Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Raise/Lower Terrain:
This works much like the Airbrush tool in Photoshop.
A brush is defined by size and opacity (the rate the brush actually changes
the area it is painting). Note that there are a bunch of different types of
brushes (why anyone would use a Star brush is a mystery to me), but
they can quickly allow for organic forms as the brush is left in one spot or
dragged across the surface. Clicking and holding or clicking and dragging
raises the terrain surface until it reaches the Terrain Height setting defined
in the Terrain Resolution from step 3, at which point the terrain will
plateau. Holding the Shift button down while clicking and holding or
clicking and dragging pushes the surface back down until it reaches its
default starting height.
Paint Height:
In many ways this is similar to the Raise/Lower Terrain;
however, it also allows for areas of the terrain to paint up to a specific
height and stop (think tiered plateaus). To use it, either set the height with
the slider, or Shift-click the terrain to define a target height, and then paint
on the terrain to raise (or lower) the terrain to plateau at the target height.
Smooth Height:
Think of this as erosion. It smoothes areas of the terrain
and softens the area.
Paint Texture:
This tool allows the user to define textures and then apply
them to the terrain. Note that this tool is useless until the tool has been
told which textures can be used in the scene. This happens with the Edit
Textures… button contained in the tool nested within the Inspector
panel (much more on how to use this later). The power of this tool
becomes apparent when there are several textures defined, and these
textures are layered using various opacities upon the terrain.
Place Trees:
Much like the Paint Texture this allows for trees (as in geometry)
to be placed on the terrain using a painting paradigm (or Paint Effects if you're
familiar with Maya). This tool does not include a wide variety of brushes, but
the size of the default round brush can be changed as well as other variables
including the density of trees as they are placed; the color, height, and width
of the trees; and the variation of these attributes. Again, this tool is useless until
tree meshes have been defined; this tool is done via the Edit Trees… button
within the tool (nested in the Inspector panel). This tool can also be used to
remove trees by Shift-painting over the terrain to remove all types of trees and
Ctrl-painting to remove only the active types of trees.
Paint Details:
“Details” is kind of a funny word here. It actually means
grass or detail meshes. Grass is an appealing part of Terrain as it is low
poly but moves in the wind in believable ways and can really bring a
scene to life. Detail meshes are things like rocks—things that when
spread about on the scene and slightly adjusted in size or rotation can
suddenly change the profile of the scene. Detail meshes can be anything
really, including low vegetation. As expected, the tool only works after
Grass or Detail Meshes have been defined. They are defined with the Edit
Details… button in the Inspector when the Paint Details tool is active.
