If you want the fade to be driven in the material (best for smooth fades, works on any mesh), the usual “best” approach in UE5 is:
This keeps the material Opaque (so you keep good lighting/shadows and avoid most translucent sorting issues), but visually fades out using a screen-door/dither pattern.
Material setup
- Keep Blend Mode = Opaque.
- In the material, add a Scalar Parameter called
Fade (0 = invisible, 1 = fully visible).
- Plug it into DitherTemporalAA:
- Add node DitherTemporalAA
- Connect
Fade → Alpha Threshold (or equivalent input)
- Connect the node’s output to Opacity Mask
- Set Material → Opacity Mask Clip Value around
0.2–0.5 (taste; lower is “softer” but noisier).
Drive it at runtime
- Create a Dynamic Material Instance and set
Fade over time (Timeline/Curve).
- Or use Per-Instance Custom Data / Custom Primitive Data if you’re fading many instances efficiently.
Why this is often “best”
- Looks like a fade, but material stays Opaque (better performance + fewer artifacts than Translucent).
- Great for characters/props disappearing.
Gotchas
- Requires TAA/TSR to look smooth (dither resolves over frames). Without TAA it can look speckly.
If you need a real smooth alpha (glass-like fade), use Translucent.
Material setup
- Set Blend Mode = Translucent.
Fade scalar parameter (0–1).
- Multiply your existing opacity (or
1) by Fade, plug into Opacity.
Tradeoffs
- More expensive, can have sorting issues, different lighting behavior, shadows can be limited/odd.
If you don’t want dithering/TAA dependence:
- Blend Mode = Masked
- Use a noise texture +
Fade to move a threshold:
OpacityMask = step( Noise, Fade ) (or Noise < Fade)
This makes a “dissolve” rather than a smooth fade, but it’s stable and cheap.
- Want the cleanest general-purpose “fade away” on solid meshes? → Option A: Opaque + DitherTemporalAA
- Need physically smooth alpha? → Option B: Translucent
- Want dissolve / stylized / stable without TAA? → Option C: Masked dissolve
If you tell me whether your material is currently Opaque/Masked/Translucent and whether you’re using Nanite (and if you care about shadows during the fade), I can suggest the exact settings to avoid the common artifacts.