Textures:
- To add an image texture to a MAT (like a Phong MAT or PBR MAT), drag a TOP (like a Movie File In TOP) onto the MAT’s specific map parameter (e.g., Color Map, Normal Map, or Roughness Map) and select Connect Link, or simply type the operator path as a string directly into the map parameter (e.g., op('moviefilein1')).
Lighting: Most materials (like Phong or PBR) require a Light COMP in the network to be visible in the render. Without a light, geometry with these materials might appear completely black.