TREESLAND

WATERLAND

SANDLAND

MOUNTAINLAND

GRASSLAND

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TREESLAND

Trees in UE5 boil down to three things: good assets, smart placement (manual or procedural), and performance-friendly materials/settings. Here’s a tight, production-ready recipe.

1) Get/prepare tree assets

• Sources: Megascans/Bridge, Marketplace packs, SpeedTree (best for custom species/LODs), or your own.
• Materials: Use a master foliage material with:
• Two-Sided foliage shading (Subsurface Profile for leaves).
• Dithered opacity (masked leaves; avoid full translucency).
• Wind via SimpleGrassWind (quick) or Pivot Painter (best: branch/leaf-level motion).
• RVT (Runtime Virtual Texture) support so trunks/roots blend into ground.
• LODs: Ensure multiple LODs + optional billboard card for far distance. Keep overdraw low (trim alpha planes).

2) Fast path: paint with the Foliage tool

1. Open Modes → Foliage; add your tree Static Meshes.
2. Set Density, Align to Normal, Random Yaw, Scale range (e.g., 0.9–1.2).
3. Use Brush with broad falloff; paint clusters, then Erase near paths/rocks.
4. Use Select tool inside Foliage to nudge/sparsify heavy patches.

Good for art-directed shots and quick block-outs.

3) Procedural at scale (recommended)

A) PCG (Procedural Content Generation)

• Create a PCG Graph:
• Inputs: Landscape (height/slope), Landscape Layer weights (e.g., “Forest,” “Rock”), Spline masks (roads/rivers) as exclusions.
• Sampling: Blue-noise or Poisson for even, natural spacing; set Minimum Distance per species.
• Filters:
• Height range (e.g., 200–1200 m).
• Slope < ~30° for trees; >30° for rocks only.
• Distance-to-water < X m for riparian species.
• Spawn: Output to Hierarchical Instanced Static Mesh (HISM) for performance.
• Chain multiple species with different rules (conifers on colder/higher bands, deciduous mid-slope, shrubs at treeline).

B) Procedural Foliage Spawner (legacy but solid)

• Add Procedural Foliage Volume + Spawner.
• Per-species: set Collision Radius, Shade Tolerance, Ground Slope, Num Steps (growth iterations).
• Press Resimulate to grow believable clumps/canopies automatically.

4) Wind & life

• Place a Wind Directional Source actor; tune Strength/Speed.
• Pivot Painter trees: hook wind textures in the material for trunk→branch→leaf hierarchy sways.
• Add subtle leaf flutter (high-frequency sine) and branch sway (low-frequency).
• Optional gameplay: Interactive Foliage (WPO bend on overlap) for close-up brush-throughs.

5) Performance checklist (crucial)

• Use HISM instancing (Foliage tool/PCG does this automatically).
• Sensible Cull Distances: near = keep, mid = LOD down, far = cull/billboard.
• Keep shader complexity low (packed maps, minimal texture samples).
• Limit shadow casters: only hero trees cast long-range; others receive shadows only beyond a distance.
• Use Virtual Shadow Maps and Distance Field AO as needed.
• For rocks/cliffs use Nanite; for trees, prefer classic LODs + billboards (leaves are alpha-masked).

6) World integration

• RVT: write landscape albedo/normal into RVT; sample RVT in tree base material to color-match trunk base → seamless grounding.
• PCG post-pass: scatter deadfall, stumps, mushrooms, undergrowth by slope/occlusion for realism.
• Biome painting: paint landscape layers (“Forest,” “Meadow”) and read them in PCG to control where species appear.

7) Quick starter settings (baseline)

• Foliage brush Density: start low, build up in passes.
• PCG min spacing: large trees 800–1500 cm; small trees 400–800 cm; shrubs 150–300 cm.
• Slope filter: trees ≤ 28–35°; tweak per biome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WATERLAND

Here’s the fastest path to believable lakes, rivers, and oceans in UE5.

1) Turn on the Water system

• Edit → Plugins → Water (enable) + Landmass (recommended for clean banks).
• Restart → In your level, add Water Zone (auto-adds WaterMesh).

2) Drop water bodies

• Place Actors → Water:
• WaterBodyOcean: infinite ocean plane; great for coastlines.
• WaterBodyLake: closed spline for ponds/lakes.
• WaterBodyRiver: spline with width/falloff; flows downhill and carves banks (with Landmass on).
• WaterBodyCustom: for nonstandard shapes.
• Use the Spline points to shape path/shorelines; adjust Width, Depth, Velocity, Falloff per point for natural variation.

3) Shape the terrain to fit

• With Landmass enabled, rivers/lakes push/pull the landscape automatically.
• For manual control: Landscape Sculpt → Flatten the bed, Smooth slopes, then a light Erosion pass to form deltas/inlets.

4) Waves, flow, and surface look

• In each WaterBody’s Details:
• Water Material: start with UE’s default (supports foam/refraction). For clarity/murkiness, tweak Absorption/Scattering colors.
• WaterWaves: choose Gerstner sets for oceans (wind + wave amplitude/length/steepness). Smaller wavelengths for lakes; low steepness for calm water.
• River Flow: set Velocity per spline point; add Flow Map if you need detailed currents around bends/rocks.
• Foam: enable/boost near Shoreline Foam; widen Foam Fade Distance for surfy coasts.

5) Underwater rendering

• Each WaterBody creates an Underwater Post Process volume:
• Tune Fog Color/Density, Caustics strength, and Refraction.
• Add light shafts via Volumetric Fog + SkyAtmosphere for god-rays.
• For gameplay visibility, use a depth-based color ramp (clear shallow → murky deep).

6) Shoreline integration (it sells the shot)

• Paint a wet sand/shore landscape layer (dark, low roughness) within ~2–4 m of waterline; drive a wetness mask from distance-to-water (Runtime Virtual Texture helps).
• Scatter pebbles/reeds via PCG using Height < waterline + 50 cm and Low slope filters.
• Place decals (foam/scum, puddles) along the edge. Megascans has great shoreline decals.

7) Reflections & lighting

• Lumen handles GI/specular well; for hero mirrors (calm lakes), add a Planar Reflection actor (use sparingly).
• Set wind-aligned sun angles for readable normals; sunrise/sunset rakes look best on waves.
• For night scenes, add a subtle Moonlight Directional Light + Sky Light capture.

8) Buoyancy, boats, and interaction

• Add Buoyancy Component (or Water plugin sample) to boats/props; define Pontoons for realistic roll/pitch.
• Niagara: splash emitters on entry/exit; ribbon wakes following boat path (velocity-based spawn).
• Simple Waterline mechanic: line trace to water surface, apply drag and vertical dampening to actors.

9) Performance tips

• Keep Water Mesh Tesselation sensible; reduce far Tessellation Factor.
• Lower Planar Reflection resolution or turn off when off-screen.
• Use Distance Field AO moderately; water absorbs shadows quickly.
• In big worlds, rely on World Partition; keep water materials under ~80 instructions if possible.

10) Quick presets (copyable targets)

• Calm Lake: Wave Amp 1–3 cm, Length 0.5–1.2 m, Steepness 0.1–0.2; Foam off; Planar Reflection on near camera only.
• Mountain River: Width 600–1200 cm; Velocity 300–800 cm/s; Depth 150–250 cm; Foam on bends; Niagara foam streaks.
• Windy Ocean: Amp 30–60 cm, Length 10–25 m, Steepness 0.3–0.5; Multiple Gerstner sets with different directions; Shoreline foam width 200–400 cm.

Common gotchas

• Black water: check Translucency settings & Scene Color for absorption; ensure Sky Light recaptured.
• Z-fighting shorelines: raise/lower bed a few cm or add a thin shore mesh strip.
• Laggy reflections: disable/limit planar reflections; rely on Lumen/SSR.

 

 

 

 

 

SANDLAND

Here’s a production-ready recipe for believable sand in UE5 (beaches, dunes, deserts).

1) Landscape material: dry, damp, wet

• Make a master Landscape Material using LandscapeLayerBlend for:
• Sand_Dry (bright, rough, loose grains)
• Sand_Damp (darker, slightly smoother)
• Sand_Wet (darkest, lowest roughness, a hint of specular)
• Break up tiling with three scales per layer:
• Micro: fine grain normal (0.02–0.06 m UV)
• Meso: ripples/rills (0.2–0.6 m UV)
• Macro: dune streaking/noise (10–50 m UV)
• Blend normals via FlattenNormal and height via HeightLerp (use each layer’s packed height map).
• Drive roughness: higher for dry, lower for wet. Add a shallow Fresnel to hint at grazing sparkle.

2) Shoreline wetness (auto)

• If using UE Water: sample distance to waterline (via Runtime Virtual Texture or custom distance field) to lerp Dry→Damp→Wet across ~2–4 m.
• Add puddles with a low-frequency noise that only appears within the wet band (height mask + roughness drop).

3) Dunes & forms (macro shapes)

• Sculpt with Landscape Sculpt/Noise; then use Erosion lightly to suggest slip faces.
• For super detailed crests without heavy geometry:
• Use POM (Parallax Occlusion Mapping) for ripple depth on close shots.
• For real silhouette variance, convert local dune hero areas to Virtual Heightfield Mesh (VHM) with a 16-bit heightmap; enable Nanite on rocks/props nearby (not on VHM).

4) Directional ripples (wind-aligned)

• Create a tangent-space ripple normal and rotate it by wind:
• Get Wind Directional Source → material parameter (angle in radians).
• Build a 2×2 rotation matrix to rotate UVs so ripples align with wind.
• Add a secondary ripple rotated ±15–30° and blended at 0.3 strength to break uniformity.

5) Footprints, trails, tire marks (interaction)

Cheap decals (fast):

• Use Deferred Decal materials (DBuffer) to darken/roughen and normal-indent footprints. Spawn on step/trace hits.

Dynamic deformation (higher fidelity):

• Write to a Render Target height/normal map around the player and feed it into the sand material (additive height). Fade over time for wind “healing.”
• For vehicles, spawn a spline-decal ribbon (Niagara) with scrolling normal/roughness.

6) Wind FX (selling the scene)

• Niagara blowing sand:
• GPU sprites; sample landscape slope/height to keep low to ground.
• Spawn rate scaled by wind speed; lifetime short (0.5–2 s), size tiny (2–6 cm).
• Sheet drift over crests: mesh-based ribbon or world-space panner that only appears on convex areas (use Curvature from distance fields or derivative of height).

7) PCG scatter (micro-details)

• Use PCG with slope/height masks:
• Debris: shells, pebbles (low slope <10°, near water).
• Dune grass/brush: spawn in concave zones behind ridges (use wind shadow mask = opposite-facing normals).
• Cull aggressively and use HISM. Grass cards: masked, two-sided, pivot-painter wind.

8) Lighting & color

• Sand color shifts strongly with sun angle. Keep Directional Light slightly warm; Sky Light captured after material work.
• For noon glare, slightly increase specular on Wet layer; for sunset, push subtle AO (Distance Field AO) to keep ripple contrast.

9) Performance guardrails

• Keep the master sand material under ~80 node instr. Share textures across layers (reuse the same normal with different intensities).
• Prefer macro tiling over massive texture sizes; use VT (Virtual Textures) for landscape.
• Limit POM to near-camera via if (PixelDepth < threshold) or switch with a Static Bool per material instance.

10) Quick presets (copy & tweak)

• Beach near waterline
• Wet width: 250 cm; Roughness 0.15; Specular 0.25
• Ripple normal intensity: 0.35; Macro noise UV: 0.02
• Coastal dunes
• Dry dominance; Meso ripples UV: 0.35; Macro streaking UV: 0.005
• Wind-aligned rotation: match Wind Source yaw; Secondary ripple strength: 0.25
• Desert erg
• Dry only; Macro dune noise UV: 0.002–0.006
• POM steps: 24 (near), 8 (mid), 0 (far via switch)
• Niagara sand drift density scaled by wind (0–1 → 0–500 sp/s)

Common gotchas

• Tiling: Always combine micro/meso/macro and add per-instance color variance with a Rand per-component node.
• Flat look: Ripple normals too strong or roughness too high—dial back normals, introduce small specular.
• Footprints shimmering: Decal MIPs—clamp max MIP or increase decal size slightly; ensure DBuffer is enabled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOUNTAINLAND

Here’s a clear, UE5-native workflow to make believable mountains—fast and editable.

Quick-start (manual sculpting)

1. Open Modes → Landscape → Create (pick a reasonable size: 63×63 or 127×127 components for big worlds).
2. In Sculpt mode:
• Sculpt: block out the main ridgelines.
• Flatten: establish plateaus/saddles.
• Noise: add large-scale breakup.
• Erosion: run a few light passes to carve gullies.
• Smooth: only where needed to remove stair-stepping.
3. Use Alpha Brushes (stamps) for peak silhouettes. Import a grayscale alpha (cliff profiles, ridges) and stamp in with low Strength and broad Falloff.
4. Adjust Landscape Z Scale (Details → Scale Z) to get the right elevation exaggeration.

Non-destructive setup (highly recommended)

• Enable Edit Layers (Landscape → Manage → Enable Edit Layers). Put “Base Terrain,” “Ridges,” and “Erosion Pass” on separate layers so you can tweak later without destroying earlier work.

Procedural options (faster & repeatable)

• Import a heightmap: 16-bit PNG/RAW from Gaea/WorldMachine/Houdini or real-world DEM. In Landscape tool choose Import from File, set correct Z scale (meters).
• Landmass Plugin: Enable it, then add Landmass Blueprint Brush actors (splines/volumes) to cut valleys or raise mountains parametric-style. Great for roads through mountains and crisp cliffs.
• Landscape Patch actors: Add patches that apply noise/erosion to specific areas—stack them like modifiers.
• PCG (Procedural Content Generation): Use the Landscape as input to scatter cliffs, boulders, trees by slope/height masks. It sells the mountain scale instantly.

Materials that sell the height

1. Create a Landscape Material with a LandscapeLayerBlend (e.g., Rock, Scree, Grass, Snow).
2. Auto-blend by slope/height:
• Use VertexNormalWS → Mask (Z) for slope; lerp Rock on steep faces, Grass on gentle slopes.
• Use a HeightLerp (per-layer height textures) to reduce tiling.
3. Add Macro Variation (very low-frequency noise UVs) so distant views don’t tile.
4. Use Runtime Virtual Texturing (RVT) to blend cliffs/meshes into the ground—no harsh seams.
5. For hero cliffs, place Nanite rock meshes (Megascans) and blend their base into the landscape via RVT.

Lighting & atmosphere

• Directional Light + SkyAtmosphere + Volumetric Fog for depth.
• Set correct World to Meters (Project Settings) and keep mountains in kilometer scale.
• Use Lumen for GI; adjust Sun angle to rake light across ridges (early/late angles look best).

Detailing pass

• Carve cirques and drainage lines with the Sculpt tool’s small radius + low strength.
• Paint scree at the base of cliffs; place decals for stratification and stains.
• Scatter boulders and debris via PCG biased to high-slope/convex areas; trees on concave, mid-slope zones.

Performance checklist

• Enable Nanite on large rock meshes.
• Keep Landscape component size reasonable; use World Partition + HLODs for huge worlds.
• Prefer Virtual Textures for big landscape materials.
• Use Virtual Shadow Maps for crisp mountain shadows at distance.

Common gotchas

• Over-smoothing kills character—use it sparingly.
• Tiling textures: fight with macro details, triplanar on cliffs, and RVT blending.
• Wrong Z scale when importing heightmaps leads to flat “pancake” mountains—double-check units.

 

 

 

 

 

GRASSLAND

Here are the main (and best) ways to get convincing, performant grass in Unreal Engine 5—start with #1, then layer others as needed.

1) Auto-spawned grass from your landscape material (recommended)

1. Make (or open) your Landscape Material.
2. Add a LandscapeGrassOutput node.
3. Create one or more Grass Type assets (Content Browser → Add → Foliage → Grass). In each Grass Type:
• Set Mesh (a grass card/cluster static mesh).
• Tune Density (instances per 10k uu²), Placement Jitter, Align to Surface, Min/Max Scale.
• Set Cull Distance (Start/End) for performance.
4. Back in the material, add LandscapeLayerSample nodes for the layers you paint (e.g., Grass, Dirt, Rock).
5. In LandscapeGrassOutput, add an element per layer and assign the matching Grass Type (so grass only appears where that layer is painted).
6. Paint the “Grass” layer with the Landscape tool. Instances appear automatically and stream efficiently.

Tips

• Use SimpleGrassWind node (into World Position Offset) for subtle sway (add a Material Parameter Collection so you can tweak wind speed globally).
• Use different Grass Types for near/mid/far with lower density and larger scale as distance increases.
• If you use Runtime Virtual Texturing (RVT) for the landscape, sample it in the grass material to color-match and reduce tiling.

2) Hand-painting with the Foliage Tool (fast art control)

1. Open Foliage mode. Add your grass meshes.
2. Paint on the landscape/meshes; tweak Density, Radius, Scale X/Y/Z, Align to Normal, Cull Distance in the Foliage panel.
3. Use multiple grass meshes (small tufts, broad clumps, flowers) with varied densities for natural variation.

When to use: for local art direction (paths, clearings, flowerbeds) on top of #1.

3) Procedural Foliage Spawner (rules-based)

1. Create a Procedural Foliage Spawner and one or more Foliage Types with rules (growth radius, shade tolerance, slope/height limits).
2. Add a Procedural Foliage Volume in your level, assign the spawner, click Resimulate.
   Great for large worlds with biome-like distribution and slope/altitude constraints.

4) PCG (Procedural Content Generation) Graphs (UE5+)

• Make a PCG Graph that samples the landscape surface (and optionally weightmaps/splatmaps), scatters points, then Spawn Static Mesh nodes for grass clusters.
• You get non-destructive, per-biome rules, filtering by slope/height/landscape layer, and easy global re-seeding.
  Best for open worlds and data-driven placement.

Grass mesh & material essentials

• Mesh: use small clustered cards with varied normals; keep triangle count low; create 2–4 LODs (or use Nanite if your foliage meshes/materials are compatible in your UE version—avoid World Position Offset on Nanite meshes).
• Material: Masked, Two-Sided Foliage shading model, Dithered Temporal AA for edges, SimpleGrassWind into WPO, Subsurface Color slightly brighter than Base Color.
• Vertex color: drive per-blade wind intensity and random hue/roughness variation.

Performance checklist

• Cull distances: aggressive for tiny tufts (e.g., start 3,000–5,000, end 8,000–12,000).
• Density: start low; scale with player height and camera FOV.
• Shadowing: consider Capsule or Virtual Shadow Maps selectively; disable dynamic shadows for far LODs.
• HLOD / Instance Bucketing: keep instances batched; avoid too many unique materials.
• Distance fade: blend to landscape detail normals or a low-cost “imposter” layer in the distance.
• Test in Stat Unit / Stat GPU and ProfileGPU; adjust densities per platform.

Common gotchas

• No grass showing? Check that the painted layer name matches the LandscapeGrassOutput entry and that your Landscape Material is actually assigned to the landscape.
• Too much tiling/green wall? Add color variation via vertex color masks or PerInstanceRandom, and use multiple meshes/material instances.
• Wind looks rubbery? Reduce WPO amplitude, increase frequency slightly, and vary per-vertex strength.