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# background

A background to be rendered before the rest of the scene.

```
var background: SCNMaterialProperty { get }
```

## Discussion

If the material property’s [`contents`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterialProperty/contents) object is `nil`, SceneKit does not draw any background before drawing the rest of the scene. (If the scene is presented in an [`SCNView`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNView) instance, the view’s background color is visible behind the contents of the scene.)

If you specify a cube map texture for the material property (see the discussion of the [`contents`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterialProperty/contents) property), SceneKit renders the background as a skybox.

---

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