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Official Create Landscapes and Terrain Faster

Discussion in 'World Building' started by AskCarol, Apr 8, 2020.

  1. AskCarol

    AskCarol

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    Description
    Creating landscapes for your interactive experiences can be difficult. Unity's new Terrain tools help make that process a lot easier.

    This session will showcase some of our latest terrain tools like custom brushes for sculpting, material painting, generating holes, and using scripts to interact with the terrain.

    You can download the assets used in the video here:
    Unity Terrain Samples
    The Hidden Valley

    When
    Tuesday, April 14th @ 9am PST

    Where
    Watch the session here.
    Sign up here to be notified of more Unite Now content!

    ______________________

    Together with this session we are also hosting a Q&A here in this thread to answer as many of your questions as possible.

    A team of product experts from across Unity will be available starting after the session. Our Community team will continue to field questions for the next two days to foster an ongoing discussion with the community. Please feel free to ask your questions in this thread.


    Some basic rules


    • The thread will open up for questions on Tuesday, April 14th @ 9am PST.


    • Don’t bundle multiple unrelated questions in one reply. One question/topic per reply.


    • Only questions related to the topics of the roadmap session are permitted.


    • All questions will be fielded by our Community Managers (@LeonhardP and @AskCarol)
      • Replies will have to be approved by the moderators to show up in the thread.


      • Once approved, the questions will be forwarded to the relevant experts.

    We really look forward to hearing from the community.

    Thank you
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2020
    studivo and valarnur like this.
  2. studivo

    studivo

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    Is it in YouTube? Also where can I download the demo assets?
     
  3. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi Studivo, yes, it is in Youtube, but you can access in this link: https://resources.unity.com/unitenow/live-sessions-to-inspire/create-landscapes-and-terrain-faster
    At the moment, the demo assets from the talk are not available to download, but you can access our Asset Store page and download other assets to create nice scenes: https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/1

    EDIT: these are the packs I used :)
    Unity Terrain Samples: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/terrain-tools-sample-asset-pack-145808
    The Hidden Valley: https://assetstore.unity.com/packag...ley-stylized-low-poly-environment-pack-112859
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2020
    mrKaizen and studivo like this.
  4. studivo

    studivo

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    Thank you, @AlexTE-Unity
    Which package from the Package manager should I choose? I don't see Terrain Tools package in my Unity 2019.3.9f1.

    Also, I only see this this at the Asset Store:
    https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/terrain-tools-sample-asset-pack-145808
     
  5. AskCarol

    AskCarol

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    Hello @Christin2015!

    The videos are available to rewatch at any time at the following link: https://resources.unity.com/unitenow/onlinesessions/create-landscapes-and-terrain-faster

    All of our sessions will be available on unity.com/unitenow.

    To ensure you don't miss any sessions as they are released, add Unite Now to your calendar here.
     
  6. noeqplease

    noeqplease

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    HI, I am 8 minutes into the tutorial video, and cannot create any useful terrain. Nor know "how" to use this. All I see is the features being explained, and I cannot even see where the brushes can be found. Will watch the entire thing, to see if there is any teaching of how to use this new "Terrain Tools" feature, or if it is just someone showing it off, with no useful way to learn how to actually implement it. Are we supposed to download additional assets from the store? The speaker mentions some at the beginning, but does not say if we have to download them to follow the tutorial... THanks.
     
  7. Christin2015

    Christin2015

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    Many thanks @AskCarol
    Yes, I had added all sessions to my Google calendar, the start times were converted to my time zone, I joined at the indicated time, but saw that the first video session was not live, but already finished. That is why I asked here.
     
    AskCarol likes this.
  8. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey Studivo, when you open the Package Manager, you can scroll to "Terrain Tools" and the button to download the Samples will be on your right. Remember to set "Show preview packages" by clicking on the button on your right top window.
     
    studivo likes this.
  9. e01100111e

    e01100111e

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    Same here :(
     
  10. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey there @noeqplease, as the video advances, you will see the demo project running in Unity, in there I will show how to use some of the features explained at the beginning (including where to locate the Terrain Tools). This talk was more about the updates on Terrain Tools than creating a terrain from scratch (I am sorry for that, maybe we should have clarified more).

    But we do have some nice materials where you can just learn this :)

    Some useful links, where you can find similar topics and know-hows:


    Brackeys (How to make Terrain in Unity!):



    Building beautiful worlds with Unity's new terrain features - Unity at GDC 2019:



    Digging into holes: https://blogs.unity3d.com/pt/2020/01/31/digging-into-terrain-paint-holes-in-unity-2019-3/


    Streamlined landscape creation with new Terrain Tools - Unite Copenhagen 2019:


    At the end of the video, we also show some nice links to our Unity Learn page, there are many tutorials there on Unity Editor ;)

    Hope that helps.
    Cheers
     
    studivo likes this.
  11. AskCarol

    AskCarol

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    No worries! Once they are released, they are available for rewatching later. You can access them anytime at that link :)
     
    e01100111e and studivo like this.
  12. studivo

    studivo

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    Thank you, @AlexTE-Unity !
     
    AlexTE-Unity and AskCarol like this.
  13. studivo

    studivo

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    Where can I find these Unite Now sessions?
    • 11:00 am: Unity – Behind the Game: Recompile
    • 1:00 pm: Key Takeaways from the 2020 Mobile Game Monetization Report
    I only found Key takeaways from the 2020 Mobile Game Monetization Report - Unite Now from this playlist:
     
  14. noeqplease

    noeqplease

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    Finally got to the "demo" at 18 minutes.
    Wow. 18 minutes trying to understand each feature. Without knowing how to get to the tools.
    So, I am trying to follow this demo. I create a new terrain, and I get a completely FLAT plane. Not at all like the instructor already has in his demo. He looks like he is quite a few steps ahead. Definitely, this tutorial is not for beginners, as there is a lot of steps missing between what I am getting by following his "steps", and the difference between what I see in the video and what I am getting in my scene. Well, at least I tried, and I am going to fool around with this new tool. Just not through this tutorial, which is not useful at all.
     
  15. noeqplease

    noeqplease

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    Thanks, this is actually what I need, for a beginner. I will check all of those out.
     
    AlexTE-Unity likes this.
  16. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Yup, thanks for the feedback and you are right, we should have clarified more. Hope those new links will be useful for you ;)
     
    ROBYER1 likes this.
  17. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @studivo I will try to answer this one :) but I believe this is a question for another topic.
    If you sign up in the Unity Now page, you should have all the links in your email.
    Also, in the blog post, you can add to your calendar and then you will get all the links.
    Here is the link: https://blogs.unity3d.com/2020/04/01/were-bringing-unity-to-you-unite-now-starts-april-14/

    There is also a post where you can find the Forums for the talks: https://forum.unity.com/forums/unite-now.484/

    And the Unite Now page: https://resources.unity.com/unitenow
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2020
  18. Feartheway

    Feartheway

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    any idea how i can add collision detection to bushes so when a player goes through them it triggers a sound?
    when i try to do it with the terrain tool it loses all the collision detection. I am thinking i need to put a script into the bushes to create a collision box at runtime.
     
    ROBYER1 likes this.
  19. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @Feartheway, there are a few ways of doing that.
    You are right, doing this directly with the terrain will lose the collision, since it is using the terrain collision data.
    Also, through terrain scripting (API) I think would be hard (performance wise), since you would have to iterate through all the details in your terrain (I will try to ask this to our Engineers working on the terrain tools, so we can get probably a better answer) - but maybe doing this once at runtime (to add a collision at runtime, as you said) it could work (and then you would trigger this when needed, I believe).
    You also could add your own Prefab game object and iterate through the detail positions to spawn/instantiate when you need (of course, not in an Update, maybe also create a Pooling for this). So I think what you want to do might work.
     
    Feartheway likes this.
  20. Feartheway

    Feartheway

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    If they could figure it out so i dont have to that would be awesome. I am also trying to figure out how to make bushes bend when the player moves through them. I think it might be something to do with cloth based physics?
     
  21. Ares13

    Ares13

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    I love the terrain tool sets and have tried them in the past couple weeks. I really like the use of noise in many aspects of the tools for randomness and the addition of holes could add a great deal for actual transitions into dungeons or terrain traps if you add them through code someway. I would love to see a tool to fill a terrain chunk with noise for a random map as a lot of procedural terrain tutorials I've watched seem to create a mesh almost like the terrain and use noise to create terrain heights so not much unlike the noise tool.

    My main issue is I have been trying for a few months to figure out how to create a huge world maps between 20,000km2 - 40,000km2 and then use the maps from the terrain to texture a sphere or possibly cube like No Man's Sky. I basically want recommendations on how I can take procedural generation techniques to create a large world using terrains in the editor so I have a prebuilt map I can use to create this world including large oceans with islands. Is this possible using heightmaps as layers and possibly a large heightmap that could mask areas that would be filled with water? Secondly, can is it possible to add biomes to create separate textures for hotter and colder areas? Thirdly, how well does terrain manipulation through scripting work with ECS?
     
  22. ROBYER1

    ROBYER1

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    Having required specular/roughness needed in the alpha channel of the albedo texture used for terrain always throws me off during the painting process. Could a separate texture slot be added for this instead please?
     
  23. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @Feartheway, to bend I saw some developers doing this using custom game objects with scripts and colliders (can be triggered). Idealy is not instantiate and enable it all during runtime, maybe per chunks or region depending on your scene. Also, if you are a programmer, I would encourage you to try the new DOTS (Data Oriented Tech Stack), which you can achieve dozens of hundreds of objects interacting in a better way with your player or any other game object (well, in this case entities, which replaces the game object - but you can mix them).
     
  24. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey there @Ares13 ,

    You can create big maps and terrains using the multiple terrain system (with Terrain Tools, which will help you). I recommend creating a big terrain width and height, but splitting in many tiles, so each tile will be a smaller terrain. They will connect when you paint (meshes or textures). You can use heightmaps to import or export, or layers also as you said, but I don't believe it will work as you want with the current Terrain Tools. Good news is, we are creating a new Environment system and we should have more updates still on 2020.

    But for custom worlds and procedural creation, maybe it will be better if you create your own procedural mesh generation system, so you can also customize how textures are loaded and create those effects you saw in that game (I don't know how they did that, maybe also checking how procedural works and some topics about their system).

    The current terrain (the one you saw in my tech talk) does not current support integration with ECS, but as I said above, our new Environment will have many new features, which we will say more throughout 2020 ;)
     
  25. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @ROBYER1
    You can use terrain API to extend the creation of brushes, but not, at the moment, to create any new slot in your layer based system. We do not have plans to add that for now, but we have a new Environment system coming and will have more news throughout 2020.
     
  26. ROBYER1

    ROBYER1

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    Thanks, it causes friction between texturing software which sometimes doesn't allow such a simple merging of the roughness into that channel especially when there are many terrain textures to manage it becomes a hassle to sort out.

    Is there any word on the new Environment system simplifying this process? From previous experience of Unreal Engine having the specular/roughness decoupled from the albedo made for much faster iteration. I would like to see Unity deliver that too when all is needed is a texture slot rather than a sampling of the alpha channel of a texture (even an option to choose which).
     
  27. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    I recommend you to check the Roadmap video (if you did not already), where we say a bit more about what is coming for world-building. This is the link where it starts:

    I still don't have much more information besides that, so stay tuned in our blog post and Unity social channels to know more, still for this year :)
     
    ROBYER1 likes this.
  28. Ares13

    Ares13

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    Thank you and I had heard about the new environment coming as well as a lot of big changes which have me worried about buying assets as things change. I was looking into Gaia by Procedural Worlds, but am waiting to see what they are doing to go with this change in Unity.
     
  29. raysoyama

    raysoyama

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    Hello!
    I noticed that with the current terrain system (2019.3) any foliage that is painted onto the terrain will be a navmesh obstacle, regardless of the prefab (being painted on) being static, or even having a collider. Any clue to why this might be happening, any work around, and weather it will be fixed in the future?
     
    ROBYER1 likes this.
  30. unity_2023284

    unity_2023284

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    Whenever I try to edit my terrain, my screen goes dark and I get an error saying: create failed; format unsupported. How do I fix this?
     
  31. seldemirov

    seldemirov

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    Why can't I use hotkeys for scaling brush? It doesn't work.
    When I use hot keys , the scale of terrain is turning on, but I need brush options controller.
     
  32. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @raysoyama can you provide a screenshot of your prefab that you are using as detail? This should not happen. Also, check if your Navmesh is scanning for colliders or meshes instead.
     
  33. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @unity_2023284 are you using the latest Unity 2019 version? URP or HDRP (or neither)?
    Try also closing and opening again the windows/layouts in the Editor (for example, go to Window - Layouts - Default).
     
  34. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hi @seldemirov , strange, it should work, what tool are you using inside Terrain? It will not work with Grass or Tree details, only with Textures, Sculpts, etc. Also, go to Edit - Shortcuts - Terrain and see if the shortcuts are there.
     
  35. raysoyama

    raysoyama

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    Examples of weird behaviors




    Cylinder on a terrain
    upload_2020-4-22_13-20-36.png

    Painted on foliage with a collider but not static
    upload_2020-4-22_13-25-5.png

    Painted foliage with no collier, not static
    upload_2020-4-22_13-27-58.png

    Painted Foliage with collider and is static
    upload_2020-4-22_13-31-5.png

    also to note, the pained foliage's colliders don't show up with the physics debugger
     
  36. seldemirov

    seldemirov

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    I used Texture Paint and other brushes.
     
  37. seldemirov

    seldemirov

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    Continuation. I clicked on the "[" and then came up the window "the conflict of hot keys". When I chose the option to use the button for Terrain, the "Perform Selected" button turned into the "Rebind Selected" button. I clicked on it. And that is happening after : if I click on the left mouse button, the size of the brush changes. I checked the Manager's hot buttons and mouse were not tied to the size of the brush Terrain. I tried to use various methods to solve the problem, but nothing helped and I had to use the "Reset Packages to default" function. After that, I lost all my assets and the entire pipeline. I reinstalled everything again. Hot buttons for Terrain still not working.
     
  38. neoshaman

    neoshaman

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    @raysoyama looks like the navmesh is using some cross quad LOD as a reference
     
  39. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey Seldemirov
    Could you solve this? I wonder if you use a different version and try the shortcuts again it helps. I was checking here and could not find a single case that this happened. Also, if it is still happening, could you please submit a bug report? You can find more about how to do this here.
     
  40. DragonRider

    DragonRider

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    I've been toying around with hydraulic erosion and I can't for the life of me get it to work anywhere near like you show in the video. All of my efforts end up working just like the "smooth" tool, and that's not at all what I'm looking for.

    Could you give an example of the brush settings you were using for the hydraulic erosion demo shown at 8:35 in the video?
     
  41. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey there @DragonRider

    No worries :)

    Try these settings:
    - A terrain with a 2049x2049 heightmap resolution (it can work with less, but the details will be smaller).
    - If you import the terrain samples, I used the "builtin_brush_4". It can work with other brushes that has similar details you saw on the video.
    - I added a Noise brush mask filter, scale varying between 26-30, frequency 1.45 and 3. The rest are default. The more you play with these values, the different (maybe better) results you might have.
    - Painted a high slope mesh
    - Use the hydraulic option (I decreased the strength value to 10-20%, so I could see it painting with the details).
    - I did it without a texture (layer) first, so I could see in the blank map.
    - I used the latest 2019.3 version, URP or HDRP.

    Usually, heightmaps that are not big, will not end up doing the effect you want.
    Maybe that's the reason.
     
    DragonRider likes this.
  42. Feartheway

    Feartheway

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    I got 100k rigid body bushes to work! :D Just to let you know I figured out how to add collision based physics bushes.



     
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  43. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Great that it worked for you :)
     
  44. unikum

    unikum

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    Hi, I understand you can't give much details about this system yet, but I'm just wondering if this is a complete new system with grass support for HDRP etc? Would be nice to get a hint about it, because I could stop looking at third party solutions for HDRP vegetation and wait for this new system before working on outdoor scenes in my game.
     
  45. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @unikum
    It is a complete new system for sure, it will have grass support as we did before, but I can't say when it will be available, sorry. If you have a game in production already, it might be good to try some different systems to see if it will work for you. Remember to stay tuned here in our roadmap: https://unity3d.com/unity/roadmap
     
  46. unikum

    unikum

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    Thanks, sounds good to me. I'm at least a year away from early access release, so hopefully by then there is some sort of preview version to work with.
     
  47. Waterlane

    Waterlane

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    Hurry Up :)
    'any idea if it will be verified for Unity 2019.4/LTS, or will we need Unity 2020..?
     
  48. AlexTE-Unity

    AlexTE-Unity

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    Hey @Waterlane, sadly it will not be available for 2019.
     
  49. Waterlane

    Waterlane

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    A shame, ,but good to know - thanks for the heads up.
     
  50. kite3h

    kite3h

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    We know there is a chunk problem with the placement of the trees.

    If you use ECS to place the trees in HLODs at reasonable intervals and deploy them, you should be fine.
    It's a basic feature for the Foliage tool, but I don't know why it's not added to Unity at the moment, but if you just create it and put it in, it works fine and there is no problem.