.bema Files

.bema files declare materials and material variants.

A material describes shader stages, render-domain information, and named parameters. A variant references a parent material and supplies parameter values for a concrete material instance.

The .bema handler produces stored resources:

• Material resources for root material files
• Variant resources for variant files
• Shader resources for referenced shader source files
• dependent Image resources when material parameters reference textures

Material files

A root material file has no parent. It declares a domain, shader stages, and variables.

{
	"domain": "World",
	"type": "Surface",
	"shaders": {
		"Fragment": "shaders/material.besl"
	},
	"variables": [
		{
			"name": "color",
			"data_type": "vec4f",
			"type": "Static",
			"value": "Purple"
		}
	]
}

During baking, the handler loads each shader source, parses BESL, lets the active render pipeline transform the program, compiles the result, and stores a shader resource. The material resource then stores references to those generated shader resources and the resolved parameter models.

Variant files

A variant file has a parent. It points to the material it specializes.

{
	"parent": "materials/base.bema",
	"variables": [
		{
			"name": "color",
			"value": "Red"
		}
	],
	"transparency": "Opaque"
}

Variants inherit the parameter list from the parent material and replace the values supplied in the file. The current handler supports scalar, vector color values, and texture references for material variables.

Values

The current value resolver is intentionally small. Named colors such as Red, Green, Blue, Purple, White, and Black can become vec3f or vec4f values. Texture2D values are baked as image resources and stored as references.

This format should be treated as a declaration format, not runtime data. Runtime systems should consume the processed Material, Variant, Shader, and Image resources.