Materials
UVR materials are defined using the same assets as usual in Unity : the material asset in created in the Project tab and assigned on the Mesh Renderer component of geometries. See the Unity interface overview for details on the Unity components and workflow.
Unity Tutorial : Explore meshes and rendering
Unity Tutorial : Manage materials in a project
You can use the menu PredictSuite/Tools/Replace materials in the scene to easily replace all instances of one material by another.
Define Predict Matter specific materials
Predict Matter supports materials that Unity does not, such as measured materials, polarization filters, or glasses with spectral refraction index for instance. See the Spectrums and the Polarization sections for more explanations on the spectral and polarized aspect of the light and the materials.
The supported definitions for Predict Matter materials are :
There are two ways of defining Predict Matter materials in Unity :
Use Predict Matter shaders : the Predict Matter and the Unity materials are edited at the same time,
Use any other shader in Unity and define the Predict Matter materials via the dedicated Matter Editor interface : the Predict Matter and the Unity materials are completely independent.
Predict Matter shaders
You can use the Predict Matter shaders to define Predict Matter materials. Using these shaders, the Predict Matter and the Unity materials are linked together and edited at the same time. This enables you to define the Predict Matter material while having a preview of the material in Unity.
There is one shader per material type. See the dedicated sections for details on each material type.
Every time you focus or unfocus from a Predict Suite shader Inspector, the material will be saved. You can also save the material using the Ctrl+S shortcut.
The Matter header contains two buttons :
De-synchronization button : the chain button enables you to separate Unity and Predict Matter materials : the Unity material will be a fitting of the Predict material using a Standard shader, and the Predict material will be defined in the Matter Editor interface, see section bellow,
Save button : save the material.
You can create new Predict Matter materials via the right click menu in the Project tab : "PredictSuite - Matter/Create Material" or "Create/PredicSuite - Matter".
Some materials require settings for their Unity version only : they have no impact whatsoever on the Predict Engine rendering. These settings are always grouped under the "Unity Additional Settings" section.
Predict Matter Material edition window
Unity and Predict Matter materials are not necessarily linked together, they can have different definitions and use different shaders. If you define the Unity material using a non-Predict Matter shader (Unity Standard/HDRP shaders, custom shaders, shader graphs,...), you can define the Predict Matter material settings via the Material editor window (right click on the Material, "PredictSuite - Matter/Material Editor").
The material type is defined in the Definition field. See the dedicated sections for details on each material type.
Every time you focus or unfocus from the Material Editor window, the material will be saved. You can also save the material using the Ctrl+S shortcut.
The Matter header contains two buttons :
Synchronization button : the chain button enables you to synchronize Unity and Predict Matter materials :
Synchronize using Predict material : the shader of the Unity material will be converted to a Predict Suite shader, see section above,
Synchronize using Unity material : the Predict material will be computed to fit the Unity material as much as possible using the informations given in the Unity material definition.
Save button : save the material.
In this scenario, there are two definitions of the material, one for Unity (defined in the usual "Inspector" : (1)) and one for Predict Engine (defined in the Predict Matter edition interface : (2)). If you change the material in Unity, the Predict Matter material won't be affected and vice versa.
In the example here against, the Unity material appears green but the Predict material is red.
(2) (1)
Materials that are defined within a geometry file (*.fbx, *.obj,...) cannot be edited in Unity but you can edit the Predict definition of these materials using the edition window.
Normal Maps
Normal maps are a special kind of texture that allow you to add surface detail such as bumps, grooves, and scratches to a model which catch the light as if they are represented by real geometry. Normal textures should contains values in [0,255]. In Predict Engine, they will be converted to vectors with coordinates in the range [-1,1].
All Predict Matter materials can have a normal map.
See the Unity documentation for more details on normal mapping.
