Material graphs

A material asset can carry a typed node graph. The graph computes the surface’s base colour, roughness, metallic, emission, opacity and a vertex offset, and compiles to a shader. The editor, the command API, validation, previews and the runtime all use the same graph and the same compiler, so a graph built by hand and one built by an agent behave identically.

Materials without a graph keep the standard or toon path described in Materials.

Start from a template

1. Open Window → Materials & textures and select the Material Graph tab.
2. Select a material, or click + New graph material.
3. Open Templates ▾ and choose a template.
4. Assign the material to objects as usual.

Applying a template replaces the material’s graph and sets the matching surface defaults (alpha, roughness, two-sided rendering and shading) in one undo step.

Template	Result
Toon Basic	Constant colour and roughness with toon surface settings
Facade Windows	A window grid on walls, with some windows lit warm at night (Windows, Night)
Glowing Crystal	A rim glow (Fresnel Glow)
Dissolve	World-space noise animated over time
Hologram	Animated scan lines (Scanline)
Stylized Water	Animated world-space noise
Wind Foliage	Vertex sway (Wind Sway)
Lava	Animated world-space noise

Clear graph removes the graph and returns the material to the standard path. Fit graph frames every node on the canvas.

Edit a graph

The workspace has the node palette on the left, the canvas in the centre, and a large live preview with the inspector and diagnostics on the right.

1. Find a node in the Node palette, or type in Search nodes…. Fresnel Glow and Wind Sway are pinned as quick effect nodes.
2. Add the node and drag it into place. Pan and zoom the canvas to navigate.
3. Drag from an output pin to an input pin of the same type. Connecting to an input that already has a wire replaces the old wire.
4. Select a node to edit its values in the inspector.

Pins and wires are colour-coded by type: Float, Vector2, Vector3 and Color. Every node shows a small preview, and the large preview renders the material with its compiled shader. The status line shows Compiled with the node count and shader size, or Compile error with the reason.

Every canvas edit goes through the same commands agents use, so each one is a single undo step and an invalid edit is rejected without changing the project.

Material Output

Each graph has exactly one Material Output node. Unconnected inputs keep the material’s own values.

Input	Type	Description
Base Color	Color	Surface colour
Roughness	Float
Metallic	Float
Emissive	Color	Emitted light
Opacity	Float	Used with the Cutout and Transparent alpha modes
World Position Offset	Vector3	Moves vertices, for wind and waves

Node reference

Group	Node	Outputs	Description
Constants	Scalar	Value	A float constant
Constants	Color	Color	An sRGB colour constant
Constants	Vector 2, Vector 3	Vector	Vector constants
Inputs	Base Color	Color	The material’s colour and base texture after sampling
Inputs	Texture Coordinates	UV	Mesh UVs after the material’s UV tiling
Inputs	World Position	Position	Position in world metres
Inputs	Surface Normal	Normal	World-space normal
Inputs	Time	Seconds	Elapsed game time
Inputs	Night	Value	0 in daylight, 1 at night, smooth through dusk and dawn
Math	Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Lerp	Result	Typed as Float, Vector2, Vector3 or Color. Divide is safe against zero. Lerp blends A to B by Alpha
Math	Sine, One Minus	Result	Float operations
Math	Clamp	Result	Clamps a float between min and max
Math	Power	Result	Raises a non-negative float to exponent (0.01–32)
Math	Smoothstep	Result	Smooth threshold between low and high
Math	Posterize	Result	Quantizes a float into steps bands (2–32)
Effects	Noise	Value	Animated, seamless value noise in world space; scale, speed
Effects	Scanline	Value	Animated horizontal scan lines; scale, speed, width
Effects	Windows	Glass, Lit	A window grid on walls in world metres, none on roofs. Glass masks the panes; Lit picks windows to glow at night
Effects	Colorize	Color	Multiplies a colour by a float mask
Effects	Fresnel Glow	Color	Rim glow; color, power, strength
Effects	Wind Sway	Offset	World-position offset for foliage and cloth-like surfaces; direction, strength, speed, scale

Fresnel Glow and Wind Sway have defaults on their optional inputs, so you can wire only their result. Time, Noise, Scanline and Wind Sway animate from a per-material clock. Combine Night with Windows → Lit and Emissive to light buildings after dark.

Runtime behaviour

Each graph material compiles to one shader. It keeps the material’s textures, alpha mode and lighting, and applies the graph’s outputs on top. A graph takes precedence over a toon shading setting; clearing the graph restores the normal path. Invalid graphs are reported during validation and never reach the renderer.

Limits

• Up to 96 nodes and 192 wires per graph.
• Generated shader code is limited to 64 KiB.
• Each input takes one wire, pin types must match exactly, and cycles are rejected.
• Disconnected nodes are allowed, so you can build a graph step by step.

Automate it

Create a material from a template, add a Fresnel Glow node, and wire it into the emission. Use the material ID and node ID that each command returns:

feather-cli --connect .feather-session.json command material.create \
  --json '{"name":"Crystal","graph_template":"Glowing Crystal"}'

feather-cli --connect .feather-session.json command material.add_node \
  --json '{"id":1,"operation":{"type":"FresnelGlow","color":[0.2,0.8,1.0],"power":2.5,"strength":4.0},"position":[280,160]}'

feather-cli --connect .feather-session.json command material.connect \
  --json '{"id":1,"from":20,"from_pin":"Color","to":1,"to_pin":"Emissive"}'

Command	Purpose
material.nodes	Lists the node palette with operation JSON, typed pins and templates; filter with query or group
material.get	With id, returns the graph, each node’s typed pins, the compiled WGSL and diagnostics
material.add_node	Adds a node; creates the Material Output graph when absent
material.set_node	Changes a node’s operation or position; wires to removed pins are dropped
material.connect	Wires an output pin to an input pin of the same type
material.disconnect	Removes a wire by edge, or the wires on a node and optional pin
material.remove_node	Removes a node and its wires; the Material Output cannot be removed
material.create / material.update	Apply a graph_template, or replace the whole graph

See Agents & automation for connecting a live session.