Materials and Shaders

Material Files

Materials live under:

game/materials/

Loaders accept a material ID such as "basic" and resolve it to materials/basic.json.

Minimum material:

{
  "version": 0,
  "shader": "basic"
}

Material Fields

Field	Type	Meaning
`shader`	string	Shader resource ID. Required.
`color` / `baseColor`	vec4	Main material color.
`tintColor` / `tint`	vec4	Secondary tint color.
`emissionColor` / `emission` / `emissiveColor`	vec4	Emission color.
`uvScale`	vec2	Texture UV scale.
`uvOffset`	vec2	Texture UV offset.
`alphaCutoff`	float	Alpha test threshold.
`emissionStrength` / `emissiveStrength`	float	Emission multiplier.
`normalStrength`	float	Normal map strength.
`customData0..3`	vec4	Shader-defined custom data.
`unlit` / `ignoreLights`	bool	Ignore scene lighting.
`receiveShadows`	bool	Receive shadows.
`ignoreShadows`	bool	Legacy inverse of `receiveShadows`.
`castShadows`	bool	Cast shadows.
`textures`	array/object	Texture paths by slot type.
`params`	object	Shader-schema parameter overrides and shortcut values.

Canonical material flags are unlit, receiveShadows, and castShadows. NVEditor reads legacy keys but writes canonical keys.

Texture Slots

Supported texture types:

Type	Use
`diffuse`	Base color/albedo texture.
`normal`	Normal map.
`detail`	Detail texture.
`emissive` / `emission`	Emission texture.

Array form:

{
  "textures": [
    {
      "type": "diffuse",
      "path": "textures/asphalt/Road012B_4K-PNG_Color.png"
    },
    {
      "type": "normal",
      "path": "textures/asphalt/Road012B_4K-PNG_NormalDX.png"
    }
  ]
}

Object form:

{
  "textures": {
    "diffuse": "textures/diffuse.png",
    "normal": {
      "path": "textures/normal.png",
      "type": "normal"
    }
  }
}

Textured Material Example

From the asphalt material pattern:

{
  "version": 0,
  "shader": "basic",
  "color": [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0],
  "normalStrength": 1.0,
  "castShadows": true,
  "textures": [
    {
      "path": "textures/asphalt/Road012B_4K-PNG_Color.png",
      "type": "diffuse"
    },
    {
      "path": "textures/asphalt/Road012B_4K-PNG_NormalDX.png",
      "type": "normal"
    }
  ]
}

Sky/Cubemap Material Pattern

The current sky workaround uses a large mesh with an unlit material:

{
  "version": 0,
  "shader": "basic",
  "color": [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, -1.0],
  "emissionColor": [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, -1.0],
  "castShadows": false,
  "params": {
    "unlit": true,
    "receiveShadows": false
  },
  "textures": [
    {
      "path": "textures/StandardCubeMap.png",
      "type": "diffuse"
    }
  ]
}

In the current shader/material ABI, alpha less than zero is used by some materials as texture-only mode. If you use that mode without a diffuse texture, the loader warns.

Shader JSON

Shaders live under:

game/shaders/

Example:

{
  "version": 0,
  "pixelShader": "basic",
  "vertexShader": "basic",
  "material": {
    "parameters": [
      {
        "key": "color",
        "label": "Color",
        "target": "color",
        "type": "color",
        "default": [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0]
      },
      {
        "key": "unlit",
        "label": "Ignore Lights",
        "target": "unlit",
        "type": "bool",
        "default": false
      }
    ],
    "textures": [
      {
        "key": "diffuse",
        "label": "Diffuse",
        "type": "diffuse"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Parameter Targets

Shader parameter targets map editor controls and material params values back into renderer fields.

Common targets:

color
tintColor
emissionColor
uvScale
uvOffset
alphaCutoff
normalStrength
emissionStrength
unlit
receiveShadows
castShadows
customData0, customData1, customData2, customData3
component targets like customData0.x

params can override schema keys:

{
  "params": {
    "emissionStrength": 8.0,
    "unlit": true,
    "diffuse": "textures/neon.png"
  }
}

Texture keys in params are accepted for diffuse, normal, detail, emissive, and emission.