Surface Settings

Surface Settings is the base layer every Genesis material is built on. It groups albedo, tint, alpha behavior, blend mode, cutoff, and UV channel choice into one inspector block so you can lock in the foundation before touching any stylization module.

When to use it

Every material — this block always runs, so configure it first.
Foliage and fences — alpha cutout with an aggressive cutoff for cheap, sort-free transparency.
Glass, smoke, and decals — Transparent blend mode with the depth pre-pass handling sorting.
Multi-UV meshes — route detail or emission to UV1 while albedo stays on UV0.

Difference from Rendering Modes

Surface Settings controls what the surface looks like — color, alpha, UVs. Rendering Modes controls how it is lit — Lit, Unlit, or Toon. Both blocks always coexist on a Genesis material.

How it works

The shader samples _BaseMap with the selected UV set, multiplies by _BaseColor, then either writes opaque, alpha-tests against _Cutoff, or alpha-blends using URP’s standard SrcAlpha / OneMinusSrcAlpha. Render queue and ZWrite flip automatically when you change the blend mode, so you rarely need to touch them.

Properties

Inspector label	Shader property	Type	Default	Description
Base Map	_BaseMap	Texture2D	white	Albedo map, tiled and offset per material.
Base Color	_BaseColor	Color (HDR)	RGBA(1,1,1,1)	Multiplied with the base map. HDR values push bloom.
Alpha Cutoff	_Cutoff	Float (0–1)	0.5	Alpha clip threshold. Active in Cutout blend mode.
Blend Mode	_BlendMode	Enum	Opaque	Opaque, Cutout, Transparent, or Additive.
UV Channel	_UVChannel	Enum	UV0	Which mesh UV set drives the base map.
Tiling & Offset	_Tiling	Vector4	(1,1,0,0)	Tiling (xy) and offset (zw) applied to the chosen UV.
Alpha To Coverage	_AlphaToCoverage	Toggle	Off	Enable A2C for MSAA-friendly cutout edges.

Usage

Drop your albedo texture into the Base Map slot.
Pick a Blend Mode. Stick with Opaque whenever possible — it is the fastest and avoids sort artifacts.
For foliage, switch to Cutout and dial the cutoff until the silhouette holds at gameplay distance.
If your mesh has detail on UV1, set the UV Channel to UV1 for that input.


material.SetColor("_BaseColor", new Color(0.85f, 0.30f, 0.20f));
material.SetFloat("_Cutoff", 0.45f);
material.SetFloat("_BlendMode", 1); // 0=Opaque, 1=Cutout, 2=Transparent, 3=Additive

Tips & gotchas

Switching to Transparent disables shadow casting by default in URP. Re-enable it on the renderer if you need it.
Alpha To Coverage is MSAA-only — it is a no-op with MSAA off.
Genesis assumes linear color space. If your project is still in Gamma you will see washed-out albedo.
Use an HDR Base Color (above 1.0) to push bloom without enabling Emission — handy for cheap glowing decals.

Rendering Modes — pick Lit, Unlit, or Toon.
Rendering Options — cull, ZWrite, and queue overrides.
Dither Transparency — sort-free soft alpha.
Emission — HDR glow on top of the base color.