Materials: How to configure them

An overview and introduction

If you just want a material instance or the right template to start, check here.
Checking material properties
You can see a material's default properties by opening the .(re)mt file in WolvenKit and inspecting the parameters array. Any properties that you don't overwrite by adding them to your CMaterialInstance or .mi file will take the default properties specified in the file.
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Multilayered Material
For a full documentation, check the corresponding page. 
To set it up, use these keys for the "values" array of your material:
GlobalNormal
path\to\normal.xbm
MultilayerMask
path\to\mask.mlmask (white file)
MultilayerSetup
path\to\material.mlsetup
an example multilayered material
Textured Material
The most commonly used material for anything textured is engine\materials\metal_base.remt. Despite its name, this material isn't necessarily metallic.
You can also use this material as emissive, for a documentation, see below. 
To make your mesh load a texture, use the following CKeyValuePairs in your material's "values" array:
BaseColor
path to your texture.xbm (Diffuse/Albedo)
Roughness
path to your roughnessMap.xbm (if you have one)
Metalness
path to your metalnessMap.xbm (if you have one)
Normal
path to your normalMap.xbm (if you have one)
example use of metal_base.remt as a textured material
The .xbm is a container around the texture. Export the xbm to png via WolvenKit.
If your texture has any brightness issues in-game, toggle around the isGamma flag during import.
The expected isGamma settings are:
normals: false
diffuse/albedo: true
anything that is used in .inkatlas files: true
Further properties
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LayerTile
Material scaling (zoom on surface)
Plastic
The most commonly used material for anything textured is engine\materials\metal_base.remt. Despite its name, this material isn't necessarily metallic.
To turn the material into plastic, use the following CKeyValuePairs in your material's "values" array:
BaseColor
base\materials\placeholder\white.xbm
Normal
optional: path to your normal map
Roughness
optional: path to your roughness map
RoughnessBias
0.200000003
BaseColorScale
Colour as x/y/z values (color picker blend file here)
You can find a ready-to-download template here.
Emissive Material
You can make engine\materials\metal_base.remt glow by adding the correct parameters, or you can poke through the game files and search for emissive > .mi to find Cyberpunk material templates to learn from. 
For a list of such templates, check here. 
Emissive
path to emissive texture, e.g. engine\textures\editor\white.xbm
The texture works like an alpha mask.
EmissiveEV
float, e.g. 2.0: emissive brightness. Brightness varies depending on your colour. Unless you want to actively blind people, you might want to stay below 4.
EmissiveColor
Glow colour as RGB (copy from e.g. mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi)
Find a ready-to-use glowing .mi file here.
Glass
Cyberpunk's glass material, such as base\materials\glass_onesided.mt
Opacity
float, 0.0 - 1.0: Controls glass transparency. 
GlassTint
A texture to tint your glass. (TBD: Does it work as a mask?)
TintColor
Glass tint as RGB (copy from e.g. mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi). 
IOR
​Index of refraction as float, 1.0-2.0: The refraction properties of your material.
Refraction Depth
float 0.0-10.0: Control refraction amount here.
FresnelBias
float, 0.0 - 2.0: How much does the glass behave like a lens (that is, warp the picture behind it)?
BlurRadius
float, 0.0 - 1.0: Blur amount when looking through the glass
Find a ready-to-use bottle glass .mi here. 
Non-warping glass
For a glass material without view distortion and warping, use base\vehicles\common\materials\glass_windshield_tinted_black.mi
Opacity/OpacityBackFace
float, 0.0 - 5.0: Controls glass transparency. OpacityBackFace will only affect inside-facing normals.
FrontFacesReflectionPower / BackFacesReflectionPower
float, 0.0-10.0: How strongly should the glass reflect?
TintColor/TintSurface
Surface and refraction color as RGB (copy from e.g. mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi). 
Find a ready-to use glass .mi file here 
Half-transparent glass
base\environment\decoration\electronics\devices\device_neokitsch\textures\device_neokitsch_glass_black.mi
Device screen glass
base\fx\shaders\parallaxscreen.mt
ParalaxTexture
Texture that your screen should display, e.g. base\materials\placeholder\black.xbm
LayersSeparation
1
ScanlinesIntensity
0
ScanlinesDensity
0
Emissive
0
Roughness
0.200000003
Metalness
0
Find a ready-to-use example of a turned-off screen here.
Liquid
Cyberpunk has its own liquid shader(s) such as base\materials\fillable_fluid_vertex.mt. Projecting this material onto a submesh will turn the submesh into a transparent container filled with the liquid you specified. If you flip the container on its head, the fluid will drain to the bottom and fill it up again.
To control the offsets, you need to adjust the vectors FluidBoundingBoxMax and FluidBoundingBoxMin.
It shares various properties (such as IOR, FresnelBias, BlurRadius) with the glass shader.
TintColor
liquid's color as RGB (copy from e.g. mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi). 
FillAmount
float, e.g.0.0: Probably works in combination with the bounding box. You'll have to experiment.
FluidBoundingBoxMin
FluidBoundingBoxMax
Vectors (X, Y, Z, W) controlling the maximum distance from the container's walls. Each value is a float (decimal) speficying the axis in question - you'll simply have to play around with them (you can ignore W). 

For a bottle material I've used 
Max: 0.03, 0.03, 0.155
Min: -0.03, -0.03, 0.09
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Find a ready-to use (black) liquid .mi file here.
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Analysing other mods

Multilayered

Last modified 3d ago

GlobalNormal	path\to\normal.xbm
MultilayerMask	path\to\mask.mlmask (white file)
MultilayerSetup	path\to\material.mlsetup

BaseColor	path to your texture.xbm (Diffuse/Albedo)
Roughness	path to your roughnessMap.xbm (if you have one)
Metalness	path to your metalnessMap.xbm (if you have one)
Normal	path to your normalMap.xbm (if you have one)

BaseColor	`base\materials\placeholder\white.xbm`
Normal	optional: path to your normal map
Roughness	optional: path to your roughness map
RoughnessBias	0.200000003
BaseColorScale	Colour as x/y/z values (color picker blend file here)

Emissive	path to emissive texture, e.g. `engine\textures\editor\white.xbm`The texture works like an alpha mask.
EmissiveEV	float, e.g. `2.0`: emissive brightness. Brightness varies depending on your colour. Unless you want to actively blind people, you might want to stay below 4.
EmissiveColor	Glow colour as RGB (copy from e.g. `mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi`)

Opacity	float, `0.0 - 1.0`: Controls glass transparency.
GlassTint	A texture to tint your glass. (TBD: Does it work as a mask?)
TintColor	Glass tint as RGB (copy from e.g. `mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi`).
IOR	Index of refraction as float, `1.0-2.0:` The refraction properties of your material.
Refraction Depth	float `0.0-10.0:` Control refraction amount here.
FresnelBias	float, `0.0 - 2.0`: How much does the glass behave like a lens (that is, warp the picture behind it)?
BlurRadius	float, `0.0 - 1.0`: Blur amount when looking through the glass

Opacity/OpacityBackFace	float, `0.0 - 5.0`: Controls glass transparency. OpacityBackFace will only affect inside-facing normals.
FrontFacesReflectionPower / BackFacesReflectionPower	float, `0.0-10.0`: How strongly should the glass reflect?
TintColor/TintSurface	Surface and refraction color as RGB (copy from e.g. `mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi`).

ParalaxTexture	Texture that your screen should display, e.g. `base\materials\placeholder\black.xbm`
LayersSeparation	1
ScanlinesIntensity	0
ScanlinesDensity	0
Emissive	0
Roughness	0.200000003
Metalness	0

TintColor	liquid's color as RGB (copy from e.g. `mi_neokitsch_fridge_z_emissive.mi`).
FillAmount	float, e.g.`0.0`: Probably works in combination with the bounding box. You'll have to experiment.
FluidBoundingBoxMin FluidBoundingBoxMax	Vectors (X, Y, Z, W) controlling the maximum distance from the container's walls. Each value is a float (decimal) speficying the axis in question - you'll simply have to play around with them (you can ignore W). For a bottle material I've used Max: 0.03, 0.03, 0.155 Min: -0.03, -0.03, 0.09