Hi, so what i was wondering is that how I can possibly blend two overlay materials? its still not a function to add multiple overlay materials,so i need to blend two of them: outline of mesh and debuff effect. Would be glad if anyone would respond. Thank you!
as an example i add two overlay materials i need to blend, I’m using Unreal Engine 5.4
upd. one material is additive,and other one is masked. I tried to mix them with material functions and material layer blend_simple but it works bad since they have diff blend mode
Hey @AnnyT228 — welcome to the forums! This is a great question, and blending overlay materials (especially with different blend modes) is definitely tricky in Unreal.
Here’s Why You’re Hitting Issues:
The engine doesn’t support stacking multiple translucent or masked materials easily on a single mesh, especially when the blend modes differ (Additive vs Masked). They each rely on different parts of the rendering pipeline, which makes direct blending fragile or unpredictable.
A Few Solutions You Can Explore:
1. Combine Effects in One Material Using Custom Logic
– Instead of trying to stack two separate materials, combine their behavior into a single master material.
– Use a Material Function for each effect (outline + debuff glow) and blend them inside the same shader.
– You can use a switch or scalar parameter to toggle visibility or intensity for each one.
2. Use Mesh Duplication + Material Override Trick
– One common trick is to duplicate the mesh slightly offset, and assign each material to its own version.
– For example:
Base mesh = masked outline
Duplicate mesh = additive debuff glow (scaled up 1–2%)
3. Explore Custom Render Pass / Post Process
– If you’re going big on stylized effects, you can isolate certain materials with custom depth/stencil, and blend overlays in a post-process material — gives way more control.
Bonus Tip: Tracking VFX Complexity with Asset Optics
When you’re blending materials like this (especially with a team), it’s easy to lose track of what combo worked, what broke lighting, or which version was performant.
That’s one reason we made Asset Optics — it helps you:
Leave comments like “outline breaks on LOD1” or “test glow on duplicated mesh” directly on the asset
Track which material setups were approved or still glitching
Sync your FX notes and tests to a visual dashboard (super handy when revisiting issues weeks later)
Let us know if you’d like help wiring up a sample blend approach — happy to sketch a quick node layout or point to examples!
You will need to combine the logic into a single material.
Assuming this is a simple color with the logic done in the opacity / opacity mask, you should be able to achieve this effect with a simple add node.
That being said, you mentioned that one of these effects (I’m guessing the left) is an opacity mask. Well, the default cutoff value for an opacity mask is 0.333, so we’ll need to account for that in the material.
Here’s Why You’re Hitting Issues:
A Few Solutions You Can Explore:
Bonus Tip: Tracking VFX Complexity with Asset Optics
Leave comments like “outline breaks on LOD1” or “test glow on duplicated mesh” directly on the asset
Sync your FX notes and tests to a visual dashboard (super handy when revisiting issues weeks later)
