Guide to Terrains in Unity

Setting Up

• Unity Version used in this project: 2020.3.19f1
• Unity New Project → 3D

Download the Following Assets and import them into your Project.

• Standard Assets
• Terrain Sample Asset Pack

Console Issue with Standard Assets. Open the error and do the following.

• Add Using UnityEngine.UI;
• Change GUI.Text → Text

Editor Set-Up:

Delete Main Camera → Add FPS Controller to Hierarchy

Create Terrain

Window → Lighting → Scene → New Lighting → Turn OFF Baked Global Illuminatic

Turn OFF Auto Generate And then go to Generate Lighting → Clear Baked Data

Zoom in then Select FPSController → Align with View *Make sure to grab the FPSController, not FirstPersonCharacter. If you do grab the wrong one the camera and the player will be separated.

SCALE

Add a cube this will add scale to your terrain so things don’t look crazy. Note that your FPSController should be double the size of the cube.

Terrain

Create Terrain Neighbor

Create Terrain Neighbor

Adding Terrain Neighbor to Orginal Terrain. For this example, you do not need these many terrains.

A bit OCD → So I create an Empty rename it → Terrains → Drag all Terrain under Terrains. You don’t have to do this. For this example, you do not need these many terrains.

Paint Terrain

Note that you will spend the majority of your time in this tab.

There is a lot packed in this tab. So don’t get overwhelmed. Once you master this you will be able to make beautiful terrains efficiently.

Paint Texture 1: Making Plain look

Brushes are used on how textures are painted onto the Terrain — Example: Don’t add a new brush if you want to pain grass. Instead, do the following.

Adding Grass using Paint Texture.

Add a couple of textures and try it out. Example of Grass, Dirt, and Snow below. Make sure you try the different brushes, opacity, and brush sizes.

You can layer them on top of each other etc.

Raise and Lower Terrain:

Creating Mountains → pick stamps and Raise and Lower the Terrain until you are happy.

Use different stamps for different types of landscapes, use opacity and brush size for variation.

Smooth Height:

Got carried away and made the mountains too sharp? All good, use Smooth Height to take the edge off. Make sure to adjust your brush, brush size, and opacity for the results you want.

Smoothing my Mountains up just a bit for a softer look.

Paint Texture 2: Making Mountains and Pathways

Add a couple more textures, and paint away. Create that abstract look you want!

If you have your sound on when you press play you can hear footsteps :)

Let's add pathways

Paint Detail: Adding Grass, Rocks, Bushes, and Flowers.

Add Texture Example for Grass:

• Detail Texture: GrassFrond02AlbedoAlpha
• Left on Default: But play around with it

Tint can help add cool or warm tones to your environment without post-processing.

• Billboard: Check — So it always faces the player

Grass

My quick tip if you want to have tall grass everywhere but your road, use CTRL to erase from the road. this will be much quicker than you think. Opacity will allow you to pick how dense you want the grass to be.

You can even edit the wind intensity and other detailed items. — This is found under the Terrain Settings.

Paint Trees:

You can use the Trees in Standard Assets or other assets.

Click Edit Trees → Add Trees → Select Game Object of the Tree you want to add.

Place the Tree or use Mass Place to add at random.

Adding Body of water

Example Result

Using the Terrain Tool → Raise and Lower an area where you want your body of water to go. I like to paint it and remove trees and grass that aren’t part of a clean lake. But feel free to add what you want.

Using Standard Assets → Environment → Water →Water4 → Prefab add water to the hole you just made. Make sure to resize it appropriately. I prefer to use Water4Simple.

Water4Simple Example