What is a Material Layer System or MLS?
MLS is a shared library of base materials that are combined together in unique stacks using blend functions as masks, allowing for unique material results and variations derived from the same texture pool.
MLS is a versatile system with infinite possibilities that can be used to add new elements, masks, decals, and variations to any material in your scene.
Shared Tilling Materials
Layer Blend
Using the world direction layer blend we can make the Rust Material only show in the top of the geometry.
When Should I Use?
MLS can be used in any case, and it is lightweight since all the material data is being loaded from a single source, except for the textures.
However, MLS is best used when you need complex materials without the need to create new texture specifics for a given mesh with the ability to add several layers with different types of blends.