Terrain Editing

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About Author Crytek, jameszhao Skill Level Beginner Compatibility All Requirements Not specified. Date Added Not specified. Last Modified Not specified.

This article will give you an overview of how terrain editing works in Sandbox2. Player spend the majority of their time on the ground, so make sure it's well modeled.

Contents 1 Accessing the Terrain Editing Tools 2 Brushes 2.1 Activating a Brush 2.2 The Flatten Brush 2.3 The Smooth Brush 2.4 The Rise/Lower Brush 3 Other Options 3.1 Brush Size 3.2 Brush Hardness 4 Noise 4.1 Noise Frequency 4.2 Noise Scale 5 Exit Terrain Editing Mode 6 Results

Accessing the Terrain Editing Tools

In the rollup bar, click Modify under the Terrain tab.

Brushes

Sandbox2 uses brushes to edit Terrain. Brushes allow the designer to easily create natural terrain that lack sharp edges and unnatural boundaries.

Activating a Brush

Before using a brush, you have to activate it. Open the Type dropdown menu under the Modify Terrain section to activate your brush.

Now we are going to explore the different brushes: Flatten, Smooth and Rise/Lower.

The Flatten Brush

The Flatten brush will make terrain go to a specific height. The follow example flattened the whole area to the height of the hill.

Before Flattening

During Flattening

After Flattening

First activate the Flatten Brush. Then you need to select a height in the height control slider on the Modify Terrain panel.

This is the height at which terrain will be the flattened to.

Note Holding Ctrl and clicking the left mouse button will set the height value to the height of the terrain you clicked on

To flatten an area, click and hold the left mouse mutton in the perspective viewport and move the mouse around. The Terrain will be flattened wherever the brush is.

The Smooth Brush

The Smooth Brush makes sharp terrain smother and softer.

First, activate the brush. Then in the perspective viewport, click and hold the left mouse button on the terrain and then move the mouse around.

The Rise/Lower Brush

The Rise/Lower Brush allows you to increase or decrease the height of the terrain in order to make natural terrain tructures like hills and mountains.

First activate the brush. Then select a Height.

The Height setting is the height change the tool will apply to the terrain. A positive value will raise the terrain, while a negative value will lower it.

Positive height raises terrain

Negative height lowers terrain

Note Holding Ctrl and clicking the left mouse button will lower the height of the terrain if you have a positive value set as height.

To use the brush, click and hold the left mouse button in the perspective viewport, and move the mouse around.

Other Options

In the Brush Settings section of the rollup bar there are some other sliders to modify your brush.

Brush Size

The Outside radius slider changes the size of the brush. The size of the brush controls how much terrain it affects.

Small Radius

Large Radius

Brush Hardness

The Hardness slider changes the strength of the brush. A lower value will give a soft effect, while a higher value will make it stronger and harsher.

Noise

Note This section needs extra images

Sliders under the Noise Settings section controls how uneven the brush affects the terrain.

Noise Frequency

Noise frequency controls the amount of noise that the brush has. A higher frequency will cause much more jagged areas.

Noise Scale

Noise scale controls the height of the jagged corners and irregularities. A higher scale will make these jags more pronounced.

Note Don't confuse Noise Scale with Noise Frequency. Frequency controls how often noises occurs while scale controls how powerful each noise is.

Exit Terrain Editing Mode

Once you're done with terrain editing, click the modify button again or press escape to exit terrain editing mode.

Results