Category:Material System

Materials are what the Source engine uses to define which textures (in .VTF file format) and shaders (functions which define how materials are rendered to the screen) are used on surfaces (models, world surfaces, sprites, etc). Materials are defined by parameters in .VMT files.

Basics

Material - The basics of material creation.

Creating Decals - How to make decal and overlay materials.

Skybox (2D) - How to use and make the cubic materials used for the sky.

Advanced Topics

Material Proxies - Advanced materials that can vary based on changing data.

Water Shader - Description of the special water shader.

Half-Life 2 Shader Fallbacks - Fallback settings of Half-Life 2 shaders on different platforms.

DirectX Versions - How shaders are rendered on different versions of DirectX.

Useful Applications

The 360g tool is recommended for converting images to VTF and creating your VMT files. Also, Daedalus' HL2Tex tool can assist in converting your images to VTF and create the VMT files for you.