Stylized Eye Material

One template for humanoid and animal eyes

Stylized Eye Material combines many different eye styles into a single template material, giving character artists one place to shape a wide range of looks. It supports humanoid and animal characters, and it also includes custom settings for cat-shaped pupils, which makes it easier to adapt the same base material to very different creatures.

The material is built around customization from the start. Many parameters are already exposed, and it comes with textures that can be used as starting points for unique designs. Sample Material Instances are included as ready-made examples, so the material can be used immediately or adjusted further to match a specific character.

Procedural control or a texture-based path

Two approaches are available, and they serve different production needs. The procedural route is highly configurable directly inside the Unreal Editor, which makes it useful when the eye look needs to be shaped through parameters and adjusted during development. The texture-based route is quicker to set up and offers optimal performance.

That flexibility extends to the texture side as well. Custom textures can be used freely, and a wide variety of formats is supported. The newest version is fully compatible with the Stylized Eye Texture Generator and includes a few samples that show different configuration possibilities. That makes the material easier to fold into a broader character workflow without forcing a single way of working.

Depth, refraction, and animated pupils

The eye surface is built to read as more than a flat texture. Refraction and a depth function give the eyes the appearance of a 3D interior without requiring special mesh setup or additional polygons. For characters that need expressive eyes without extra mesh complexity, that approach keeps the look focused while avoiding unnecessary geometry.

Pupil motion is handled in real time, and the rest of the material adjusts accordingly. When the setup is procedural, the material can hold up to extreme close-ups without pixelation, which makes it a strong fit for animations and cutscenes. The visual response is not limited to the pupil, either: fake lighting, reflection, and shadow options are included so the level of realism can be scaled gradually rather than all at once.

Overlay textures can be static or animated, with animatable parameters that allow custom logos and animations inside the eye or on its exterior. That gives the material room for stylized details without changing the base eye system.

Mesh setup, UV guidance, and performance controls

There is one important setup note: for the depth effect to work, each eye needs to be its own separate static mesh. A demo character blueprint is included with the correct setup, which helps show how the material is meant to be arranged in a project. A guide for UV setup on custom meshes is also included.

The material can work with any mesh of any shape without manual UVs. Optional real-time UVs are available, though they come with a small performance impact. That makes the setup flexible enough for unusual eye shapes while still keeping the performance implications clear. Four eye mesh LODs are included, along with an additional Auto-LOD mesh.

Performance control is handled through a large set of switches and material options. There are 33 material switches for customization and optimization, and the idea is simple: only the features used incur the performance cost. Sample materials fall between 229 and 427 instructions, with most sitting between 300 and 330. Mobile support reaches down to Android ES 3.1, although performance depends on the material configuration. Supported target platforms are Desktop, Console, and Mobile.

In practice, the material is set up for character eyes that need a clear mesh layout, flexible customization, and either a fast texture-based path or a more hands-on procedural setup.

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