Glossary

The Genesis docs use a mix of Unity, URP, shader-author, and stylization vocabulary. This page collects the most common terms in one place. The inspector column is the term as it appears in the docs and inspector; the name column gives the related shader keyword or property where one exists. Categories cover URP plumbing, lighting models, NPR / stylization techniques, and Unity asset conventions.

How to use this page

Skim the table the first time, then bookmark it. Each definition links to a deeper reference where one exists.

Terms

Inspector label	Shader property	Type	Default	Description
URP	—	Pipeline	—	Universal Render Pipeline — Unity's scriptable forward+ pipeline. Required by Genesis.
SRP	—	Pipeline	—	Scriptable Render Pipeline — the umbrella API URP and HDRP both implement.
Forward+	—	Pipeline	—	URP's clustered forward renderer, supporting many lights without deferred.
Linear Color Space	—	Project	—	Color storage where math is done in linear values. Genesis assumes linear.
Gamma Color Space	—	Project	—	Legacy sRGB-stored math. Produces incorrect cel falloff. Not supported.
Albedo	_BaseMap	Texture	—	Base color map. Stored in sRGB.
Normal Map	_BumpMap	Texture	—	Per-pixel surface normal stored in tangent space, blue-tinted.
MatCap	_MatCap	Texture	—	Material capture — a sphere snapshot sampled by view normals to fake complex lighting.
Ramp Texture	_CelRamp	Texture	—	1D gradient sampled by NdotL to colorize cel bands.
Triplanar	_TRIPLANAR_ON	Technique	—	World-space projection sampling along X, Y, Z to avoid UV stretching.
Stochastic Sampling	_STOCHASTIC_ON	Technique	—	Randomized triplanar variant that hides tiling at the cost of three texture taps.
NdotL	—	Math	—	Dot product of normal and light direction. Drives diffuse intensity.
Fresnel	—	Math	—	View-dependent edge factor (1 - NdotV). Drives rim lighting.
Lambert	_DiffuseModel	Diffuse Model	—	Classic NdotL diffuse. Cheapest, most predictable.
Oren-Nayar	_DiffuseModel	Diffuse Model	—	Rougher matte diffuse — useful for cloth and chalky surfaces.
Minnaert	_DiffuseModel	Diffuse Model	—	Velvet-like diffuse with a darkened center, used for fabric.
Gooch	_DiffuseModel	Diffuse Model	—	Cool-to-warm shading from technical illustration. Genesis exposes a stylized variant.
Cel Shading	_CEL_SHADING_ON	NPR	—	Quantizing diffuse into discrete bands for the anime / cartoon look.
Rim Lighting	_RIM_ON	NPR	—	Fresnel-driven edge glow used to separate silhouettes.
Outline	_OUTLINE_ON	NPR	—	Inverted-hull or screen-space stroke around a mesh silhouette.
Iridescence	_IRIDESCENCE_ON	NPR	—	Thin-film rainbow color shift driven by view angle.
Translucency	_TRANSLUCENCY_ON	NPR	—	Cheap back-lighting approximation for leaves, ears, drapes.
SSS	_TRANSLUCENCY_ON	NPR	—	Subsurface scattering — light diffusing under a surface. Genesis offers a wrap-style cheat.
Dissolve	_DISSOLVE_ON	Effect	—	Noise-driven clip mask animating along a threshold with edge glow.
Hologram	_HOLOGRAM_ON	Effect	—	Scan-line and flicker effect simulating sci-fi projections.
Inverted-Hull	_OUTLINE_ON	Technique	—	Outline pass that expands the back-face along normals to draw a stroke.
Keyword	—	Shader	—	shader_feature toggle that enables a code path. Costs a variant per combination.
Variant	—	Shader	—	A compiled permutation of keywords. Genesis materials precompile only what is used.
Shader Model	—	Shader	—	GPU feature tier. SM4.5 = baseline, SM5.0 = compute / advanced.
Render Queue	_RenderQueue	Material	—	Sort order. Opaque = 2000, Transparent = 3000.
Renderer Feature	—	URP	—	A pluggable URP pass — PCSS, fog, cavity, outline, etc.

Glossary

Terms

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