Standard Shader: Working with Details / Secondary Maps

Unity Engine
1

The Standard Shader supports Secondary Maps with their own UV and Tiling/Offset as well a a Detail Mask. So my guess would be that this could be very useful for some materials like wood (which is tiled) on an object that has maybe some metal added to the wood (nails, for example).

But - as there’s only Detail Albedo and Normal Map, the detail cannot have physical properties that are different from the “main material”. In other words, even paint (which might be much more glossy than the rest of the object) wouldn’t work that way.

So … was this just missed? Or is it too complex to implement? Or did I misunderstand how this is supposed to be used? Or will this come with a future beta?

2

The intent is that you can add an albedo and normal map that tile, on top of your normal map, so that when a camera gets up close, there is some detail to be seen.

For example, you could have your main normal map have the general shape definition, while the detail normal map, could be some sort of tiling grainy normal map that makes the surface look rougher.

2 Likes
3

Ah, okay, cool - so I misunderstood how this is meant to be used! Thanks for the clarification.