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The Terrain system lets you create expansive outdoor environments quickly in your scenes. It supports real-time sculpting, heightmap import, multi-layer PBR material painting, foliage, trees, holes, nav mesh, and more.

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Feature overview

FeatureStatusNotes
Real-time editingSupportedBasic sculpting tools and 2-layer texture painting
Import heightmapsSupportedImport from World Machine, GeoGen, Gaia, or any tool that exports a 16-bit heightmap
Level of detailSupportedVery large landscapes possible
Multi-layer PBR materialsSupportedUp to 32 materials; supports importing multiple splatmaps
Material height blendingSupported
Material anti-tilingSupported
Physics materialsSupportedPer-material physics properties: footstep sounds, bounciness, etc.
FoliageSupportedGrass and scatter meshes
TreesSupported
HolesSupported
Nav meshSupported
DisplacementSupportedVertex displacement

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Creating terrain

1

Add a Terrain GameObject

Right-click in the Hierarchy panel and select 3D Object > Terrain. The inspector will prompt you to create, import, or link a terrain asset.
2

Create a new terrain asset

In the inspector, configure the terrain dimensions and press Create New Terrain. Choose a save location for the terrain asset.
SettingDescription
Heightmap SizeResolution of the heightmap. Higher values increase VRAM usage significantly (2048×2048 = 24 MB, 4096×4096 = 96 MB, 8192×8192 = 384 MB).
World ScaleInches per heightmap texel. A smaller value gives more precision at a smaller overall footprint. A larger value covers more ground with less precision. 39 inches ≈ 1 metre is a good default.
Max HeightMaximum terrain height in inches. Higher values reduce precision at lower elevations.
3

Or link an existing asset

If you already have a terrain asset from another scene, drag it from the Asset Browser onto the Hierarchy, or press Link Existing in the inspector to select it manually. Terrain assets are fully reusable across scenes.

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Terrain materials

A Terrain Material is an asset that defines PBR textures, physics surface properties, detail meshes, and other properties the terrain uses to render. Because they are standalone assets you can reuse them across scenes and projects. Terrain materials differ from standard materials in that they use specialised shaders for LOD-aware landscape rendering with automatic material blending.

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Creating a terrain material

1

From the terrain inspector

Select your Terrain GameObject, scroll to the Terrain Materials section in the inspector, and press New Terrain Material…. Choose a save location — the material is automatically added to the terrain’s material list.
2

From the Asset Browser

Right-click in the Asset Browser and select New Asset > New Terrain Material… to create a standalone terrain material not yet associated with any terrain.
You can also drag existing terrain material assets from the Asset Browser into the terrain’s material list or drop them directly onto the terrain in the viewport. To find terrain materials on the cloud, click Browse… in the terrain materials list, or filter the Asset Browser by @cloud ext:tmat.
There is currently a limit of 4 terrain materials per terrain. This limitation is planned to be addressed in a future update.

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The base layer

The first terrain material you add automatically becomes the base layer and covers the entire landscape. You paint additional materials on top of this base.

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Painting terrain materials

Select the Paint Texture tool in the terrain editor toolbar. Choose the terrain material you want to paint from the inspector list, then paint directly in the viewport using your brush.

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Terrain tools

Access all terrain editing tools from the editor toolbar when a Terrain GameObject is selected:
Raise and lower terrain height with a brush. Adjust brush size, opacity, and falloff in the inspector.
Paint terrain materials onto the surface. Select a material from the terrain’s material list before painting.
Place grass, scatter meshes, and trees across the terrain surface.

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Clutter on terrain

Use the Clutter system with the Terrain Material scatterer to automatically scatter objects based on which terrain material covers a given point — for example, flowers on dirt and moss on rock. See the Effects page for full clutter documentation.