What is Material Layers

Material Layers is a Godot plugin for creating layered materials. It lets you create layered materials using reusable assets, instead of having to write them by hand. This allows for a more manageable layering system with simplified complexity, control and flexibility.

Get Material Layers Watch the Video

Start here

• Installation - install the plugin and meet the core resources.
• Architecture Overview - how all the pieces fit together.
• Legacy vs Pro - which edition to pick.

Features

• Node graph - layer materials using a node graph system, no mega-shaders needed
• Reusable - write a rock material once, reuse it anywhere.
• Non-destructive - tweak layers, masks and parameters without ever touching a final shader.
• Fast iteration - swap a texture, tune a blend, hit generate.
• Instantiable - one source of truth, infinite parameterized instances.
• LOD-ready - generate LOD variants by disabling layers, no shader code involved.
• Large-scale texturing - perfect for terrain texturing, large-scale mesh texturing, and procedural variation.
• Standalone materials - every layer works standalone as a regular material.

Legacy vs Pro

Material Layers is available in two editions: a free Legacy version and a commercial Pro version. See Legacy vs Pro to decide which to pick.

Legacy

• Available for free on GitHub as a feature-frozen archive predating the 1.0 release.
• Retains core array-based collapsible groups for layering complex materials.
• Operates similarly to the Pro release, making it a viable entry point.

Pro

• Available for purchase on Itch and Gumroad.
• Updated interface with a modern node graph system compared to the collapsible groups of Legacy.
• Structural enhancements designed for a more intuitive user experience and production-ready workflows.