# How do I add dirt or grunge onto materials?

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-do-i-add-dirt-or-grunge-onto-materials/289892>\
**Category:** Rendering\
**Tags:** unreal-engine, question\
**Created:** [August 1, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-do-i-add-dirt-or-grunge-onto-materials/289892 "2014-08-01T18:25:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_8f1da5f61](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_8f1da5f61](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_8f1da5f61)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-do-i-add-dirt-or-grunge-onto-materials/289892/1 "2014-08-01T18:25:05Z")

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okay not real sure how to ask this, but here goes, our entire level is meant to be old and quite plainly dirty, if there a simple way to make a “dirt” texture or “grunge” texture that could then be applied to any material and adjusted in the material editor to apply a “dirtiness” to any material, be it furniture or walls and floors, i know this feature was easy in cryengine and i assume ue4 has an ability to do it also, any help highly appreciated

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**Author:** ![Roel](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Roel](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Roel)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-do-i-add-dirt-or-grunge-onto-materials/289892/2 "2014-08-02T22:56:42Z")

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A good approach for this would be using Unreal’s new Layered Materials system. You could make a couple of different dirt/dust materials and for each object you could make a mask, and within a layer material blend between the two.

Here are some links:

> **[Layered Materials](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/layering-materials-in-unreal-engine/)**
>
> Two methods for layering Materials to create complex, unique surfaces.

> **[A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/a-new-community-hosted-unreal-engine-wiki/141494)**
>
> After over a year in maintenance mode, the official Unreal Engine Wiki is now permanently offline. These resources now live on a new community-run Unreal Engine Community Wiki — ue4community.wiki! You will be able to find content from the official...

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**Author:** ![Tim\_Hobson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Tim\_Hobson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Tim_Hobson)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/how-do-i-add-dirt-or-grunge-onto-materials/289892/3 "2014-08-05T20:40:51Z")

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**[Another good method would be to use Vertex Painting with your meshes. This documentation should get you started with that as well.](https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/UI/LevelEditor/Modes/MeshPaintMode/VertexColor/index.html)**

It’s not too dissimilar than setting up a landscape layered material that you allows you to paint areas of the mesh with different textures.