Landscape tools turn a flat arrangement into a place with elevation, planting and water. Start with the ground shape, then add the smaller details that help people understand scale and use.
Terrain Has A Surface And A Shape
Terrain can be a top surface or a solid platform. Include bottom and sides adds the underside and side walls; turning it off leaves an open top surface. Use a platform for an island or a landmass that must be understood from below, and an open surface when only the ground matters.
The Raise, Lower, Smooth and Flatten brushes change elevation. Brush size sets the area affected, hardness shapes the edge, and speed controls how quickly height changes. On solid terrain, the Top and Bottom paint choices determine the surfaces available to a stroke; the face where you begin determines which one you paint.
A height map is an image whose brightness represents elevation. Max Terrain Height controls the height represented by white in the top map. You can upload an image or choose Paint terrain heights to edit the map in Canvas, inspect the preview and apply or cancel it.
Height Map Resolution controls the image detail. Mesh Resolution controls how finely the terrain is shaped. They are separate choices: increasing the image size alone does not guarantee a more detailed visible surface.
Cut A Cave Into A Platform
A cave uses a separate shape to remove volume from a solid terrain platform. Think of this shape as the space that should be empty. Create a cave cube or make an editable cave copy from a supported model, then position and sculpt it through the terrain.
Show negative mesh reveals the cutting shape. Preview terrain result returns to the resulting ground. Showing or hiding this helper is a viewing choice; the Subtract from landscape setting decides whether the cave actually cuts the platform.
A completed sculpt stroke is one undoable edit. If saving it fails, Stage offers a retained edit to retry or discard. A missing cave source or failed result needs attention; it should not be treated as a successfully cut surface.
Plant With Different Levels Of Control
Vegetation covers trees, bushes, flowers, grasses, ground cover and climbers. Choose a preset and use the placement mode that suits the work:
Painted vegetation belongs to a planting layer. Regenerating a layer resets manual edits to its generated plants. Independent plants are preserved, so use them for carefully placed focal points. A layer or stroke generates at most 192 plants.
Planting remembers its supporting surface, but later moving that surface does not automatically carry the plants with it. Review the planting after changing the underlying layout.
Add Water And Other Flowing Surfaces
Rivers offers Water, Lava, Energy and Oil. Paint a patch, erase unwanted coverage and use the flow brush to establish direction. The patch's extent and elevation determine where it exists; appearance controls change its color, transparency and motion.
For a pond or flooded low ground, select terrain and enable Fill low terrain at a fixed level. This fills the terrain at the chosen level rather than following every rise and dip.
Rendered mode animates the surface. Material mode shows it still, while Solid and Wireframe simplify it for inspection.
Common Questions
Why is the bottom brush unavailable?
Open terrain has only a top surface. Enable Include bottom and sides if the design needs a solid platform.
Can I use a cave on open terrain?
A cave needs a solid platform to subtract from. Choose the intended landscape in the Caves controls before creating the cutting shape.
Why did my individual plant adjustments disappear?
Regeneration rebuilds the generated members of that planting layer. Keep precise, individually arranged plants separate from a layer you intend to regenerate.
See shape and plant a landscape for a practical starting sequence.