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Create Complex Materials Using Material Layer

MI_Toon is a normal material, which has a simple and fixed input, which can be used to create simple effects.

But if you want to give anisotropic highlights to your hair, or overlay different types of materials or patterns to the original material, you need to use layered materials.

UE's layered materials let you freely combine different types of material layers, adjust the order and blend modes.

Convert a material to a layered material​

Replace the parent material with MI_ToonLayer in the Material Editor:

image-20230330232210816

You can then find the original parameters in the layer parameters:

image-20230330232349505

caution

Note that this step will lose the values that have already been adjusted! So decide as early as possible whether to use layered materials.

info

Here are some important tips for layered materials.

Use material layers​

Now you can add material layers and create complex effects:

image-20230330235647030

Modify the following parameters:

image-20230331001354610

You can see the following changes:

image-20230331001544521image-20230331002251272

This means adding new effects using material layers, using layer blending to control how they overlay onto the layers below.