Materials & Lighting · Beginner · 13 min
What Is a Material? Make Your First One in UE5
Find out what a material really is, build one from scratch in the Material editor, set its colour with a single node, and apply it to a mesh — the moment your scene stops being grey.
Before this: Navigate the UE5 Viewport Like You've Done It for Years, Place Static Meshes and Build Your First Little Scene
- Explain what a material is and what a material graph does
- Create a Material asset and open the Material editor
- Set Base Color with a Constant3Vector and save
- Apply your material to a mesh in the level
What a material actually is
Right now your scene is probably a sea of grey blocks. That grey is the engine's default material — a stand-in that says 'nothing has been told how to look yet'. A material is the recipe that tells the engine how a surface should appear: its colour, how shiny or rough it is, whether it looks like metal, plastic, skin or stone.
Crucially, a material is not a picture you paint on. It's a small program — a network of connected nodes called a material graph — that runs for every pixel of a surface, every frame, to compute the final look. Don't let 'program' scare you: for your first material you'll wire up exactly one node. That's enough to turn a grey block into a coloured one, and it's the foundation everything else is built on.
In this lesson you'll create a material, meet the Material editor and its all-important result node, set a colour, and drop the material onto a mesh. Small steps, real result.
Five terms to lock in first
Tap a card to flip it
Before you start
You only need a scene with something to colour. Tick these off:
- An open project and level (the Third Person template, or any level with a visible object)
- At least one mesh you can see and click — a placed cube or the floor is perfect
- Comfort moving the viewport camera (fly with right-mouse + WASD, frame with F)
Make your first material and apply it
Work top to bottom. Each row stays ticked even if you close the page and come back, so you never lose your place.
- 1Create a Material asset in the Content Browser
In the Content Browser (the panel along the bottom), navigate into your project's Content folder. Click the green 'Add' button (or right-click in the empty space) and choose 'Material'.
A new asset appears, ready to be named. Call it something clear like 'M_MyFirstMaterial' and press Enter. The 'M_' prefix is the common convention so you can spot materials at a glance later.
TipMake a folder called 'Materials' first and create it in there. A tidy Content Browser saves you real time once a project grows.
- 2Open the Material editor
Double-click your new material asset. A separate window opens — this is the Material editor.
It has a few parts: a Viewport (top-left) showing a preview sphere, a Details panel (left) for settings, a Palette of nodes (right) you can search, and the large central Graph area where you'll wire nodes together.
TipIf the preview sphere looks dark, that's fine — it's just unlit-looking because we haven't given it a colour yet. That's exactly what we're about to fix.
- 3Find the result node
In the middle-right of the graph is a big node with your material's name on it (e.g. 'M_MyFirstMaterial'). This is the result node — the final output of the whole material.
Look down its left edge: it's a list of inputs like Base Color, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Normal and more. Whatever you plug into each input is what that property becomes. Everything in a material graph eventually flows into this one node.
TipMany inputs are greyed out. That's normal — they only activate for certain material types. Base Color is always available, and it's the only one you need today.
- 4Add a Constant3Vector (a colour node)
Right-click in the empty graph area to open the node search, type 'Constant3Vector', and click it. A small node with one output pin appears.
A faster route: hold the '3' key and left-click in an empty part of the graph — that places a Constant3Vector instantly. A 'Constant3Vector' holds three numbers (Red, Green, Blue), which together make one colour.
TipWhy '3'? A plain Constant (the '1' key) is a single number — great for Roughness or Metallic. A colour needs three values (RGB), so it's a Constant3Vector, on the '3' key.
- 5Pick a colour
Double-click the Constant3Vector node (or select it and look in the Details panel) to open a colour picker. Choose any colour you like — try a bold one so the change is obvious.
Click OK. The node now outputs that colour. Nothing has changed on your mesh yet, because the node isn't connected to anything.
- 6Wire it into Base Color
Click and drag from the small circular output pin on the right of your Constant3Vector node over to the 'Base Color' input pin on the left of the result node, then release. A wire connects them.
The preview sphere in the editor's viewport immediately takes on your colour. You just built a (very small) material graph: colour node → Base Color → result.
TipPins are fussy about aim. Start the drag right on the little circle, and let go when the target pin highlights.
- 7Save, then apply it to a mesh
Click 'Save' (or 'Apply' then 'Save') in the Material editor toolbar, then switch back to the main editor window.
Select a mesh in the level, then drag your material from the Content Browser straight onto that mesh in the viewport — or, with the mesh selected, find its 'Materials' slot in the Details panel and assign your material there. The grey vanishes and your colour appears in the level.
TipDragging the material onto a mesh in the viewport is the quickest way. The Details-panel material slot is the reliable way when a mesh has several material slots.
You set the colour on the node but your mesh in the level is still grey. What did you most likely miss?
Three common culprits, in order. First: you may not have connected the Constant3Vector's output pin to the result node's Base Color input — a colour node on its own does nothing until it's wired in.
Second: you may not have saved (or applied) the material after editing it, so the level is still showing the old version.
Third: the material might be created and saved correctly but simply never assigned to that mesh. Select the mesh and drag the material onto it, or set it in the Details panel's Materials slot.
Two ways to assign your material
Grab the material in the Content Browser and drop it directly onto the object in the 3D viewport.
Fastest for single-slot meshes like a basic cube. Watch which face you drop on if a mesh has multiple slots — dragging targets the slot under your cursor.
Select the mesh, then in the Details panel open the 'Materials' section. Each material slot has a dropdown.
Click the slot and pick your material, or drag the material onto that specific slot. This is the precise, predictable way — and the only sane option when a mesh has several material slots (Element 0, Element 1, and so on).
Material editor shortcuts worth knowing
- 3 Click Place a Constant3Vector (colour) node in the graph
- 1 Click Place a Constant (single number) node — used for Roughness, Metallic, etc
- Ctrl S Save the material (commits your changes so the level updates)
- Right-click graph Open node search to add any node by name
- Alt Click pin Break a wire (disconnect a connection)
Make a second material a totally different colour, apply it to a different mesh, and then make the first material's surface look duller (more matte) by setting its Roughness.
Hint 1
Repeat the create-and-colour flow for the second material — Add → Material, name it, open it, place a Constant3Vector, pick a colour, wire it to Base Color, save.
Hint 2
Roughness is a single number from 0 (mirror-smooth) to 1 (fully matte). A single value means a Constant node, not a Constant3Vector — place one by holding '1' and clicking.
Hint 3
Drag the Constant's output into the result node's 'Roughness' input, set its value near 1 in the Details panel, then save.
Second material: Content Browser → Add → Material → name it → open it → hold '3' and click to place a Constant3Vector → double-click it and pick a new colour → drag its output to Base Color → Save. Back in the level, drag it onto a different mesh.
Duller surface: open your first material, hold '1' and click to place a Constant node, set its value to about 0.8–1.0 in the Details panel, drag its output into the result node's Roughness input, and Save. The preview sphere loses its shine and reads as matte. Roughness controls how sharp or blurred reflections are — high roughness scatters light and looks flat.
QuizCheck yourself
1What is a material in Unreal Engine, really?
A material is a graph of nodes whose values flow into the result node to compute the final surface look — not a single painted picture.
2Which node gives a surface one solid colour via the Base Color input?
A Constant3Vector holds three values (R, G, B) — one colour — which is exactly what Base Color expects. A plain Constant is a single number, used for inputs like Roughness.
3Everything in a material graph eventually connects to…
The result node is the single output of every material. Its inputs — Base Color, Roughness, Normal and so on — define the final surface.
Mark this lesson complete
We'll remember it on your Academy page and unlock the next lesson below.
Questions beginners ask
What's the difference between a material and a texture?
A texture is just an image (like a photo of bricks). A material is the recipe that decides how a surface looks, and it may or may not use textures inside it. Your first material uses no texture at all — just a single colour node. Later you'll plug textures into a material's inputs, but the material is always the thing assigned to the mesh.
Why is my new material's preview sphere so dark?
Before you connect anything, the material has no Base Color, so it renders nearly black. Once you wire a Constant3Vector into Base Color and pick a colour, the preview lights up. If it still looks dim after that, it's just the preview lighting — the colour is correctly applied.
Do I have to learn the whole node graph to make materials?
No. You just made a working material with one node. You can build a surprising amount with Base Color, Roughness and Metallic alone. The graph grows only as your needs do — there's no requirement to master every node before you make useful materials.
I changed the material but the level didn't update — why?
You almost certainly haven't saved (or applied) the material in the Material editor. Press Ctrl+S, or use the Save/Apply buttons in its toolbar. Until you save, the main editor keeps showing the previous version of the material.