How to change RenderingMode and Set Alpha using Material Property Blocks

I'm using the standard shader but want to change the RenderingMode from 'Opaque' to 'Transparent/Fade' and set the Alpha value from 255 to 100 during runtime. Is this possible using MaterialPropertyBlocks?

I managed to set the RenderingMode during runtime using this:

Code (CSharp):

1. // Create MaterialPropertyBlock
2. MaterialPropertyBlock materialPropertyBlock = new MaterialPropertyBlock();
3. gameObjectMeshRenderer.GetPropertyBlock(materialPropertyBlock);
4.  
5. // Change rendering type to 'Fade'
6. materialPropertyBlock.SetFloat("_Mode", 2);
7.  
8. // Set colour alpha
9. Color32 materialColour = belowSeaLevelModels[i].material.color;
10. materialColour.a = 100;
11. materialPropertyBlock.SetColor("_Color", materialColour);
12.  
13. // Set altered materialPropertyBlock values
14. gameObjectMeshRenderer.SetPropertyBlock(materialPropertyBlock);

But, while it changed the enum state on the material in the inspector, nothing changed on the actual game object. Changing the colour works, but again the alpha doesn't show because the rendering mode isn't being changed during runtime.

Been looking for a couple hours now and can't seem to find a definitive simple solution to something that should be easy (at least in my eyes).

 

Apparently, to set via code I'll need to set all of these properties:

Code (CSharp):

1.  Material m = new Material(Shader.Find("Standard"));
2. m.SetFloat("_Mode", 2);
3. m.SetInt("_SrcBlend", (int)UnityEngine.Rendering.BlendMode.SrcAlpha);
4. m.SetInt("_DstBlend", (int)UnityEngine.Rendering.BlendMode.OneMinusSrcAlpha);
5. m.SetInt("_ZWrite", 0);
6. m.DisableKeyword("_ALPHATEST_ON");
7. m.EnableKeyword("_ALPHABLEND_ON");
8. m.DisableKeyword("_ALPHAPREMULTIPLY_ON");
9. m.renderQueue = 3000;

I'm not sure, however, how to do this through the MaterialPropertyBlock...

 

I too would like to know this.

I stumbled across this after a lot of searching: https://forum.unity.com/threads/solved-materialpropertyblock-not-setting-blend-modes.628426/

So it looks like it cannot be done.

 

This is because changing some of these options requires using another shader variant. Material.EnableKeyword does this for you on a material basis, and is not available on a MaterialPropertBlock, because again, requires another shader.
In the Editor the material inspector does .EnableKeyword behind the scenes.
I would just swap between two materials with the correct shader setup and then use propertyblocks to change the other settings.