Is it possible to use LandscapeGrassOutput in a Material Layer?

[i_says]

I’m new to UE and specifically UE5, and I’m learning how to use Material Layers.
I know that using Layered Materials is more popular, but coming from an enterprise software background, Material Layers appeals to me due to the composition-over-inheritance nature.

I’ve made pretty good progress building a landscape auto-material, but now I want to add a Material Layer for foliage, and it just isn’t working. To remove as many variables as possible, I have a new material that has nothing in it except for the Material Attribute Layers node, piped into the output. I have a single Material Layer as the material instance’s background layer. That Material Layer has nothing but a constant 1 input into a LandscapeGrassOutput node. If I put the LandscapeGrassOutput on my master Material, then it shows up, but while its in my layer it doesn’t show anything.

Is there something special I need to do for the LandscapeGrassOutput to work in a Material Layer?

[i_says]

My master Material

My Material Layer

My Material Instance

My Foliage asset

The Result

excuse the blinding green colour that I’m using for debugging lol

[i_says]

also for reference, here is what happens when i drop the same landscapeGrassOutput with the same foliage asset on my master material

and for kicks, here is the test of my auto-material that I’ve been working on (i need to pick better textures and values, but I’m mostly just testing to see if it works)