Source: Roblox Creator Hub · CC BY 4.0 · View source · Code samples: MIT Imported 2026-10-03. Formatting adapted for this site.
MaterialVariant
Inherits from: Instance → Object
Using MaterialVariant objects can expand the variety of materials in an experience. MaterialVariant has properties that can define the appearance of a material. Its name can be set in MaterialService to globally override a built-in material, or set in the BasePart.MaterialVariant property to change certain Parts. MaterialVariant objects only work as descendants of MaterialService.
Inherits from: Instance
Memory category: Instances
Properties
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MaterialVariant.AlphaMode | AlphaMode | Determines how the alpha channel of the MaterialVariant.ColorMap is used. |
| MaterialVariant.BaseMaterial | Material | Category Material this variant belongs to. |
| MaterialVariant.ColorMap | ContentId | Determines the color of the surface. |
| MaterialVariant.ColorMapContent | Content | Determines the color of the surface. Only supports asset URIs as textures. |
| MaterialVariant.CustomPhysicalProperties | PhysicalProperties | Determines the physical properties of parts whose material resolves to this variant. |
| MaterialVariant.EmissiveMaskContent | Content | Determines the emissivity across the surface. |
| MaterialVariant.EmissiveStrength | float | Determines the strength of emissive contribution. |
| MaterialVariant.EmissiveTint | Color3 | Determines the tinting color for emissive contribution. |
| MaterialVariant.MaterialPattern | MaterialPattern | Determines texture tiling method. |
| MaterialVariant.MetalnessMap | ContentId | Determines which parts of the surface are metal and are non-metal. |
| MaterialVariant.MetalnessMapContent | Content | Determines which parts of the surface are metal and are non-metal. Only supports asset URIs as textures. |
| MaterialVariant.NormalMap | ContentId | Modifies the lighting of the surface by adding bumps, dents, cracks, and curves without adding more polygons. |
| MaterialVariant.NormalMapContent | Content | Modifies the lighting of the surface by adding bumps, dents, cracks, and curves without adding more polygons. Only supports asset URIs as textures. |
| MaterialVariant.RoughnessMap | ContentId | Determines the apparent roughness across the surface. |
| MaterialVariant.RoughnessMapContent | Content | Determines the apparent roughness across the surface. Only supports asset URIs as textures. |
| MaterialVariant.StudsPerTile | float | Determines the scale of textures. |
Inherited from Instance
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Instance.Archivable | boolean | Determines if an Instance and its descendants can be cloned using Instance:Clone(), and can be saved/published. |
| Instance.archivable | boolean | |
| Instance.Capabilities | SecurityCapabilities | The set of capabilities allowed to be used for scripts inside this container. |
| Instance.IsInSandbox | boolean | Indicates whether the instance is inside a sandboxed container. |
| Instance.Name | string | A non-unique identifier of the Instance. |
| Instance.Parent | Instance | Determines the hierarchical parent of the Instance. |
| Instance.PredictionMode | PredictionMode | Reflects the client-side prediction mode applied to the instance under server-authoritative physics. |
| Instance.RobloxLocked | boolean | A deprecated property that used to protect CoreGui objects. |
| Instance.Sandboxed | boolean | When enabled, the instance can only access abilities in its Capabilities list. |
| Instance.UniqueId | UniqueId | A unique identifier for the instance. |
Inherited from Object
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Object.ClassName | string | A read-only string representing the class this Object belongs to. |
| Object.className | string |
MaterialVariant.AlphaMode
This property determines how the alpha channel of the MaterialVariant.ColorMap is used.
When set to Transparency and the MeshPart.Transparency is set to 0, opaque pixels in the ColorMap renders as completely opaque in the 3D scene. This combination works better with depth-based effects and occlusion.
When set to Transparency and the MeshPart.Transparency is set to at least 0.02, a different blending method is used that can better represent smooth transparency gradients and soft edges. This combination does not support all effects and occlusion may not be perfect.
For more information, see Alpha modes.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | AlphaMode |
| tags | ["NotBrowsable"] |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.BaseMaterial
Category Material this variant belongs to.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Material |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.ColorMap
This property determines the color of the surface. This texture is sometimes called the albedo texture. The alpha channel is not used.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | ContentId |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.ColorMapContent
This property determines the color of the surface. This texture is sometimes called the albedo texture. The alpha channel is not used.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Content |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.CustomPhysicalProperties
Determines the physical properties, such as density, friction, and elasticity, of parts whose material resolves to this variant.
The assigned PhysicalProperties apply only when that value was constructed with explicit values. Otherwise the physical properties are inherited, falling back first to the base-material override configured on the parent MaterialService, and if none is set, to the default physical properties of the variant's BaseMaterial category.
The default value is a PhysicalProperties constructed without explicit values, so an unmodified variant inherits its base material's physical properties.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | PhysicalProperties |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Material |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.EmissiveMaskContent
This property determines the apparent emissivity across the surface. An emissive mask is a grayscale image where black pixels correspond to no emissivity, and white pixels correspond to full emissivity.
The emissive contribution gets added to total lighting contribution across the surface, and the sum gets multiplied by the albedo texture, which would be sampled from ColorMap if provided.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Content |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.EmissiveStrength
This value is a multiplier to control how strong the emissive contribution is across the surface. If the final contribution of emissives goes beyond supported dynamic range, it will get clamped; this could result in emissive contribution appearing all white when using large emissive strength values. Since this value is a multiplier, the maximum value to prevent clamping depends on all of the other contributing values, including EmissiveTint, ColorMap and combined lighting contribution.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | float |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.EmissiveTint
This value is an RGB color for tinting emissive contribution.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Color3 |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.MaterialPattern
Determines texture tiling method.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | MaterialPattern |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.MetalnessMap
This property determines which parts of the surface are metal and are non-metal. A metalness map is a grayscale image where black pixels correspond to non-metals and white pixels correspond to metals.
Metals only reflect light the same color as the metal, and they reflect much more light than non-metals. Most materials in the real world can be categorized either metals or non-metals. For this reason, most pixels in a metalness map will be either pure black or pure white. Values in between are typically used to simulate dirt or grunge on top of an underlying metal area.
When Lighting.EnvironmentSpecularScale is 0, metalness has no effect. For the most realistic reflections, setting EnvironmentSpecularScale and Lighting.EnvironmentDiffuseScale to 1, and Lighting.Ambient and Lighting.OutdoorAmbient to (0,0,0) is recommended.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | ContentId |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.MetalnessMapContent
This property determines which parts of the surface are metal and are non-metal. A metalness map is a grayscale image where black pixels correspond to non-metals and white pixels correspond to metals.
Metals only reflect light the same color as the metal, and they reflect much more light than non-metals. Most materials in the real world can be categorized either metals or non-metals. For this reason, most pixels in a metalness map will be either pure black or pure white. Values in between are typically used to simulate dirt or grunge on top of an underlying metal area.
When Lighting.EnvironmentSpecularScale is 0, metalness has no effect. For the most realistic reflections, setting EnvironmentSpecularScale and Lighting.EnvironmentDiffuseScale to 1, and Lighting.Ambient and Lighting.OutdoorAmbient to (0,0,0) is recommended.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Content |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.NormalMap
This property modifies the lighting of the surface by adding bumps, dents, cracks, and curves without adding more polygons.
Normal maps are RGB images that modify the surface's normal vector used for lighting calculations. The R, G, and B channels of the NormalMap correspond to the X, Y, and Z components of the local surface vector respectively, and byte values of 0 and 255 for each channel correspond linearly to normal vector components of -1 and 1.016 respectively. This range is stretched slightly from -1 to 1 so that a byte value of 127 maps to exactly 0. The normal vector's Z axis is always defined as the direction of the underlying mesh's normal. A uniform (127,127,255) image translates to a completely flat normal map where the normal is everywhere perpendicular to the mesh surface. This format is called "tangent space" normal maps. Roblox does not support world space or object space normal maps.
Incorrectly flipped normal components can make bumps appear like indents. If you import a normal map and notice the lighting looks off, you may need to invert the G channel of the image. The X and Y axes of the tangent space frame correspond to the X and Y directions in the image after it's transformed by the mesh UVs. If you view your normal map in an image editor as if it were displayed on a surface, normals pointing towards the right side of the screen should appear more red, and normals pointing towards the top side of your screen should appear more green.
The terms "DirectX format" and "OpenGL format" are sometimes used to describe whether the G channel of the normal map is inverted or not. Roblox expects the OpenGL format.
Roblox expects imported meshes to include tangents. Modeling software may also refer to this as "tangent space" information. If you apply a normal map and it does not seem to make any visual difference, you may need to re-export your mesh along with its tangent information from modeling software.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | ContentId |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.NormalMapContent
This property modifies the lighting of the surface by adding bumps, dents, cracks, and curves without adding more polygons.
Normal maps are RGB images that modify the surface's normal vector used for lighting calculations. The R, G, and B channels of the NormalMap correspond to the X, Y, and Z components of the local surface vector respectively, and byte values of 0 and 255 for each channel correspond linearly to normal vector components of -1 and 1.016 respectively. This range is stretched slightly from -1 to 1 so that a byte value of 127 maps to exactly 0. The normal vector's Z axis is always defined as the direction of the underlying mesh's normal. A uniform (127,127,255) image translates to a completely flat normal map where the normal is everywhere perpendicular to the mesh surface. This format is called "tangent space" normal maps. Roblox does not support world space or object space normal maps.
Incorrectly flipped normal components can make bumps appear like indents. If you import a normal map and notice the lighting looks off, you may need to invert the G channel of the image. The X and Y axes of the tangent space frame correspond to the X and Y directions in the image after it's transformed by the mesh UVs. If you view your normal map in an image editor as if it were displayed on a surface, normals pointing towards the right side of the screen should appear more red, and normals pointing towards the top side of your screen should appear more green.
The terms "DirectX format" and "OpenGL format" are sometimes used to describe whether the G channel of the normal map is inverted or not. Roblox expects the OpenGL format.
Roblox expects imported meshes to include tangents. Modeling software may also refer to this as "tangent space" information. If you apply a normal map and it does not seem to make any visual difference, you may need to re-export your mesh along with its tangent information from modeling software.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Content |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.RoughnessMap
This property determines the apparent roughness across the surface. A roughness map is a grayscale image where black pixels correspond to a maximally smooth surface, and white pixels correspond to a maximally rough surface.
Roughness refers to how much variation the surface has on a very small scale. Reflections on smooth surfaces are sharp and concentrated. Reflections on rough surfaces are more blurry and dispersed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | ContentId |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.RoughnessMapContent
This property determines the apparent roughness across the surface. A roughness map is a grayscale image where black pixels correspond to a maximally smooth surface, and white pixels correspond to a maximally rough surface.
Roughness refers to how much variation the surface has on a very small scale. Reflections on smooth surfaces are sharp and concentrated. Reflections on rough surfaces are more blurry and dispersed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Content |
| security | {"read":"PluginSecurity","write":"PluginSecurity"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
MaterialVariant.StudsPerTile
Determines the scale of textures. Larger values for this property will lead to the textures appearing larger, and repeating less frequently.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | float |
| security | {"read":"None","write":"None"} |
| thread safety | ReadSafe |
| category | Appearance |
| serialization | {"can_load":true,"can_save":true} |
| capabilities | ["Material"] |
Methods
Inherited from Instance
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Instance:AddTag | () | Applies a tag to the instance. |
| Instance:children | Instances | Returns an array of the object's children. |
| Instance:ClearAllChildren | () | This method destroys all of an instance's children. |
| Instance:Clone | Instance | Create a copy of an instance and all its descendants, ignoring instances that are not Archivable. |
| Instance:clone | Instance | |
| Instance:Destroy | () | Sets the Instance.Parent property to nil, locks the Instance.Parent property, disconnects all connections, and calls Destroy() on all children. |
| Instance:destroy | () | |
| Instance:FindFirstAncestor | Instance? | Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Instance.Name is equal to the given name. |
| Instance:FindFirstAncestorOfClass | Instance? | Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Object.ClassName is equal to the given className. |
| Instance:FindFirstAncestorWhichIsA | Instance? | Returns the first ancestor of the Instance for whom Object:IsA() returns true for the given className. |
| Instance:FindFirstChild | Instance? | Returns the first child of the Instance found with the given name. |
| Instance:findFirstChild | Instance | |
| Instance:FindFirstChildOfClass | Instance? | Returns the first child of the Instance whose ClassName is equal to the given class name. |
| Instance:FindFirstChildWhichIsA | Instance? | Returns the first child of the Instance for whom Object:IsA() returns true for the given className. |
| Instance:FindFirstDescendant | Instance? | Returns the first descendant found with the given Instance.Name. |
| Instance:GetActor | Actor? | Returns the Actor associated with the Instance, if any. |
| Instance:GetAttribute | Variant | Returns the value which has been assigned to the given attribute name. |
| Instance:GetAttributeChangedSignal | RBXScriptSignal | Returns an event that fires when the given attribute changes. |
| Instance:GetAttributes | Dictionary | Returns a dictionary of the instance's attributes. |
| Instance:GetChildren | Instances | Returns an array containing all of the instance's children. |
| Instance:getChildren | Instances | |
| Instance:GetDebugId | string | Returns a coded string of the debug ID used internally by Roblox. |
| Instance:GetDescendants | Instances | Returns an array containing all of the descendants of the instance. |
| Instance:GetFullName | string | Returns a string describing the instance's ancestry. |
| Instance:GetStyled | Variant | Returns the styled or explicitly modified value of the specified property, or else the default property value if it hasn't been styled/modified. |
| Instance:GetStyledPropertyChangedSignal | RBXScriptSignal | Returns an event that fires when the given style property changes on the instance. |
| Instance:GetTags | Array | Gets an array of all tags applied to the instance. |
| Instance:HasTag | boolean | Check whether the instance has a given tag. |
| Instance:IsAncestorOf | boolean | Returns true if an Instance is an ancestor of the given descendant. |
| Instance:IsDescendantOf | boolean | Returns true if an Instance is a descendant of the given ancestor. |
| Instance:isDescendantOf | boolean | |
| Instance:IsPropertyModified | boolean | Returns true if the value stored in the specified property is not equal to the code-instantiated default. |
| Instance:QueryDescendants | Instances | Returns an array containing all descendants of the instance that match the selector string. |
| Instance:Remove | () | Sets the object's Parent to nil, and does the same for all its descendants. |
| Instance:remove | () | |
| Instance:RemoveTag | () | Removes a tag from the instance. |
| Instance:ResetPropertyToDefault | () | Resets a property to its default value. |
| Instance:SetAttribute | () | Sets the attribute with the given name to the given value. |
| Instance:WaitForChild | Instance | Returns the child of the Instance with the given name. If the child does not exist, it will yield the current thread until it does. |
Inherited from Object
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Object:GetPropertyChangedSignal | RBXScriptSignal | Get an event that fires when a given property of the object changes. |
| Object:IsA | boolean | Returns true if an object's class matches or inherits from a given class. |
| Object:isA | boolean |
Events
Inherited from Instance
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Instance.AncestryChanged | Fires when the Instance.Parent property of this object or one of its ancestors is changed. | |
| Instance.AttributeChanged | Fires whenever an attribute is changed on the Instance. | |
| Instance.ChildAdded | Fires after an object is parented to this Instance. | |
| Instance.childAdded | ||
| Instance.ChildRemoved | Fires after a child is removed from this Instance. | |
| Instance.DescendantAdded | Fires after a descendant is added to the Instance. | |
| Instance.DescendantRemoving | Fires immediately before a descendant of the Instance is removed. | |
| Instance.Destroying | Fires immediately before (or is deferred until after) the instance is destroyed via Instance:Destroy(). | |
| Instance.StyledPropertiesChanged | Fires whenever any style property is changed on the instance, including when a property is set to nil. |
Inherited from Object
| Name | Type / Returns | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Object.Changed | Fires immediately after a property of the object changes, with some limitations. |