Your First Material

This page builds a UI-domain, Unlit material with two parameters, then explains where the generated material actually is — which is the part that surprises everybody the first time.

Create the file

<Project>/DShader/Materials/M_DreamPulse.dsm

Shader(Name="DreamMaterials/M_DreamPulse")
{
    Properties = {
        vec3 Tint = vec3(0.2, 0.6, 1.0);
        float Strength = 1.0;
    }

    Settings = {
        Domain = "UI";
        ShadingModel = "Unlit";
    }

    Outputs = {
        vec3 Color;
        Base.EmissiveColor = Color;
    }

    Graph = {
        float t = UE.Time();
        float pulse = UE.Expression(
            Class="Sine",
            OutputType="float1",
            Input=t);

        Color = Tint * (pulse * 0.5 + 0.5) * Strength;
    }
}

Save it. With Auto Compile On Save on, DreamShader parses the file after a short debounce and generates:

/Game/DreamMaterials/M_DreamPulse

What each part does

UE.Expression(Class="Sine", …) is the generic reflected call: it creates any loaded, non-abstract UMaterialExpression subclass by name. Class defaults to the function name, so the shorter UE.Sine(OutputType="float1", Input=t) is the identical call. OutputType is required on this path.

Finding the generated material

Look in the Content Browser and you will not find it. This is not a failure.

Under the default ThinCustom backend a compile produces live UObjects and no .uasset on disk:

UDreamShaderMaterialInstance          "M_DreamPulse"                       <- the asset you reference
  └─ UMaterial (subobject, hidden)    "MB_DreamThinBase_DreamMaterials_M_DreamPulse"
       └─ the generated node graph

The node graph — every Properties node, every Graph statement, every Outputs binding — is built on the hidden base. The instance is a thin wrapper carrying the parameter values, the provenance metadata and the compiled shader map. While the material is memory-only its IsAsset() returns false, so it is hidden from the Content Browser, from asset pickers and from save pickers, and its package is marked non-dirty so Save All cannot persist it by accident.

The design intent: the .dsm is the authoring surface, and a .uasset on disk would shadow it.

There are three ways to reach the material.

1. The Material Content Browser

Tools ▸ DreamShader ▸ Material Content Browser, then the Dream Shader Gen page. It lists every source file under DShader/ with its compile status and a thumbnail of the generated material:

Selecting an item gives you Compile, Create instance, Open material, Materialize and Open source. This is the normal way to work with generated materials.

2. Make them visible

Tools ▸ DreamShader ▸ Show In-Memory Materials, or the same setting at Project Settings ▸ DreamPlugin ▸ Dream Shader ▸ Compiler ▸ Show In-Memory Materials In Content Browser. Toggling it immediately broadcasts asset-created or asset-deleted for every live memory-only instance, so tiles appear and disappear without a rescan.

You need this when picking a generated material as a material instance parent, or referencing one from a details panel.

3. Materialize it

Materialize writes the material and its hidden base to disk as one .uasset: it re-runs generation for that source file with persistence on and forcing enabled, then reloads the object at its resolved path. It is available from the Gen page, the details panel, and the Content Browser context menu.

on disk   <Project>/Content/DreamMaterials/M_DreamPulse.uasset
  export  M_DreamPulse                        UDreamShaderMaterialInstance
  export  MB_DreamThinBase_M_DreamPulse       UMaterial (hidden, same package)

Creating a child material instance of a memory-only material materializes the parent first, because a transient base cannot be a parent import. Cooking materializes everything automatically — the cook director generates every project source as a persistent asset before the commandlet's Main runs.

Full detail: In-memory Materials.

Controlling the parameter panel

float and vec3 are enough to get started. When you want groups, ordering and tooltips in the Unreal parameter panel, declare explicit parameter nodes and add a metadata block:

Properties = {
    VectorParameter Tint = float4(0.2, 0.6, 1.0, 1.0) [
        Group="Color";
        SortPriority=10;
        Description="Main tint";
    ];
    ScalarParameter Strength = 1.0 [
        Group="Color";
        Slider(0, 4);
    ];
}

Group, SortPriority and Description (which writes the node's Desc) are recognized keys; any other key is written straight to a reflected UPROPERTY of the generated node's class. Slider(min, max) since 1.5.0 expands to SliderMin / SliderMax. See Metadata and Groups.

Troubleshooting

Next

• Project Layout — where files go as the project grows
• Daily Workflow — what triggers a rebuild, and what does not
• The Graph Language — what you can write inside Graph = { … }
• Property Types — the full Properties catalogue