Batch Material Creator

Module: Tech · Category: Workflow · Tool ID: BatchMaterialCreator

Scans a texture folder, matches files against configurable naming conventions (_Albedo, _Normal, _Metallic, _Roughness, _AO, _Emission, _Height + many aliases), groups them into material sets per base name, and creates UMaterialInstanceConstant from a chosen parent material with the appropriate textures wired into the right parameters.

Tool open after a folder scan, detected sets list showing 8–10 material sets with Full PBR / Partial flags, parent material selected.

A texture folder scanned into 52 material sets by suffix; six are kept, parented to a master with BaseColor and Normal parameters, and created as material instances.

When to use it

• Bulk import: a folder of texture sets that all use the same parent material
• Naming-convention-driven material creation
• Migrating from another engine where textures are organized by base name
• Producing master-instance pairs from a 50-set library in one click

What it isn’t for

• Don’t expect this to author master materials. It creates instances from a parent.
• Don’t expect non-naming-convention matching. The tool reads filename suffixes.

Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Batch Material (or browse to Tech → Workflow).
2. Click the tool card.
3. Configure folders + parent, click Scan, then Create.

Interface tour

Field	What it does	Default
Texture Folder	Folder with the source textures	/Game/Textures
Output Folder	Where created MIs save	/Game/Materials
Parent Material picker	The master material to instance from	(empty)
Albedo Suffixes	Comma-separated suffix list	_Albedo,_BaseColor,_Diffuse,_Color,_D,_BC
Normal Suffixes		_Normal,_NormalMap,_N,_Nrm
Metallic Suffixes		_Metallic,_Metal,_M
Roughness Suffixes		_Roughness,_Rough,_R
AO Suffixes		_AO,_AmbientOcclusion,_Occlusion,_O
Emission Suffixes		_Emission,_Emissive,_E
Height Suffixes		_Height,_Displacement,_Disp,_H
Scan	Walks the folder, groups into sets
Create	Creates MIs for every detected set
Copy Results	Plain-text dump
Detected Sets list	Per-set row: base name, found maps, Full PBR flag

Stats

Stat	What it shows
Full PBR Count	Sets with Albedo + Normal + Roughness + Metallic
Partial Count	Sets missing at least one of the above

Sets list with mix of Full PBR + Partial flags visible.

Workflow

1. Set Texture Folder and Output Folder.
2. Drop the parent material into the picker.
3. Optionally tweak suffix lists for your team’s conventions.
4. Click Scan — sets list populates.
5. Review the list — confirm the right textures are matched per set.
6. Click Create — material instances are generated and saved.

Settings reference

Suffix lists, folders, and parent material persist to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/BatchMaterialCreator.json.

Output

• UMaterialInstanceConstant assets. One per detected set, saved to Output Folder.
• Naming: MI_<BaseName> (configurable via parent material naming)
• Texture parameters wired to standard names (BaseColor, Normal, etc.) — make sure your parent material exposes parameters with those names

Tips and gotchas

• Parent material parameter names matter. The tool wires textures to parameters named BaseColor, Normal, Roughness, Metallic, AO, Emission, Height. Rename if your parent uses different conventions.
• Suffix lists are case-sensitive. Match your team’s actual filenames.
• Partial sets still get MIs created. Only the matched textures are wired; unmatched parameters use the parent default.

Related tools

• Smart Mask & Texture Processor — for the Material Instance Factory side (single MI from explicit slots)
• Material Layer Studio — debug created instances