Question Change material as instance

Hi,
how do I change the material of a mesh renderer as an instance? I tried it like this

Code (CSharp):

1.  background.sharedMaterial = bb.background.itemMaterial;    
2.  

But it doesn't work. Can anyone help me?
Here is the full script

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using UnityEngine.UI;
5. using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
6.  
7. public class MatMan : MonoBehaviour
8. {
9.  
10.     public Background bb;
11.     public Renderer background;
12.     public SpriteRenderer player;
13.  
14.     void Update()
15.     {
16.         bb = FindObjectOfType<Background>();
17.         background = GameObject.Find("Background").GetComponent<MeshRenderer>();
18.  
19.         if (bb.background != null)
20.         {
21.             Scene currentScene = SceneManager.GetActiveScene ();
22.  
23.             string sceneName = currentScene.name;
24.  
25.             background.sharedMaterial = bb.background.itemMaterial;    
26.        
27.             if (sceneName == "GameScene")
28.             {
29.             player = GameObject.Find("Circle").GetComponent<SpriteRenderer>();
30.             player.sprite = bb.ball.itemImage;  
31.             }
32.         }
33.     }
34. }

 

I'm assuming you know the difference between "material" and "sharedMaterial", if not : https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Renderer-sharedMaterial.html

And by "doesn't work" I'll assume you mean that the material is default in color. So my only thought is, how sure are you that referencing "bb.background.itemMaterial" is actually getting the proper material? I would debug that.

Since you show sceneManagement, makes me wonder if the referenced material is, or has been loaded yet, or at all.

Now on the off hand my memory serves me correctly, in some cases you need to declare something separately.
Kinda like this for example:

Code (CSharp):

1. Material mat = bb.background.itemMaterial;
2. print($"mat is {mat.name}"); // debug
3. background.sharedMaterial = mat;

But I'm just shooting in the dark here, so sorry if I assumed incorrectly the issue

 

I mean, when I change the material in the inspector, then there is a "(Instance) After the material. but when I change it over script, it just isnt there.

 

well, Instance can mean multiple things, but basically a copy/duplicate of a original template. So one could say what it's trying to duplicate could be bad(in some way).

Best thing to try, is make a new material, and set it up with whatever texture, or color it is you're looking for, overall or just for a test. Declare that material within the script, and use it

background.sharedMaterial = testMaterial01; // whatever you name it

And see if that works. If it does, then you know the referenced material you're trying to "get" is bad, and needs fixed. And if it doesn't work, then you know something is wrong with your call "background.sharedMaterial".