Moon

Create a rocky, cratered world with independently controlled texture scales and highlights.

Visual example

Where to find it

Shader menu: FORGE3D/Planets HD/Moon. Start with Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Moon/Moon_01.prefab.

Material: Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Moon/Materials/Moon_01.mat. Select the relevant Mesh Renderer > Materials slot, duplicate that material into your own folder, and assign the copy before editing. See material ownership.

Main settings

Detail Map red controls Specular, while SpecularMap red controls Smoothness. The rocky surface has no city or lava emission; light it with a Unity Light. Keep the supplied mesh when changing textures so the projection and shading remain consistent.

Surface and effect shape

Inspector setting	Property ID	Use and visual effect
Albedo	_Albedo	Base rocky color texture, projected around the supplied mesh. Replace it to change the visible rock pattern.
Detail Map	_DetailMap	Red channel masks Specular strength. SpecularMap red separately masks Smoothness; tune the correct map for each response.
Tint	_Tint	Multiplies the surface texture color. Use white to retain its palette, or a colored tint to shift the whole surface.
Albedo Tiling	_AlbedoTiling	Texture repetition for albedo. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately.
Detail Tiling	_DetailTiling	Texture repetition for detail. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately.

Lighting and rim

Inspector setting	Property ID	Use and visual effect
Scatter Map	_ScatterMap	Color lookup for the view/light-dependent surface shading. Retain the supplied lookup when first changing the palette.
Scatter Color	_ScatterColor	Tints the surface scatter contribution. A dark color can strongly reduce the visible surface.
Scatter Boost	_ScatterBoost	Strength of the scatter contribution. Tune with Scatter Color rather than compensating only with light intensity.
Scatter Indirect	_ScatterIndirect	Adds a floor to the scatter modulation. Raise it cautiously if the surface becomes too dark outside the bright region.
Scatter Stretch	_ScatterStretch	Scales the lookup coordinates, changing the spread of the shading transition. Tune with Scatter Center Shift.
Scatter Center Shift	_ScatterCenterShift	Moves the lookup transition. Adjust to reposition the scatter band without changing the planet Transform.
SpecularMap	_SpecularMap	Red channel masks Moon smoothness. Use it to place smooth and rough regions; it does not directly mask Specular.
Specular	_Specular	Strength of the surface highlight, shaped by the shader’s texture masks. Adjust under the intended scene light.
Smoothness	_Smoothness	Surface highlight smoothness. Higher values generally concentrate reflections; texture and cloud masks can reduce the effect.
Specular Tiling	_SpecularTiling	Texture repetition for specular. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately.

Detail and mapping

Inspector setting	Property ID	Use and visual effect
Normal	_Normal	Normal texture for small rocky relief. It changes shading rather than the mesh silhouette.
Normal Scale	_NormalScale	Strength of normal-map relief. Increase for stronger small shadows and highlights; it does not raise terrain geometry.
Normal Tiling	_NormalTiling	Texture repetition for normal. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately.

Advanced settings

Each projected map has its own tiling control. Keep the albedo and normal detail at compatible scales, then choose Detail Tiling and Specular Tiling for the highlight masks. Use side lighting to distinguish normal relief from painted color. For mapping and rendering details, see Technical reference.

Practical example

Duplicate Moon_01.mat. Change Tint from white to RGBA (0.5, 1, 1, 1) for a cooler rocky world. Keep the maps, then adjust Normal Scale under side lighting to control how strongly the craters read.

Setting comparisons

These examples keep the camera, light and other material settings fixed within each pair. Before appears first and After second. Values describe these examples, rather than a required range.

Tint comparison

Before: RGBA(1.000, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000); After: RGBA(0.500, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000)

Look at the overall color shift while texture detail stays in place.

Before — Tint = RGBA(1.000, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000)

After — Tint = RGBA(0.500, 1.000, 1.000, 1.000)

Related topics

Shader guide · Materials and customization · Lighting and effects · Practical workflows · Troubleshooting