Terrain settings, brushes and filters
A selected terrain has five sections of its own in the INSPECTOR, TERRAIN, HEIGHTFIELD, NOISE, TERRAIN SHADING and EDITOR, above ORGANIC, SHADING and TRANSFORM. EDIT TERRAIN… in EDITOR opens the TERRAIN EDITOR, with its brushes and filters.
A terrain is a square grid of heights. The NOISE settings are the recipe that builds the grid, and brush strokes and filters change the heights in it directly. Changing the recipe builds the grid again and erases that sculpting, and the tables below mark each setting that does. ⌘Z brings the sculpting back.
Terrain
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| WORLD EXTENT X | 1 m to 200 m, default 20 m | The width of the terrain along X. A wider terrain stretches the same hills over more ground. | Keeps sculpting |
| WORLD EXTENT Z | 1 m to 200 m, default 20 m | The width of the terrain along Z | Keeps sculpting |
| HEIGHT SCALE | 0 to 20, default 3 | Multiplies the height of every point. At 0 the terrain is flat. | Keeps sculpting |
To fit more hills into a wider terrain, raise FREQUENCY in NOISE as well.
Heightfield
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution menu, unlabeled | 64 × 64, 128 × 128, 256 × 256 or 512 × 512; default 256 × 256 | The number of heights along each side. The same land is drawn in more or less detail, with 7,938, 32,258, 130,050 or 522,242 triangles. A finer grid takes longer to rebuild after each change. | Erases sculpting. One undo step. |
Noise
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recipe menu, unlabeled | MOUNTAINS, ROLLING HILLS, FOOTHILLS, PLAINS or DRAINAGE; default MOUNTAINS | The kind of land. MOUNTAINS has sharp ridges, ROLLING HILLS smooth valley floors between peaks of varied height, FOOTHILLS jagged peaks among gentler ground and PLAINS gentle, undulating ground. DRAINAGE builds a branching network of rivers and cuts a valley along each one. | Always | Erases sculpting. One undo step. |
| DENSITY | 0.50 to 8.00, default 2.00 | Higher values give more river channels | DRAINAGE only | Erases sculpting |
| CARVE DEPTH | 0 to 1.00, default 0.50 | How deep the channels cut below the ridges | DRAINAGE only | Erases sculpting |
| CARVE WIDTH | 0.02 to 0.30, default 0.10 | The width of the valleys as a share of the terrain's width. At 0.10 on a 20 m terrain, a valley reaches about 2 m out from its channel. | DRAINAGE only | Erases sculpting |
| RELIEF | 0.20 to 2.00, default 1.00 | The height of the hills between the channels | DRAINAGE only | Erases sculpting |
| DETAIL | 0 to 1.00, default 0.60 | How much smoother the valleys are than the hills | DRAINAGE only | Erases sculpting |
| OCTAVES | 1 to 8, default 6 | Layers of smaller bumps on top of the larger ones | Always | Erases sculpting |
| LACUNARITY | 1.50 to 3.00, default 2.13 | How much finer each layer of bumps is than the one below it | Always | Erases sculpting |
| PERSISTENCE | 0.10 to 1.00, default 0.50 | Higher values give smoother ground, lower values rougher ground | Always | Erases sculpting |
| FREQUENCY | 0.10 to 10.00, default 1.00 | How many hills and peaks fit across the terrain | Always | Erases sculpting |
| SEED: | A whole number, chosen at random for a new terrain | Shows the seed the land is built from | Always | None |
| REROLL | Button | Picks a new seed from 0 to 100,000 and builds new land | Always | Erases sculpting. One undo step per click. |
The river network of DRAINAGE is laid out on a grid of 128 × 128 whatever the resolution, so a finer HEIGHTFIELD adds detail to the hills without adding smaller channels.
Terrain shading
These settings belong to the terrain's material. A new terrain wears the Landscape material, with zoning on and the values marked Landscape below. Choosing another material replaces them with that material's settings. None of them affects sculpting.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENABLE ELEVATION ZONING | On or off. On in Landscape. | Colors the surface by height with four stops. Once on, it reads ELEVATION ZONING ENABLED. | Always |
| BANDS or STRATA | Default BANDS | BANDS spreads the four colors from the lowest point of the terrain to the highest. STRATA lays the ground out in beds of rock set by height in the scene. | Zoning on |
| STOP 1 (LOW), STOP 2, STOP 3, STOP 4 (HIGH) | A color and a POS slider from 0 to 1.00. Landscape: #261A12 at 0, #6B5740 at 0.33, #998066 at 0.67 and #D9D1C7 at 1.00. | The color of each stop, and where it sits between the lowest point at 0 and the highest at 1. Under STRATA the four colors take turns as the colors of the beds. | Zoning on. POS is dimmed under STRATA. |
| BED SCALE | 0.05 to 2.00, default 0.35 | The rough thickness of a bed in meters. Each bed is between half and 1.6 times this. | STRATA |
| WAVINESS | 0 to 0.50, default 0.12 | How far the edges of the beds bend up and down. At 0 the beds are flat. | STRATA |
| WAVE SCALE | 0.05 to 4.00, default 0.40 | How closely the bends repeat. Higher values give tighter bends. | STRATA |
| SEED | 1 to 99, default 1 | Shuffles the thicknesses of the beds | STRATA |
| SCREE | Color, #594D42 | The color of steep faces | STRATA |
| THRESHOLD | 20° to 85°, default 55° | The slope at which the scree color takes over | STRATA |
| SOFTNESS | 1° to 30°, default 12° | How far on either side of THRESHOLD the scree blends in | STRATA |
| ENABLE SNOW | On or off, default off | Covers level ground above SNOW LINE with snow, while steep faces stay bare. Once on, it reads SNOW ENABLED. | STRATA |
| SNOW LINE | −2.00 to 8.00, default 1.50 | The height in the scene, in meters, where snow begins. The edge is feathered over half a bed. | Snow on |
| SNOW | Color, #EBEDF2 | The color of the snow | Snow on |
| BAND COUNT | 1 to 3. 3 in Landscape. | The number of layers of bumps on the surface | Always |
| BUMP SCALE | 0.50 to 64.00. 8.00 in Landscape. | The size of the bumps. Higher values give finer bumps. | BAND COUNT at 1 |
| SCALE under BAND 1, BAND 2 and BAND 3 | 0.50 to 64.00. 4, 16 and 64 in Landscape. | The size of the bumps in each layer, from boulders at low values to grit at high ones | One row per band, from BAND COUNT 2 |
| AMPLITUDE under BAND 1, BAND 2 and BAND 3 | 0 to 1.00. 0.60, 0.30 and 0.10 in Landscape. | How strongly each layer shows | One row per band, from BAND COUNT 2 |
STRATA beds are fixed to heights in the scene. Moving a terrain up or down changes which beds show on it, and two terrains with the same STRATA settings share their beds at the same height. Build a terrain shows these settings in use.
Terrain editor
The TERRAIN EDITOR opens as a floating panel beside the viewport, which keeps showing the terrain as it changes. On the left is a map of the terrain seen from above, where black is the lowest ground and white the highest. The map is rescaled to that range each time it is drawn, so it shows which ground is higher, not how high it is. The name of the terrain appears at the top of the column on the right. The panel opens at its last position and size.
The editor works on one selected terrain. With anything else selected, the map reads Select a terrain primitive, then re-open this sheet. and APPLY is dimmed.
Brushes
| Label | Values and default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| RAISE | Button | Dragging on the map raises the ground under the brush. Holding Option while dragging lowers it. |
| SMOOTH | Button | Dragging relaxes the bumps under the brush toward the ground around them |
| FLATTEN | Button | Dragging moves the ground toward the height of the point where the stroke began |
| SIZE | 4 to 96, default 24 | The radius of the brush, in points of the terrain grid. On a finer HEIGHTFIELD the same size covers less of the map. |
| STRENGTH | 0.05 to 1.00, default 0.50 | How much each pass of the brush changes the ground |
When the panel opens, no brush is lit and a drag on the map does nothing. A click lights a brush, and a second click turns it off. A ring on the map shows the area the brush covers. The brush acts most at its center and not at all at its edge. The line under STRENGTH describes the lit brush.
Each stroke, from press to release, is one undo step. The terrain in the viewport follows the stroke while you drag. SIZE and STRENGTH return to their defaults each time the panel opens.
Filters
A filter changes the whole terrain at once. Clicking another filter under FILTERS shows it on the map at its default settings, with PREVIEW · APPLY TO COMMIT at the bottom of the map, and leaves the terrain unchanged. The sliders under PARAMETERS update the map a moment after each change. APPLY applies the filter to the terrain as one undo step. Starting a brush stroke or closing the panel drops a preview that has not been applied.
SMOOTH is chosen when the panel opens, and its preview appears once one of its settings changes. Choosing another filter returns its settings to their defaults. A setting in px counts points of the terrain grid.
| Filter | Settings, range and default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| SMOOTH | RADIUS 1 to 8 px, default 4 | Blurs the terrain, softening peaks and bumps |
| SHARPEN | AMOUNT 0 to 2.00, default 0.50; RADIUS 1 to 4 px, default 2 | Strengthens small differences in height, so ridges and edges look crisper |
| GAUSSIAN | RADIUS 1 to 16 px, default 8 | The blur of SMOOTH with a larger radius |
| ERODE | STRENGTH 0 to 1.00, default 0.50 | Wears down steep slopes and moves bumps downhill. It does not simulate running water. |
| AMPLIFY | AMOUNT −0.90 to 2.00, default 0.50 | Multiplies every height by 1 plus AMOUNT, from a tenth of the height at −0.90 to three times at 2.00 |
| INVERT | None | Turns peaks into valleys and valleys into peaks within the same range. Applying it twice restores the terrain. |
| EQUALIZE | None | Spreads the heights evenly between the lowest and the highest. A flat terrain stays flat. |
| CLIP | FLOOR 0 to 1.00, default 0; CEILING 0 to 1.00, default 1.00 | Flattens the ground above CEILING and below FLOOR. With FLOOR above CEILING, the whole terrain goes flat. |
| ZERO EDGES | FALLOFF 1 to 64 px, default 16 | Brings the ground near the four edges to zero height at the border, over FALLOFF points, for an island |
| ADD NOISE | AMPLITUDE 0 to 0.50, default 0.10; SCALE 1.00 to 32.00, default 8.00; OCTAVES 1 to 6, default 3 | Adds a layer of random bumps. At the same settings the pattern is the same on every terrain, so applying it twice doubles it. |
FLOOR and CEILING of CLIP measure heights before HEIGHT SCALE multiplies them. A MOUNTAINS terrain has heights up to about 2, so the default CEILING can flatten its peaks. For the brushes and filters in use, see Sculpt a terrain by hand.
Wave gallery
The WAVE GALLERY opens from EDIT WATER… in the EDITOR section of a selected water plane. Clicking a preset sets the waves of the water as one undo step. The preset whose settings match the water exactly has an outline. LOOPS marks the presets that repeat without a jump in a Loop Studio loop (Make a loop without a jump). Escape or the X closes the gallery.
A preset sets only the wave settings in RIPPLES. The color of the water, its clarity, IOR, ABSORB R, ABSORB G, ABSORB B, FOAM RADIUS and FOLLOW WIND stay as they were. A CLASSIC preset sets WIND DIR to 0°, ANISOTROPY to 1 and WAVE SPEED to 0 unless the table gives other values. Wave settings cannot be saved as a new preset.
| Preset | Waves | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| MIRROR | CLASSIC | BUMP ENABLED off, for a still surface |
| CALM LAGOON | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.02, SCALE 0.30, OCTAVES 3 |
| GENTLE RIPPLES | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.05, SCALE 0.60, OCTAVES 4 |
| POND | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.04, SCALE 1.50, OCTAVES 3 |
| WIND CHOP | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.10, SCALE 1.20, OCTAVES 4, WIND DIR 0°, ANISOTROPY 2.50, WAVE SPEED 0.50 |
| ROLLING SWELLS | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.08, SCALE 0.25, OCTAVES 4, WIND DIR 90°, ANISOTROPY 4.00, WAVE SPEED 0.30 |
| CHOPPY SEA | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.20, SCALE 1.50, OCTAVES 5, WAVE SPEED 0.80 |
| STORMY | CLASSIC | STRENGTH 0.30, SCALE 2.00, OCTAVES 6, WAVE SPEED 1.50 |
| OPEN OCEAN | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.50, WIND DIR 25°, WIND SPEED 3.50, SPREAD 8, SEED 7 |
| NORTH SEA | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.85, WIND DIR 310°, WIND SPEED 6.00, SPREAD 2, SEED 23 |
| GLASS SWELL | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.15, WIND DIR 60°, WIND SPEED 2.00, SPREAD 8, SEED 11 |
| HARBOR | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.30, WIND DIR 150°, WIND SPEED 1.40, SPREAD 3, SEED 4 |
| TRADE WINDS | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.60, WIND DIR 210°, WIND SPEED 4.50, SPREAD 5, SEED 31 |
| GROUND SWELL | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.40, WIND DIR 275°, WIND SPEED 5.50, SPREAD 12, SEED 42 |
| SQUALL | SPECTRAL, LOOPS | STRENGTH 0.95, WIND DIR 130°, WIND SPEED 7.50, SPREAD 1, SEED 66 |
Add water and choose its waves explains each wave setting.
Related: Build a terrain, Sculpt a terrain by hand and Add water and choose its waves.