Material Property Diff

Material Property Diff

Module: Tech · Category: Debugging · Tool ID: MaterialPropertyDiff

Side-by-side parameter diff between two Material Instances. Highlights: parameters with different values, parameters overridden in one but not the other, redundant overrides (value matches parent default — usually safe to remove), scalar/vector/texture/static-switch comparison, parent material info, and color swatches for vector parameters.

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When to use it

• Diffing two MIs to confirm they were authored consistently
• Finding redundant overrides for cleanup
• Migrating parameters from one MI to another
• Pre-merge review on shared materials

When not to use it

• Don’t expect cross-parent diff to be meaningful — diff is most useful when both MIs share the same parent

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Material Diff (or browse to Tech → Debugging)
2. Click the tool card
3. Drop two MIs into A + B pickers, click Compare

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Interface tour

Section	What it does
Material A / B pickers	The two MIs to compare
Compare	Computes the diff
Swap Materials	Quick swap A ↔ B
Show Only Differences	Hide Same rows
Type filters	Scalar / Vector / Texture / StaticSwitch toggles
Parent Info	Shows whether both MIs share a parent
Copy Results	Plain-text dump
Diff list	Per-row: param name, type, value A, value B, status, color swatches (vector only)

Status values

Status	Meaning
Different	Same param, different values
Only in A / Only in B	Param overridden in only one MI
Same	Both equal
Redundant A / B / Both	Override exists but matches parent default — safe to remove

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Workflow

1. Drop both MIs
2. Click Compare
3. Toggle Show Only Differences to focus on actual changes
4. Cross-reference with the source MI editor to fix or migrate

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Settings reference

Field	Default
Show Only Differences	false
Filter toggles	all on

Settings file: [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/MaterialPropertyDiff.json

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Output

• In-panel diff list
• Clipboard — Copy Results
• No edits — read-only

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Tips & gotchas

• Redundant overrides happen when a parameter was set then the parent default changed — cleanup is safe
• Color swatches make vector diffs intuitive — easy to see “these are different shades of blue”
• Static switch state matters — affects which parameters are actually in use

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Related tools

• Material Instance Manager — hierarchy + override tracking
• Material Preset Manager — capture / apply parameter sets

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