10 min
Terrain tools allow you to create realistic landscapes like mountains, rivers, and canyons. This article explains the tools used for creating terrain.
Opening the Terrain Tools
The terrain tools can be opened from the Home tab or View tab.
The editor window is divided into Create, Region, and Edit sections, each outlined in detail below.
Create Tab
Generate
The Generate tool is used to create random landscapes. You can use this to quickly start a new landscape and then modify it based on your individual vision.
Position / Size | Determines the world position and overall size of terrain map to generate. |
Biomes | Determines which types of biomes will be generated, for example water, hills, and mountains. |
Biome Size | Sets the size of biomes within the overall terrain map size. |
Caves | Sets whether caves will be generated in the terrain map. |
Seed | The random number “seed” associated with the terrain map. Modifying the seed lets you make varied terrain with the same biome parameters. |
Import
The Import tool lets you import heightmaps and colormaps. This feature is outlined further in the /articles/importing terrain data|Importing Terrain Data article.
Clear
The Clear tool completely clears all terrain from the place.
Region Tab
Tools in the Region tab speed up terrain creation by letting you work with large areas.
Manipulating Regions
To select and manipulate a region:
- Click the Select tool.
- Click and drag to create a region bounding box (maximum of 512 studs along any axis).
- Manipulate the region with the Move, Resize, and Rotate tools. These tools are very similar to how they're used with parts, except that movement can only be done in increments of 4 studs and rotation in 90° increments.
Uh oh! Your browser doesn't appear to support embedded videos! Here is a direct link to the video instead.
You can also copy and paste full selected regions — just click Copy and then Paste to create a new region.
Filling and Deleting
You can even fill or delete entire regions with a material:
When you select a region, you also select all the “air” inside that region. When editing regions — moving, resizing, etc. — the Merge Empty option affects the outcome.
The Add and Subtract tools are useful for building the majority of your environment, before you start fine-tuning details. These tools contain various attributes:
Brush Shape | The shape of the brush; either a sphere, cube, or cylinder. |
Base Size / Height | The size of the brush, ranging from 1 to 64. To set a Height that's different from the base size, click the small "lock" icon and select/enter a new value.
|
Pivot Position | The vertical anchor point of the brush in relation to existing terrain (bottom, center, or top). |
Snap to Grid | Whether or not the brush stays aligned to the terrain grid. |
Ignore Water | Whether or not to ignore water when adding or subtracting non-water terrain. For example, you can toggle this on to avoid removal of water when using the Subtract tool. |
Auto Material | When using the Add tool, blends new terrain with surrounding terrain. |
Material | The appearance of new terrain when using the Add tool, for example ice, sand, water, or grass. Note that you can customize the color of these terrain materials. |
Uh oh! Your browser doesn't appear to support embedded videos! Here is a direct link to the video instead.
When using the Add or Subtract tool, you’ll see a grid appear at your mouse. All terrain is created on this grid. As you click and drag your mouse to edit terrain, notice that the terrain is affected by the angle of the grid. Tilting and rotating the camera will change the grid angle.
The Grow tool slowly fills in areas with terrain which is useful for adding hills or smoothing out gaps.
Erode
The Erode tool slowly removes terrain. This is useful for creating caves, canyons, rivers, and lakes.
Smooth
The Smooth tool smoothes out terrain in the selected area. This is useful for making jagged terrain more natural and getting rid of sharp corners.
Flatten
The Flatten tool lets you create completely flat terrain, ideal for areas where you may want to place buildings or roads. In addition to various attributes outlined above, this tool includes two important options:
Flatten Mode |
Erode to Flat — Given a plane to flatten on, only terrain above the plane is removed.
Grow to Flat — Given a plane to flatten on, only terrain below the plane is filled in.
Flatten All — Given a desired plane to flatten on, a perfectly flat surface is generated (terrain above the plane is removed and terrain below the plane is filled in). |
Fixed Plane | When toggled on, locks the flatten plane to a specific Y position as defined by Plane Position. The plane's position can either be manually entered or selected with the "eyedropper" tool next to the value input field. |
Uh oh! Your browser doesn't appear to support embedded videos! Here is a direct link to the video instead.
The Paint tool changes the terrain’s current material, for example grass, rock, or water. This is useful for adding variations like dirt and rock patches in a grass field.
Uh oh! Your browser doesn't appear to support embedded videos! Here is a direct link to the video instead.
The Sea Level tool lets you create a consistent water level across any region. To use it, enter a X/Y/Z position and size, then click Create to flood the region with water or Evaporate to remove water.
Uh oh! Your browser doesn't appear to support embedded videos! Here is a direct link to the video instead.
Alternatively to setting a strict X/Y/Z size for the sea level region, you can drag the handle "globes" around the region box to resize it.
The Replace tool lets you replace one terrain material with another, either within a large box region or by using the terrain brush.
Method | Select Box to replace all terrain within a defined region (position and size) or select Brush to replace terrain at the brush level. |
Source Material | The existing terrain material you want to replace. |
Target Material | Which material to replace the source material with. |
Customizing Terrain
Terrain can be further customized by adjusting material colors or enabling decorations. These options are controlled through the Terrain object within Workspace.
Material Colors
Each terrain material like rock, ice, or grass has a default color, but you can customize these if desired. For example, if you’re building an arctic world or a volcanic wasteland, terrain colors may be adjusted to fit the theme.
- In the Properties window, expand the Appearance → MaterialColors branch.
- Enter or select a new RGB value for any material and the terrain will update dynamically.
Water Properties
Water color and other water effects are controlled through separate properties in the Appearance section:
WaterColor | Changes water color from the default "aqua blue" to any other color. This is useful for creating water that looks like lava, slime, oil, etc. |
WaterReflectance | Adjusts how much water surfaces reflect the sky and surrounding objects, from a value of 1 (high reflection) to 0 (no reflection). |
WaterTransparency | Changes water clarity/transparency, from a value of 1 (fully clear) to 0 (totally opaque, like paint). |
WaterWaveSize | Controls the size of waves on water, from a value of 1 (larger waves) to 0 (no waves). |
WaterWaveSpeed | Controls the speed of the moving/flowing effect on water surfaces, from a value of 100 (very fast) to 0 (non-moving water). |
Note that some water properties may only be apparent while playing. To preview all properties while editing, set Rendering → Edit Quality Level to the highest level in Studio's settings.
All terrain of the Grass material can be decorated with animated blades of grass by toggling on Decoration.
Tags: