Ring Opaque

Color a solid planetary ring using a radial band texture.

Visual example

Where to find it

Shader menu: FORGE3D/Planets HD/Ring Opaque. Retained material: Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Gas/Materials/Planet_Ring_Opaque.mat. Use a supplied gas ring mesh as the starting geometry. 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

This example combines a supplied gas ring mesh with a retained opaque ring material; it is a custom composition, not a supplied prefab preset. Ring Size and Ring Offset remap the radial bands on existing geometry. Keep Ring Size != Ring Offset + 1; change the ring Transform or mesh to change its geometric extent.

Surface and effect shape

Inspector setting	Property ID	Use and visual effect
Detail Map	_DetailMap	Fine surface pattern and masks. Its channel use depends on the shader; retain the supplied map while tuning the material.
Ring Size	_RingSize	Outer endpoint of radial texture mapping in object space. Redistributes bands; it does not resize the ring mesh.
Ring Offset	_RingOffset	Inner endpoint offset for radial texture mapping. Keep Ring Size different from Ring Offset + 1.
Ring Tint	_RingTint	Multiplies ring color. On Ring Transparent, alpha also scales opacity from Detail Map red.

Lighting and rim

Inspector setting	Property ID	Use and visual effect
Metallic	_Metallic	Metallic response of the opaque ring. Adjust with Smoothness under the final lighting and reflection environment.
Smoothness	_Smoothness	Surface highlight smoothness. Higher values generally concentrate reflections; texture and cloud masks can reduce the effect.

Advanced settings

The material samples Detail Map along a radial line with a fixed vertical coordinate. Supply a texture whose bands work along that line. Ring Size and Ring Offset change that lookup span, while Transform scale changes geometry. For mapping and rendering details, see Technical reference.

Practical example

Duplicate a retained Ring Opaque material and assign it to a supplied ring mesh in a scene copy. Compare Ring Size = -1.04 and -2.08 to redistribute the band pattern; adjust Ring Tint next, leaving the geometry unchanged.

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.

Ring Size comparison

Before: -1.04; After: -2.08

Look at the redistribution of radial bands on the same ring geometry.

Before — Ring Size = -1.04

After — Ring Size = -2.08

Related topics

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