Custom Material Mask

Custom Material Masks can be used to offline generate data using the convenience of Biomes material masks.

They are not tied to any species or sub-biome. It can be used for any arbitrary purpose.

Data generated can be easily read by other biomes systems but also your project, see output section.

We've seen it used for driving audio systems based on world metadata. Calculate masks used by multiple species/sub-biomes, for easier synchronization of changes. To drive player hazard logic in the game, like detection of what is the temperature in the game area.

Generating

Custom material masks are generated separately from Species/Sub-biomes.

To add custom material masks for generation add them to the Custom Material Masks list in the Errant Biomes editor mode Setup tab.

Output

Custom material masks can output their data to Biomes Custom Mask assets. Those masks then can be used like other mask inputs to control Species, Sub-Biomes or even your game.