Shader error: Material doesn't have stencil properties ??

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This is a new shader error for us with Unity 5:

Material doesn't have stencil properties

What is causing this? We are using a stencil buffer in the shader but AFAIK there is nothing else in the Unity docs that talk about a stencil property.

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by tayl0r · Jun 17, 2015 at 08:59 PM

(answering my own question)

There seems to be a magic property called _Stencil, which is supposed to be used for the unique stencil buffer id.

_Stencil ("Stencil Ref", Float) = 0

in full ...

 // these six unused properties are required when a shader
 // is used in the UI system, or you get a warning.
 // look to UI-Default.shader to see these.
 _StencilComp ("Stencil Comparison", Float) = 8
 _Stencil ("Stencil ID", Float) = 0
 _StencilOp ("Stencil Operation", Float) = 0
 _StencilWriteMask ("Stencil Write Mask", Float) = 255
 _StencilReadMask ("Stencil Read Mask", Float) = 255
 _ColorMask ("Color Mask", Float) = 15
 // see for example
 // http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/980924/ui-mask-with-shader.html

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ERR0 · Feb 04, 2016 at 06:47 PM 0

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So I'm using the UI-default shader as a starting point for my sprite shader, and if I have the _Color$$anonymous$$ask property my sprite doesn't render at all. Removing the property allows the sprite to render but then it doesn't clip properly. Even if I remove the code where the color mask is being used, just having the property still breaks the shader.

tanoshimi ERR0 · Feb 05, 2016 at 06:48 AM 0

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I would recommend using the Sprites-Default or Sprites-Diffuse shader as a basis - why use UI-default? Without seeing your code, can't really suggest anything else

Democide · Mar 24, 2016 at 01:26 PM 0

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Small note: If you have spaces in your shader name, this does not seem, to work.

Answer 2

Answer by olonge · Nov 01, 2016 at 04:32 PM

...or as in my case, if you were only interested in the text element, just use a material based on the following shader: UI/Unlit/Test

 Shader "UI/Unlit/Text"
 {
     Properties {
         [PerRendererData] _MainTex ("Font Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
         _Color ("Tint", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
         
         _StencilComp ("Stencil Comparison", Float) = 8
         _Stencil ("Stencil ID", Float) = 0
         _StencilOp ("Stencil Operation", Float) = 0
         _StencilWriteMask ("Stencil Write Mask", Float) = 255
         _StencilReadMask ("Stencil Read Mask", Float) = 255
 
         _ColorMask ("Color Mask", Float) = 15
     }
     
     FallBack "UI/Default Font"
 }

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Shader error: Material doesn't have stencil properties ??

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