Sculpting and painting

Terrain Sculpting

The shape of the terrain can be changed using sculpting tools in the Properties menu.

1. Select the terrain in the Hierarchy.
2. Open the Properties window.
3. Click on the Sculpt icon to open the sculpting tool

Create a Flat Area

1. In the Tool menu, select the Level tool.
2. Click on an area that is the ideal height, then drag around it to make the rest of the terrain match.

Carve out a Pond and Stream

1. In the Tool menu, select the Surface tool.
2. Change the mode from Additive to Destructive.
3. Lower the Strength value in the General subcategory to 0.1
4. Click and drag on the terrain to carve a bowl shape for a pond, and extend it to a river on either side.

Smooth the Terrain

1. Change the sculpting tool from Surface to Smooth.
2. Click and drag the pond and rivers to give it a more natural appearance.

Water and Swimming

Add a Plane to the Scene

1. Search for a Plane 1m – One Sided in the Core Content tab.
2. Drag the plane into the scene, above the spaces sculpted for the water.
3. Rename the plane to Water Surface.

Resize and Reposition the Plane

1. Resize the plane until it fills the pond and river.
2. Move the plane down until it fits nicely into the terrain for the pond and river.

Add a Material

1. Search Core Content for Water.
2. Choose a water material, and drag it onto the plane.
3. Preview the scene to see the water in person.

Disable Collision on the Water

The water plane now has the appearance of water, but a player will walk over it, rather than into it, because the plane has collision by default.

1. Select the Water Surface.
2. On the Properties window, and find the Scene section.
3. Change the Collision property to Force Off for Game Collision and Camera Collision.
4. Preview again to test that you can now pass through the water as a player.

Use the Underwater Post Process

Now you can pass through the water, but once inside it looks like the water disappears. We can use the Underwater Post Process volume to achieve an underwater effect.

1. Find the Underwater Post Process volume under the Post Processing section of Core Content.
2. Drag it into your Hierarchy on top of the Water Surface object so it becomes a child..

Resize the Underwater Post Process

The Underwater Post Process needs to be resized to match the size of the Water Surface.

1. Set the Scale of the Underwater Post Process to 1 for x and y.
2. Resize the z scale of the Underwater Post Process so it covers the depth of the pond and river.

Test Swimming

With the Underwater Post Process in the same area as the water, you should now start swimming automatically when you enter it. Press Play to preview and jump in the water. If it is deep enough, your character should switch to the swimming animation. You will also notice some distortion and color in the water. You can change how these work in the Properties menu for the Underwater Post Process.

Terrain Painting

Open the Terrain Painting Tool

The terrain painting tool is also found in the terrain Properties tab.

1. Select the terrain in the Hierarchy.
2. Open the Properties window.
3. Click on the icon to open the Paint menu..
4. Click Create new terrain material

This will change the terrain’s material to Terrain Material but keep the grassy appearance.

Choose Materials

To paint terrain, we need to create a palette of materials to use on the terrain. In the Palette section, select Edit Materials

Each of the Materials, labelled Material1 through Material4 corresponds to one of the visible materials in the Paint menu. Each has two Materials channels, one for flat sections of the material, Material Base, and another for the steeper, vertical sections of the game, Material Side.

Paint a Path

1. In the Edit Materials menu, find Material2
2. Click the empty image next to Material Base to open the Material Picker
3. Select Bricks Cobblestone Floor 01

1. Close the Edit Materials menu.
2. Select the second Material in the Paint menu Palette
3. In the General section, increase the Target Value value to 0.4 to blend the brick material with the grass.
4. Click and drag where you want a path to create some stones coming out of the grass.

Tip: You can hold Alt while dragging on the scene to unpaint materials from areas that you recently painted.

Paint the River Bottom

Choose the Materials

1. In the Hierarchy, click the eye icon next to the Water Cube to hide it temporarily.
2. In the Edit Materials menu, find Material3
3. Set the Material Base to Rocks River Bed 01
4. Set the Material Side to Grass and Soil and close the Edit Materials menu.

Paint the River

1. Select the third Material in the Paint menu Palette
2. Click and drag along the river to cover it with the new materials.
3. Click the eye icon next to the Water Cube to show it again

Preview the Materials Underwater

Press the Play button to preview the new materials under the Underwater Post Process effect by swimming through the river.

Paint the River Bank

Using a Mask

Masks allow you to use more complex shapes in applying a new Material.

1. In the Edit Materials menu, find Material4
2. Set the Material Base to Rocks River Bed 01
3. In the Mask section, check the Use Mask box.
4. Click the image icon in the Mask property, and select Cells

Using Wetness¶

Terrain materials can be further customized with Wetness. It allows you to make areas look soaked by making them darker and shinier.

1. Select Wetness from the Modifiers section of the Palette.
2. Click and drag on the edge of the riverbank to give an impression that it is soaked on the edges.