Foliage

This lesson will explain how you can use the foliage tool to add objects to your terrain. These will not have collisions (by default) and will be made to work better on a machine than just adding lots of objects.

Open the Foliage Tool

In the Properties window with the terrain selected, click the tab next to Paint called Foliage

Choose Foliage

1. Click the Add Foliage button.
2. In the Static Mesh Picker, search for grass to find Grass Tall.

Access Foliage Settings

You should have grass springing up on your terrain as soon as you add the object. Click on the object image that appears now in the Foliage tab to see its customizable properties.

Grow Grass along the River

Next, we’re going to change the river to look more like a marsh by filling it with tall grasses.

1. In the General section, change the Material Channel to the third material, the one used to paint the river.
2. Change the Distance Between Instances to 2.0m.
3. In the Spawn Settings, change the Scale property to have a Min 3.0x.
4. You can now return to the Paint menu to repaint with the River bottom material any areas that are missing grasses. The foliage will generate with the terrain paint.

Hint: If foliage is spawning in unexpected places, use the Show Debug Material option in the Paint terrain Palette menu to check which material is being applied in any area of the terrain.

Collisions

If you are placing trees or rocks with foliage, the player can walk through them. You can enable collision by selecting foliage and clicking on the “Enable Collision” checkbox.