Enum Values

Three Settings keys take an engine enum: ShadingModel, BlendMode (also spelled RenderType) and MaterialDomain (also spelled Domain). They do not use the generic reflected enum matcher — they have their own alias tables, listed in full here.

Settings [=] {
    [ShadingModel                 = <shading-model>;]
    [{ BlendMode | RenderType }   = <blend-mode>;]
    [{ MaterialDomain | Domain }  = <domain>;]
}

How a value is matched

1. The value is normalized: trimmed, lower-cased, then every space, _ and - is deleted.
2. The project's mapping map for that key is scanned first. The first normalized-key match wins and returns immediately — a project entry shadows the built-in spelling, with no fall-through.
3. Only if no project entry matched is the built-in table built and scanned the same way.
4. A match whose value is the enum's _MAX sentinel counts as failure, so a project entry pointing at MSM_MAX / BLEND_MAX / MD_MAX makes that spelling stop resolving.

Because of step 1, "Default Lit", "DefaultLit", "default_lit" and "DEFAULT-LIT" are the same alias. The tables below list the raw spellings the plugin registers; every separator variant of each is equally valid.

The built-in tables are built in two phases: a reflected phase that walks the engine enum and strips the enumerator prefix, then an explicit phase that adds hand-written spellings. The explicit phase never overwrites a reflected entry with an identical key, so a few explicit rows are no-ops kept for clarity.

ShadingModel

Reflected from EMaterialShadingModel, prefix MSM_ stripped.

15 distinct normalized aliases on UE 5.4 – 5.8; 13 on UE 5.3, which has neither strata nor substrate.

Excluded: MSM_NUM, MSM_MAX and — deliberately — MSM_FromMaterialExpression. Writing ShadingModel = "FromMaterialExpression"; is an error, not a way to drive the shading model from the graph.

BlendMode

Reflected from EBlendMode, prefix BLEND_ stripped. The key may also be spelled RenderType.

12 distinct normalized aliases on a stock UE 5.4 – 5.8 build. TranslucentColoredTransmittance is a Substrate-only enumerator, so the count is engine-version dependent.

Excluded: BLEND_MAX, plus the two engine enumerators marked hidden — BLEND_TranslucentGreyTransmittance and BLEND_ColoredTransmittanceOnly. Both are aliases of values already in the table, so nothing is unreachable.

Domain

Reflected from EMaterialDomain, prefix MD_ stripped. The key may also be spelled MaterialDomain, which wins if both are present.

10 distinct normalized aliases, stable across UE 5.3 – 5.8.

Excluded: MD_MAX. Every other hidden enumerator is skipped, with MD_RuntimeVirtualTexture as the single deliberate exception — the engine marks it hidden, the plugin keeps it.

Adding project-specific spellings

Three TMap properties on the project settings extend these tables. They live under Project Settings ▸ DreamPlugin ▸ Dream Shader ▸ Mappings and are empty by default — the built-in tables above are never materialized into them, so an empty panel does not mean "no aliases".

Keys are compared after normalization, so casing, spaces, underscores and hyphens in the entry do not matter.

Notes

• The reflected phase walks whatever the compiled engine's enum contains. A modified engine build contributes its own values automatically: an engine that adds MSM_Toon makes ShadingModel = "Toon"; work with no plugin change and no project mapping. The tables above describe a stock UE 5.3 – 5.8 build.
• The only values the plugin itself gates are Strata / Substrate, registered on UE 5.4 and newer.
• Values carrying Hidden metadata are filtered out only in builds that keep editor-only data. Material generation is editor-only, so that is the configuration which applies in practice.
• Saved/DreamShader/Bridge/settings.json exports these tables for editor completion. It de-duplicates by normalized alias, so it shows "Default Lit" but not "DefaultLit". Both still compile — the manifest is a completion surface, not the acceptance set.
• Omitting a key does not leave the previous value in place: a regenerated material is reset to Opaque / DefaultLit / Surface first. See Material Settings.

Diagnostics

All four are raised during validation, before anything is written to the material.

Example

Shader(Name="Docs/M_EnumSpellings")
{
    Properties { vec3 Tint = vec3(0.9, 0.2, 0.1); }

    Settings {
        Domain       = "User Interface";   // -> MD_UI
        ShadingModel = "Lit";              // -> MSM_DefaultLit
        RenderType   = "Premultiplied";    // -> BLEND_AlphaComposite
    }

    Outputs {
        vec3  Color;
        float Alpha;
        Base.EmissiveColor = Color;
        Base.Opacity       = Alpha;
    }

    Graph {
        Color = Tint;
        Alpha = 0.75;
    }
}

Resulting material state:

MaterialDomain = MD_UI
ShadingModel   = MSM_DefaultLit
BlendMode      = BLEND_AlphaComposite

Next

• Material Settings — the keys these values belong to
• Project Settings — the three mapping maps
• Substrate Nodes — the UE 5.4+ Substrate surface