Ring Shadow

Use an alpha-tested radial ring pattern in a custom ring composition.

Visual example

Where to find it

Shader menu: FORGE3D/Planets HD/Ring Shadow. Retained material: Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Gas/Materials/Planet_Ring_Gas_Shadow.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

The example combines a supplied ring mesh and retained Ring Shadow material. The shader has a visible white forward output; it is not an invisible shadow-only feature. Detail Map alpha times Clip is tested against 0.5 in the alpha-tested pass. Raising Clip admits more texture-alpha values. Use the supplied material as a starting point and inspect both the ring and its shadow in your renderer.

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.
Clip	_Clip	Alpha-test control. Its meaning differs between Ring Shadow and Ring Transparent; follow the shader-specific note below.

Advanced settings

This Clip control multiplies texture alpha before the 0.5 test. It differs from Ring Transparent’s red-channel clipping threshold. Check the visible forward result and the ShadowCaster result in the intended scene rather than swapping the two materials by name alone. For mapping and rendering details, see Technical reference.

Practical example

Assign a retained Ring Shadow material to a supplied ring mesh in a scene copy. Compare Ring Size = 6.1 and 12.2. Inspect the white forward surface and the alpha-tested shadow separately before using this material in your composition.

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: 6.1; After: 12.2

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

Before — Ring Size = 6.1

After — Ring Size = 12.2

Related topics

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