diff --git a/libraries/render-utils/src/sdf_text3D.slf b/libraries/render-utils/src/sdf_text3D.slf
index faa4d02bfa..6355c71737 100644
--- a/libraries/render-utils/src/sdf_text3D.slf
+++ b/libraries/render-utils/src/sdf_text3D.slf
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 uniform sampler2D Font;
 uniform bool Outline;
 uniform vec4 Color;
+uniform vec4 backgroundColor = vec4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
 
 // the interpolated normal
 in vec3 _normal;
@@ -30,6 +31,8 @@ const float smoothing = 256.0;
 const float interiorCutoff = 0.8;
 const float outlineExpansion = 0.2;
 
+
+
 void main() {
     // retrieve signed distance
     float sdf = texture(Font, _texCoord0).g;
@@ -60,8 +63,8 @@ void main() {
     */
     packDeferredFragmentLightmap(
          normalize(_normal),
-         Color.a * a,
-         Color.rgb,
+         1.0 // Color.a * a,
+         mix(Color.rgb, backgroundColor, Color.a * a),
          DEFAULT_ROUGHNESS,
          DEFAULT_METALLIC,
          DEFAULT_SPECULAR,