Unity Shader Properties Reference

Searchable reference for every common Unity shader property name with C# get/set code for Standard, URP, HDRP, Sprite, and UI shaders.

Unity shader properties have internal string names that differ between render pipelines. Standard uses _Color while URP Lit uses _BaseColor. This reference lists every common property name with its type and C# access code, so you can stop guessing and start copying.

Property Name	Display Name	Type	Get Code
_Color	Color	Color	`material.GetColor("_Color")`
_MainTex	Albedo	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_MainTex")`
_BumpMap	Normal Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_BumpMap")`
_BumpScale	Normal Scale	Float	`material.GetFloat("_BumpScale")`
_Metallic	Metallic	Range	`material.GetFloat("_Metallic")`
_Glossiness	Smoothness	Range	`material.GetFloat("_Glossiness")`
_MetallicGlossMap	Metallic Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_MetallicGlossMap")`
_EmissionColor	Emission Colour	Color	`material.GetColor("_EmissionColor")`
_EmissionMap	Emission Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_EmissionMap")`
_OcclusionMap	Occlusion Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_OcclusionMap")`
_OcclusionStrength	Occlusion Strength	Range	`material.GetFloat("_OcclusionStrength")`
_Cutoff	Alpha Cutoff	Range	`material.GetFloat("_Cutoff")`
_DetailAlbedoMap	Detail Albedo	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_DetailAlbedoMap")`
_DetailNormalMap	Detail Normal Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_DetailNormalMap")`
_DetailNormalMapScale	Detail Normal Scale	Float	`material.GetFloat("_DetailNormalMapScale")`
_Parallax	Height Scale	Range	`material.GetFloat("_Parallax")`
_BaseColor	Base Colour	Color	`material.GetColor("_BaseColor")`
_BaseMap	Base Map	Texture	`material.GetTexture("_BaseMap")`
_RendererColor	Renderer Colour	Color	`material.GetColor("_RendererColor")`
_StencilComp	Stencil Comparison	Int	`material.GetInt("_StencilComp")`
_Stencil	Stencil ID	Int	`material.GetInt("_Stencil")`

Full Property Reference

Every shader property with its full notes, get/set code, and supported pipelines. The interactive table above is a quick lookup; this section is the complete textual reference.

_Color

ColorColorDefault: Color.white

The main tint colour. In URP Lit, this is replaced by _BaseColor. Sprite and UI shaders also use _Color for their primary tint.

Pipelines: Standard, Sprite, UI

// Get
material.GetColor("_Color")

// Set
material.SetColor("_Color", Color.red)

_MainTex

AlbedoTextureDefault: "white"

The main diffuse/albedo texture. In URP Lit, use _BaseMap instead. You can also set tiling and offset via material.SetTextureScale and material.SetTextureOffset.

Pipelines: Standard, Sprite

// Get
material.GetTexture("_MainTex")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_MainTex", myTexture)

_BumpMap

Normal MapTextureDefault: "bump"

Tangent-space normal map. The property name _BumpMap is shared across all three pipelines. Make sure the texture import type is set to Normal Map in Unity.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetTexture("_BumpMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_BumpMap", normalMap)

_BumpScale

Normal ScaleFloatDefault: 1.0

Multiplier for normal map intensity. Values above 1.0 exaggerate the surface detail; values below 1.0 flatten it.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetFloat("_BumpScale")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_BumpScale", 1.5f)

_Metallic

MetallicRangeDefault: 0.0

Range 0 to 1. Only used when there is no metallic map assigned. Set to 1 for metals, 0 for non-metals.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetFloat("_Metallic")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_Metallic", 1f)

_Glossiness

SmoothnessRangeDefault: 0.5

Range 0 to 1. Standard shader only. In URP and HDRP, smoothness is stored in the alpha channel of the metallic map or controlled by _Smoothness.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetFloat("_Glossiness")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_Glossiness", 0.8f)

_MetallicGlossMap

Metallic MapTextureDefault: null

R channel stores metallic, A channel stores smoothness. When assigned, the _Metallic and _Glossiness sliders are ignored.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetTexture("_MetallicGlossMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_MetallicGlossMap", metallicMap)

_EmissionColor

Emission ColourColorDefault: Color.black

HDR colour. Multiply by values greater than 1 for bloom. You must also call material.EnableKeyword("_EMISSION") for emission to work.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetColor("_EmissionColor")

// Set
material.SetColor("_EmissionColor", Color.yellow * 2f)

_EmissionMap

Emission MapTextureDefault: null

Texture that masks which areas emit light. The final emission is _EmissionMap multiplied by _EmissionColor.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetTexture("_EmissionMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_EmissionMap", emissionTex)

_OcclusionMap

Occlusion MapTextureDefault: "white"

Ambient occlusion texture. White means fully lit; darker values add shadowing in crevices.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetTexture("_OcclusionMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_OcclusionMap", aoMap)

_OcclusionStrength

Occlusion StrengthRangeDefault: 1.0

Range 0 to 1. Controls how strongly the occlusion map affects the final result. 0 disables occlusion completely.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetFloat("_OcclusionStrength")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_OcclusionStrength", 0.5f)

_Cutoff

Alpha CutoffRangeDefault: 0.5

Range 0 to 1. Only relevant when rendering mode is set to Cutout. Pixels with alpha below this threshold are discarded.

Pipelines: Standard, URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetFloat("_Cutoff")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_Cutoff", 0.3f)

_DetailAlbedoMap

Detail AlbedoTextureDefault: "grey"

A secondary albedo texture blended on top of the main texture using UV2. Useful for adding surface variation without increasing main texture resolution.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetTexture("_DetailAlbedoMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_DetailAlbedoMap", detailTex)

_DetailNormalMap

Detail Normal MapTextureDefault: "bump"

Secondary normal map for fine surface detail. Blended with the main _BumpMap using UV2.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetTexture("_DetailNormalMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_DetailNormalMap", detailNormal)

_DetailNormalMapScale

Detail Normal ScaleFloatDefault: 1.0

Intensity multiplier for the detail normal map.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetFloat("_DetailNormalMapScale")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_DetailNormalMapScale", 2f)

_Parallax

Height ScaleRangeDefault: 0.02

Range 0.005 to 0.08. Controls the strength of parallax/height mapping. Higher values create a stronger depth illusion but can cause artefacts at steep angles.

Pipelines: Standard

// Get
material.GetFloat("_Parallax")

// Set
material.SetFloat("_Parallax", 0.04f)

_BaseColor

Base ColourColorDefault: Color.white

Replaces _Color in URP and HDRP Lit shaders. If you are migrating from Standard, update all references from _Color to _BaseColor.

Pipelines: URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetColor("_BaseColor")

// Set
material.SetColor("_BaseColor", Color.red)

_BaseMap

Base MapTextureDefault: "white"

Replaces _MainTex in URP and HDRP Lit shaders. The alpha channel is used for transparency when the surface type is set to Transparent.

Pipelines: URP, HDRP

// Get
material.GetTexture("_BaseMap")

// Set
material.SetTexture("_BaseMap", myTexture)

_RendererColor

Renderer ColourColorDefault: Color.white

Set automatically by SpriteRenderer.color. You rarely need to set this directly on the material; use SpriteRenderer.color instead.

Pipelines: Sprite

// Get
material.GetColor("_RendererColor")

// Set
material.SetColor("_RendererColor", Color.white)

_StencilComp

Stencil ComparisonIntDefault: 8

Stencil comparison function. Default value 8 means Always. Used by Unity UI masking. Values correspond to UnityEngine.Rendering.CompareFunction enum.

Pipelines: UI

// Get
material.GetInt("_StencilComp")

// Set
material.SetInt("_StencilComp", 8)

_Stencil

Stencil IDIntDefault: 0

Stencil buffer reference value. Used together with _StencilComp for UI masking. The Mask component sets this automatically.

Pipelines: UI

// Get
material.GetInt("_Stencil")

// Set
material.SetInt("_Stencil", 1)

Related Tools

DOTween Reference

Searchable DOTween cheat sheet with copy-paste Unity C# code for every common tween method.

Scripting Order

Interactive Unity MonoBehaviour lifecycle diagram. When does Awake, Start, Update, and every callback run.

Colour Palette

Generate harmonious palettes with colourblind simulation, contrast checking, and Unity C# export.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my URP shader use _BaseColor instead of _Color?

URP and HDRP renamed the main tint property to _BaseColor for consistency with Unity's PBR naming. If you migrate a script from Standard, anywhere you set material.SetColor("_Color", ...) needs to become material.SetColor("_BaseColor", ...) on URP/HDRP materials, or the change will silently do nothing.

Should I use string property names or Shader.PropertyToID?

Use Shader.PropertyToID for anything called more than once per frame. Cache it once: int colorId = Shader.PropertyToID("_BaseColor"); then material.SetColor(colorId, value). It avoids the per-call string hash and is measurably faster in hot paths.

How do I find the property name of a custom shader?

Open the shader file and look at the Properties block at the top: each entry has the form _PropertyName ("Display Name", Type) = default. The underscore-prefixed string is what you pass to SetFloat, SetColor, SetTexture, or PropertyToID from C#.

What is the difference between MaterialPropertyBlock and modifying material directly?

Modifying a renderer.material clones the material per object, which breaks instancing and bloats memory. MaterialPropertyBlock lets you set per-renderer property values without cloning the material, preserving instancing. Use MaterialPropertyBlock for any frequent per-object property tweaks.

Last updated: 2 May 2026