Decal

Decal

Inherits: VisualInstance3D < Node3D < Node < Object

Node that projects a texture onto a MeshInstance3D.

Description

Decals are used to project a texture onto a Mesh in the scene. Use Decals to add detail to a scene without affecting the underlying Mesh. They are often used to add weathering to building, add dirt or mud to the ground, or add variety to props. Decals can be moved at any time, making them suitable for things like blob shadows or laser sight dots.

They are made of an AABB and a group of Texture2Ds specifying Color, normal, ORM (ambient occlusion, roughness, metallic), and emission. Decals are projected within their AABB so altering the orientation of the Decal affects the direction in which they are projected. By default, Decals are projected down (i.e. from positive Y to negative Y).

The Texture2Ds associated with the Decal are automatically stored in a texture atlas which is used for drawing the decals so all decals can be drawn at once. Godot uses clustered decals, meaning they are stored in cluster data and drawn when the mesh is drawn, they are not drawn as a post-processing effect after.

Note: Decals cannot affect an underlying material’s transparency, regardless of its transparency mode (alpha blend, alpha scissor, alpha hash, opaque pre-pass). This means translucent or transparent areas of a material will remain translucent or transparent even if an opaque decal is applied on them.

Note: Decals are only supported in the Forward+ and Mobile rendering methods, not Compatibility. When using the Mobile rendering method, only 8 decals can be displayed on each mesh resource. Attempting to display more than 8 decals on a single mesh resource will result in decals flickering in and out as the camera moves.

Note: When using the Mobile rendering method, decals will only correctly affect meshes whose visibility AABB intersects with the decal’s AABB. If using a shader to deform the mesh in a way that makes it go outside its AABB, GeometryInstance3D.extra_cull_margin must be increased on the mesh. Otherwise, the decal may not be visible on the mesh.

Properties

float	albedo_mix	`1.0`
int	cull_mask	`1048575`
float	distance_fade_begin	`40.0`
bool	distance_fade_enabled	`false`
float	distance_fade_length	`10.0`
float	emission_energy	`1.0`
float	lower_fade	`0.3`
Color	modulate	`Color(1, 1, 1, 1)`
float	normal_fade	`0.0`
Vector3	size	`Vector3(2, 2, 2)`
Texture2D	texture_albedo
Texture2D	texture_emission
Texture2D	texture_normal
Texture2D	texture_orm
float	upper_fade	`0.3`

Methods

Texture2D	get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const
void	set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )

Enumerations

enum DecalTexture:

DecalTexture TEXTURE_ALBEDO = 0

Texture2D corresponding to texture_albedo.

DecalTexture TEXTURE_NORMAL = 1

Texture2D corresponding to texture_normal.

DecalTexture TEXTURE_ORM = 2

Texture2D corresponding to texture_orm.

DecalTexture TEXTURE_EMISSION = 3

Texture2D corresponding to texture_emission.

DecalTexture TEXTURE_MAX = 4

Max size of DecalTexture enum.

Property Descriptions

float albedo_mix = 1.0

void set_albedo_mix ( float value )
float get_albedo_mix ( )

Blends the albedo Color of the decal with albedo Color of the underlying mesh. This can be set to 0.0 to create a decal that only affects normal or ORM. In this case, an albedo texture is still required as its alpha channel will determine where the normal and ORM will be overridden. See also modulate.

int cull_mask = 1048575

void set_cull_mask ( int value )
int get_cull_mask ( )

Specifies which VisualInstance3D.layers this decal will project on. By default, Decals affect all layers. This is used so you can specify which types of objects receive the Decal and which do not. This is especially useful so you can ensure that dynamic objects don’t accidentally receive a Decal intended for the terrain under them.

float distance_fade_begin = 40.0

void set_distance_fade_begin ( float value )
float get_distance_fade_begin ( )

The distance from the camera at which the Decal begins to fade away (in 3D units).

bool distance_fade_enabled = false

void set_enable_distance_fade ( bool value )
bool is_distance_fade_enabled ( )

If true, decals will smoothly fade away when far from the active Camera3D starting at distance_fade_begin. The Decal will fade out over distance_fade_begin + distance_fade_length, after which it will be culled and not sent to the shader at all. Use this to reduce the number of active Decals in a scene and thus improve performance.

float distance_fade_length = 10.0

void set_distance_fade_length ( float value )
float get_distance_fade_length ( )

The distance over which the Decal fades (in 3D units). The Decal becomes slowly more transparent over this distance and is completely invisible at the end. Higher values result in a smoother fade-out transition, which is more suited when the camera moves fast.

float emission_energy = 1.0

void set_emission_energy ( float value )
float get_emission_energy ( )

Energy multiplier for the emission texture. This will make the decal emit light at a higher or lower intensity, independently of the albedo color. See also modulate.

float lower_fade = 0.3

void set_lower_fade ( float value )
float get_lower_fade ( )

Sets the curve over which the decal will fade as the surface gets further from the center of the AABB. Only positive values are valid (negative values will be clamped to 0.0). See also upper_fade.

Color modulate = Color(1, 1, 1, 1)

void set_modulate ( Color value )
Color get_modulate ( )

Changes the Color of the Decal by multiplying the albedo and emission colors with this value. The alpha component is only taken into account when multiplying the albedo color, not the emission color. See also emission_energy and albedo_mix to change the emission and albedo intensity independently of each other.

float normal_fade = 0.0

void set_normal_fade ( float value )
float get_normal_fade ( )

Fades the Decal if the angle between the Decal’s AABB and the target surface becomes too large. A value of 0 projects the Decal regardless of angle, a value of 1 limits the Decal to surfaces that are nearly perpendicular.

Note: Setting normal_fade to a value greater than 0.0 has a small performance cost due to the added normal angle computations.

Vector3 size = Vector3(2, 2, 2)

void set_size ( Vector3 value )
Vector3 get_size ( )

Sets the size of the AABB used by the decal. All dimensions must be set to a value greater than zero (they will be clamped to 0.001 if this is not the case). The AABB goes from -size/2 to size/2.

Note: To improve culling efficiency of “hard surface” decals, set their upper_fade and lower_fade to 0.0 and set the Y component of the size as low as possible. This will reduce the decals’ AABB size without affecting their appearance.

Texture2D texture_albedo

void set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )
Texture2D get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const

Texture2D with the base Color of the Decal. Either this or the texture_emission must be set for the Decal to be visible. Use the alpha channel like a mask to smoothly blend the edges of the decal with the underlying object.

Note: Unlike BaseMaterial3D whose filter mode can be adjusted on a per-material basis, the filter mode for Decal textures is set globally with ProjectSettings.rendering/textures/decals/filter.

Texture2D texture_emission

void set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )
Texture2D get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const

Texture2D with the emission Color of the Decal. Either this or the texture_albedo must be set for the Decal to be visible. Use the alpha channel like a mask to smoothly blend the edges of the decal with the underlying object.

Texture2D texture_normal

void set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )
Texture2D get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const

Texture2D with the per-pixel normal map for the decal. Use this to add extra detail to decals.

Note: Setting this texture alone will not result in a visible decal, as texture_albedo must also be set. To create a normal-only decal, load an albedo texture into texture_albedo and set albedo_mix to 0.0. The albedo texture’s alpha channel will be used to determine where the underlying surface’s normal map should be overridden (and its intensity).

Texture2D texture_orm

void set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )
Texture2D get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const

Texture2D storing ambient occlusion, roughness, and metallic for the decal. Use this to add extra detail to decals.

Note: Setting this texture alone will not result in a visible decal, as texture_albedo must also be set. To create an ORM-only decal, load an albedo texture into texture_albedo and set albedo_mix to 0.0. The albedo texture’s alpha channel will be used to determine where the underlying surface’s ORM map should be overridden (and its intensity).

float upper_fade = 0.3

void set_upper_fade ( float value )
float get_upper_fade ( )

Sets the curve over which the decal will fade as the surface gets further from the center of the AABB. Only positive values are valid (negative values will be clamped to 0.0). See also lower_fade.

Method Descriptions

Texture2D get_texture ( DecalTexture type ) const

Returns the Texture2D associated with the specified DecalTexture. This is a convenience method, in most cases you should access the texture directly.

For example, instead of albedo_tex = $Decal.get_texture(Decal.TEXTURE_ALBEDO), use albedo_tex = $Decal.texture_albedo.

One case where this is better than accessing the texture directly is when you want to copy one Decal’s textures to another. For example:

GDScriptC#

for i in Decal.TEXTURE_MAX:
    $NewDecal.set_texture(i, $OldDecal.get_texture(i))

for (int i = 0; i < (int)Decal.DecalTexture.Max; i++)
{
    GetNode<Decal>("NewDecal").SetTexture(i, GetNode<Decal>("OldDecal").GetTexture(i));
}

void set_texture ( DecalTexture type, Texture2D texture )

Sets the Texture2D associated with the specified DecalTexture. This is a convenience method, in most cases you should access the texture directly.

For example, instead of $Decal.set_texture(Decal.TEXTURE_ALBEDO, albedo_tex), use $Decal.texture_albedo = albedo_tex.

One case where this is better than accessing the texture directly is when you want to copy one Decal’s textures to another. For example:

GDScriptC#

for i in Decal.TEXTURE_MAX:
    $NewDecal.set_texture(i, $OldDecal.get_texture(i))

for (int i = 0; i < (int)Decal.DecalTexture.Max; i++)
{
    GetNode<Decal>("NewDecal").SetTexture(i, GetNode<Decal>("OldDecal").GetTexture(i));
}

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