Material Instance

A lightweight override of a Material's parameters (color, scalar). Far cheaper than creating new Materials.

SetScalarParameterValue on dynamic material — change float material parameter

UMaterialInstanceDynamic method. Parameter name must match material graph.

Change material color at runtime using dynamic material instance

Pattern: BeginPlay → CreateDynamicMaterialInstance(MeshComponent, 0) → store as variable DynMat. On trigger → SetVectorParameterValue(DynMat, 'BaseColor', LinearColor). Create MID once in BeginPlay, reuse variable. Parameter name must match Material parameter exactly (case-sensitive).

Create dynamic material and animate a parameter at runtime

Pattern: EventBeginPlay → GetMesh → CreateDynamicMaterialInstance(ElementIndex=0) → SetVariable(DynMat=ReturnValue). Then on Tick or timer: SetScalarParameterValue(ParameterName='Opacity', Value=SinWave). Or for color: SetVectorParameterValue(ParameterName='Color', Value=MakeLinearColor). Key: CreateDynamicMaterialInstance is called on the COMPONENT (GetMesh), not the actor. Must store the result before using Set*ParameterValue. ParameterName MUST match the name in the Material asset exactly.

SetScalarParameterValue — set a float parameter on a dynamic material

ParameterName must match the parameter name in the Material exactly (case-sensitive).

CreateDynamicMaterialInstance — create runtime modifiable material

UPrimitiveComponent method. Store result in variable and reuse. Create once in BeginPlay.

SetVectorParameterValue on dynamic material — change vector/color material parameter

UMaterialInstanceDynamic method. Used for color changes (BaseColor, EmissiveColor).

SetMaterial — change material on mesh component at index

CreateDynamicMaterialInstance — create a runtime-editable material copy

Must call this before SetScalarParameterValue/SetVectorParameterValue. Store the result in a variable for reuse.

Material

Defines how a surface renders — colors, textures, roughness, normals. Compiled to shader code per platform.