Material Instance Manager

Material Instance Manager

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

Two-tab merged suite for material instance management. Hierarchy shows MI parent chains as a tree (parent → child → grandchild). Tracker lists parameter overrides per instance — which parameters are actually overridden vs inheriting from the parent.

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When to use it

• Understanding deep MI hierarchy chains
• Finding which parameters are actually overridden vs inherited
• Refactoring a material library — seeing the parent → child relationships at a glance

When not to use it

• Don’t use this for editing — open the MI in UE’s Material Instance editor

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Material Instance (or browse to Tech → Workflow)
2. Use the tab bar: Hierarchy or Tracker

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Tab 1 — Hierarchy Viewer

Tree view of MI parent chains — shows every master material with its children, grandchildren, etc.

Tab 2 — Override Tracker

Per-MI list of parameter overrides — which scalar / vector / texture / static switch parameters are actually overridden vs inheriting from parent.

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Settings reference

Persists via standard tool framework.

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Output

• In-panel hierarchy + override list
• No edits — read-only

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Tips & gotchas

• Single-click pings; double-click opens the appropriate Material Instance editor
• Override tracking is parameter-level — useful for finding “phantom” overrides where a value was set but matches the parent default

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Related tools

• Material Layer Studio — broader layer / function library analysis
• Material Property Diff — diff two MIs side-by-side
• Material Preset Manager — capture parameter sets

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