Materials & Shaders

8. The PileGen/Triplanar Shader

PileGen includes a custom URP shader (PileGen/Triplanar) that generates all surface detail procedurally — no textures required.

Key Features

• •13 material types with unique procedural patterns
• •7 pattern library overlays
• •Triplanar & local triplanar projection — no UV seams on any geometry
• •Per-instance color variation — each piece looks unique (driven by stable vertex color seeds, not world position)
• •Smooth & LowPoly shading modes
• •Procedural normals derived from material height fields
• •SRP Batcher compatible
• •6 vertex shape modifiers (GPU-side)
• •Texture override system for blending real textures over procedural surfaces

Creating a Material

1. •Assets > Create > Material
2. •Set shader to PileGen/Triplanar
3. •Choose a Material Type from the dropdown
4. •Adjust colors, patterns, and surface properties
5. •Assign to your Pile Profile's Material slot

The PileGen/Triplanar material inspector showing all foldout sections collapsed: Material Type, Colors, Surface, Pattern & Detail, Vertex Shape, Rendering, Transparency, and Texture Overrides.

The Material Browser showing all configured materials with type badges and preview thumbnails.

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9. Material Types

Each material type generates a unique procedural surface pattern:

Cylindrical Mapping

For barrel-shaped and lathe objects, enable Use Cylindrical Mapping in the material:

• •Vertical Staves — barrel-style vertical plank lines
• •Horizontal Rings — ring-style horizontal divisions
• •Plank Count — number of divisions around the cylinder
• •Grain Frequency / Warp — controls the wood grain texture

This overrides the default triplanar blending with a cylindrically-aligned UV-free projection that wraps cleanly around revolution surfaces.

Color Slots

• •Base Color — Primary surface color
• •Dark Color — Used for cracks, grain lines, mortar, shadows
• •Highlight Color — Used for edges, weathering, page color, sheen
• •Color Variation — Per-instance random tint (0–0.3). Driven by a stable seed pre-baked into vertex color alpha — patterns do not shift when objects are moved.

The Colors foldout showing Base, Dark, and Highlight color slots with per-instance Color Variation and Cap Tint controls.

Cap Tint

• •Top Cap Tint — Tint applied to the top face of the mesh
• •Bottom Cap Tint — Tint applied to the bottom face
• •Cap Tint Strength — Blend strength (0 = disabled)

Useful for dirtied bottoms, dusty tops, or two-tone objects like stone columns with grass caps.

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10. Pattern Library

7 procedural pattern overlays that can be applied on top of any material type:

Pattern Controls

• •Pattern Frequency — How dense the pattern is (0.5–12)
• •Pattern Blend — How strongly the pattern affects the material height field
• •Pattern Sharpness — Hard vs soft edges for the pattern
• •Pattern Invert — Flip the pattern's light/dark relationship
• •Pattern Dark/Light Blend — Tint patterns toward dark or highlight colors

The Pattern & Detail foldout for a Wood material showing scale, noise, grain options, and cylindrical mapping toggle.

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11. Vertex Shape Modifiers

GPU-side vertex deformations applied in the shader. These are visible in the editor and at runtime and are correctly baked during texture baking.

Open the Vertex Shape foldout in the material inspector:

Modifiers are applied in order: Taper → Twist → Bulge → Squash → Round → Noise. All default to 0 (off) with zero performance cost when disabled.

The Vertex Shape foldout showing Taper, Twist, Bulge, Squash, Round, and Vertex Noise sliders.

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12. Texture Overrides

Blend real textures over the procedural patterns using triplanar projection:

Albedo Override

• •Enable Use Albedo Override
• •Assign an Albedo Map (color texture)
• •Adjust Triplanar Scale and Blend (0 = fully procedural, 1 = fully texture)

Normal Override

• •Enable Use Normal Override
• •Assign a Normal Map
• •Adjust Triplanar Scale and Strength
• •Only visible in Smooth shading mode

Noise Override

• •Enable Use Noise/Pattern Override
• •Assign a Noise Map (grayscale)
• •Modulates the procedural noise strength — create custom wear, dirt, or detail patterns
• •Adjust Triplanar Scale and Blend

The full shader inspector with Surface, Height Blend (Dirt), Rendering, Transparency, and Texture Overrides sections expanded.

Tip: Override textures use the same triNormal basis as the procedural layer, so they blend seamlessly without seam shifting on rotated objects.

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21. LowPoly / Palette Shading

The PileGen/LowPolyStyle shader uses a 1D palette texture for vertex coloring suitable for stylized low-poly art.

How It Works

• •Each mesh island (e.g., each piece in a pile) picks a color from the palette based on its assigned index plus a random jitter
• •The palette texture must have Filter Mode: Point and Compression: None to avoid color interpolation

Palette Generator

Use PileGen > Palette Generator to create custom color schemes. The tool outputs a 1D texture PNG compatible with the LowPolyStyle shader.

The Palette Generator editor window for designing custom color ramps for LowPoly shading.

Palette ScriptableObject

Configure a palette in a LowPoly Style ScriptableObject (Assets > Create > PileGen > LowPoly Style):

A configured LowPoly Style / Palette asset showing color ramp, jitter range, and material settings.

Palette Browser

Browse and manage all palette assets via PileGen > Palette Browser:

The Palette Browser showing all LowPoly Style assets with color swatches.

Palette Controls (per Sub-Shape)

For Compound shapes, each sub-shape can independently configure:

• •Palette Offset — Fixed color slot offset (e.g., blade = 0, handle = +2)
• •Palette Jitter — Random variation per instance (±N slots)

This allows complex compound objects (weapons, furniture) to have intentional, stable multi-color appearances.

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