---
title: "LamaSurface"
canonical: "https://rmanwiki-27.pixar.com/space/REN27/542220286/LamaSurface"
format: markdown
---
![image](media://bab44b55-181d-46c0-9bb1-9723b98d6096)

<span style="color: #000000">All MaterialX Lama materials need to begin with attaching a LamaSurface node to your geometry.</span>    
  
LamaSurface allows you to create a material and define different materials for the front and back facing surface.   
  


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### Material Properties

**Material Sides**

Defines the number of sides a material has, 1 (default) or 2 where a backside can be a different material look.  
  


> Macro (multimedia)

  
The above example demonstrates a leaf material on the front side and a gold material on the back side, creating ... GoldLeaf  
  


**Material Front**

This is the material that defines the front facing result.  
  


**Material Back**

This connection is available if the Material Sides is set to 2 and defines the look of the backside of the surface.  
  


**Presence**

This connection is available if enabled in the Features below. This connection allows you to define the visibility of a surface using a pattern connection.


![image](media://258d3376-2fbb-49f5-bcb1-ff442ff89c16)

![image](media://425eeecf-bc03-410e-875d-345e7220321f)

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### Features

**Compute Presence**

Allows the creation and connection of a presence setting or connected pattern to control the visibility of the object.  
  


**Compute Opacity**

This enables or disables the computation of opacity for transmissive materials (like glass). Leaving it off can speed up a render for possible draft or preview renders.  
  
**Presence / Opacity Cached **  
  
Whether the renderer should cache presence (and opacity) or not. Caching these properties will lead to faster tracing, especially for shadow queries, but can lead to a less sharp result than uncached presence/opacity. (Note that checking either subsurface or interior computation will automatically disable presence/opacity caching.)  
  


**Computer Subsurface**

This enables or disables the computation of subsurface scattering (when in use). Leaving this off can speed up draft or preview renders.  
  


**Compute Interior**

This enables or disables the computation of the interior for transmissive materials (like glass). Leaving it off can speed up a render for possible draft or preview renders. If enabled, the Compute Opacity control also needs to be enabled.