Material Nodes¶

PPG material expressions appear in the PPG material node category, with water nodes under PPG|Water and biome map sampling under PPG|Biomes.

Position and UV Nodes¶

Node	Purpose
`Planet Position`	Returns a chunk-stable float direction from the planet center for generation and biome-mask graphs. It can optionally apply `Planet Position Scale`.
`Planet Position LWC`	Returns per-pixel LWC planet-local position for precision-sensitive surface mapping. Use `Planet Position`, not this node, with PPG generation noise.
`Planet UVs`	Generates planet surface UVs. Useful for high-precision surface material mapping.
`Planet Texture Sample`	Samples an equirectangular texture using the current planet position.
`Planet Warp Position`	Warps a planet-space position, usually before noise or biome lookup.
`Planet Generated Surface Normal`	Returns the generated terrain normal in world space and radial slope, independent of distant geometry density.
`Planet Apply Generated Surface Normal`	Applies that normal to completed Material Attributes and can preserve their normal-map detail.

Planet Texture Sample¶

Connect a 2D Texture Object. The node obtains the planet position internally. Use the channel outputs for heightmaps, color, packed data, normals, and masks.

Material	Supported Textures
Surface	2D textures and Streaming Virtual Textures
Generation	Non-virtual 2D textures
Biome mask	Non-virtual 2D textures

The node supports Unreal texture sampler types including Color, Linear Color, Grayscale, Linear Grayscale, Alpha, Masks, Data, and Normal. The texture uses equirectangular mapping with +X at the horizontal center, +Y advancing horizontally, and +Z at the top.

Noise and Height Nodes¶

Node	Purpose
`Planet Noise`	Generates FBM, craters, Voronoi, erosion, or tectonic-plate noise. Available properties and outputs change with the selected mode.
`Planet Global Height`	Returns global terrain height.
`Planet Flatten Elevation`	Flattens elevation near water level.
`Planet Elevation Output`	Outputs global height plus per-biome terrain heights for generation.

Planet Noise Modes¶

Mode	Notes
`FBM (Gradient + Rotation)`	General fractal terrain with octave and ridge controls.
`Craters`	Multi-scale crater field with lacunarity, jitter, depth, and edge rounding.
`Voronoi`	Cellular noise.
`Erosion`	Erosion-filtered terrain with 2D biome-cell or 3D triplanar mapping. It returns a packed `Height, Delta, Ridge` value.
`Tectonic Plates`	Plate-style large-scale structure.

Base Frequency applies to every mode. Octaves applies to FBM, craters, and erosion. The details panel hides mode-specific properties that do not affect the selected noise type.

Biome Nodes¶

Node	Purpose
`Planet Biome Mask Output`	Outputs biome mask values used to bake the biome-cell map.
`Planet Biome Map Sample`	Owns the fixed per-chunk `BiomeMap` texture parameter and returns the three strongest biome IDs and strengths. It requires no texture input.
`Planet Biome Material Output`	Blends per-biome Material Attributes from IDs and strengths produced by `Planet Biome Map Sample`.
`Planet Biome Strengths`	Converts the sampled top-three IDs and strengths into named `0-1` biome masks.
`Planet Cell Origin`	Returns the current biome cell origin.
`Planet Cell Position`	Returns position relative to the current biome cell.
`Planet Biome Cell Position 2D`	Returns 2D position in the current biome cell.

Vertex Color and Curve Nodes¶

Node	Purpose
`Planet Vertex Color Output`	Outputs per-biome vertex colors for terrain generation.
`Planet Curve Atlas Row`	Samples a curve atlas row with integer row addressing to avoid tiny precision stair steps.

Water Nodes¶

Node	Purpose
`Planetary Water Shading`	Shades planetary water using light direction, water depth, scattering, absorption, normals, view direction, and horizon-aware ambient controls.
`Planetary Underwater Post Process`	Applies underwater post-processing using scene color, water path length, underwater mask, camera depth, light direction, and water optical coefficients.
`Planetary Single Layer Water`	Outputs Single Layer Water scattering, absorption, phase, behind-water color, and radial planet geometry. Requires the corresponding shader hook.
`Planet Seamless Water`	Samples ocean waves across planet faces for displacement, normal, foam, and Jacobian.
`Planet Water Vertex Coordinates`	Supplies four packed cascade coordinates for `Planet Seamless Water` through vertex interpolators.
`Planet Water UV`	Supplies tiled texture UVs and grid UVs for water height masks.

Required Output Nodes¶

Material	Required Node
Biome mask material	One `Planet Biome Mask Output`.
Generation material	One `Planet Elevation Output` and one `Planet Vertex Color Output`.
Surface material	`Planet Biome Map Sample` connected to `Planet Biome Material Output` when using biome-specific Material Attributes.

Biome Surface Wiring¶

In the surface material:

Source	Destination
`Planet Biome Map Sample` output `Biome IDs`	`Planet Biome Material Output` input `Biome IDs`
`Planet Biome Map Sample` output `Strengths`	`Planet Biome Material Output` input `Biome Strengths`
Per-biome Material Attributes	Matching named biome inputs on `Planet Biome Material Output`

To use individual biome masks, connect the same Biome IDs and Strengths outputs to Planet Biome Strengths inputs Planet Biome IDs and Biome Strengths. Set its Biome Count and entry names to the Planet Data biome names, then use its named scalar outputs elsewhere in the surface graph. Missing and non-contributing biomes output zero.

Planet Biome Mask Output owns biome cell resolution/seed. Planet Elevation Output owns transition, height blend, and biome-warp controls. Rebuild the planet pipeline after changing them.

Use one Planet Biome Map Sample for all consumers in a surface material. Separate sample nodes repeat the per-pixel texture sampling and biome sorting work.