Leo Martínez
The Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) Landscape system is a powerful tool for creating expansive outdoor environments. With UE4, you can create new landscapes, sculpt them, and paint different materials onto them. Before painting, you must first create and apply a Landscape material. This involves setting up the Material Editor and using the Paint tools to apply the material to your Landscape. Additionally, you can use specific material nodes provided by UE4 to enhance your Landscape's textures. When painting, you can blend multiple textures and materials to create diverse terrain. However, certain combinations of layer blend modes may result in black spots, so caution is advised. UE4 offers flexibility in creating massive worlds and mobile landscapes with multiple layers, providing a versatile platform for your creative endeavours.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Landscape system | Collection of tools to create expansive outdoor environments |
| Landscape tool modes | Manage, Sculpt, Paint |
| Material nodes | LandscapeCoords, Texture UVs, Landscape Layer Blend |
| Landscape Layer Blend node | Weight blending, Height blending, Alpha blending |
| Weight blending | Used for seamless blending of two surfaces, e.g., rock into sand |
| Height blending | Used when one material sits on top of another, e.g., grass and snow on soil |
| Alpha blending | Uses painted weight information with an Alpha layer to determine the result |
| Layer allocation | Feature Level Switch material node for PC, Console, and Mobile versions |
| Layer limit | No longer limited to three layers; any number supported with sufficient Texture Samplers |
| Blend layers | Use LandscapeLayerWeight nodes or LandscapeLayerBlend nodes depending on Normal Map usage |
| Texture sample limit | May cause default texture (grey squares) to show; requires erasing a layer or optimising material |
| LOD Distance Factor | Can be adjusted for individual components to simplify at closer or further distances |
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What You'll Learn
Using pre-made materials
When painting different materials into a UE4 landscape, you can use pre-made materials to speed up the process and achieve high-quality results. Here are the steps to follow:
Finding and Applying Pre-made Materials
- Locate the pre-made material you want to use: Navigate to the "Content Browser" and find the "Materials" folder. This folder contains various pre-made materials that you can use for your landscape. Select the desired material by clicking on it.
- Apply the material to your landscape: With the pre-made material selected, you can now apply it to your landscape. Select the landscape in your world and go to the "Details" panel. Expand the "Landscape" section and look for the "Landscape Material" input. Use the "Use Selected Asset" option from the "Content Browser" arrow icon to apply the pre-made material to your landscape. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the material asset from the "Content Browser" directly onto the "Landscape Material" input in the "Details" panel.
- Create and assign Landscape Layer Info Objects: Before you start painting, ensure you create and assign three Landscape Layer Info Objects. Go to "Landscape Paint Mode" and under the "Target Layers" section in the "Landscape" panel, you will see inputs labeled "Soil," "Grass," and "Snow." Click on the plus sign icon to select the type of layer you want to add, such as the "Weight-Blended Layer (normal)" option.
- Utilize the Paint Tool: With your pre-made material applied and the necessary Landscape Layer Info Objects assigned, you can now use the Paint Tool to start painting your landscape. Hold the left mouse button to apply the selected material to the area under the brush.
Blending Pre-made Materials
- Blend multiple textures and materials: One of the key advantages of using pre-made materials is the ability to blend them seamlessly. You can blend multiple textures and materials into paintable Landscape layers to create diverse and realistic terrain.
- Understand blend modes: UE4 offers different blend modes such as Weight Blending, Height Blending, and Alpha Blending. Weight Blending is ideal for smoothly transitioning between two surfaces, like rock into sand. Height Blending is used when one material needs to sit on top of another, such as grass and snow on soil. Alpha Blending allows you to paint layers in any order and adjust their weights accordingly.
- Avoid black spots: Be cautious when using certain blend modes, especially LB_HeightBlend, as it can cause black spots where different layers meet. This occurs when multiple layers in an area have a 0 height value, resulting in no contribution to that area.
By following these steps and understanding the blending techniques, you can effectively use pre-made materials to paint different materials into your UE4 landscape, creating immersive and visually appealing environments.
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Weight, height, and alpha blending
When painting different materials into a UE4 landscape, you will need to create and assign three Landscape Layer Info Objects. These objects are required for each texture you want to paint. In the Landscape panel, under the Target Layers section, you will find three inputs: Soil, Grass, and Snow.
To blend these layers together, you can use either multiple LandscapeLayerWeight nodes or one to two LandscapeLayerBlend nodes. The Landscape Layer Blend node allows for the blending of layers via Weight blending, Height blending, or Alpha blending.
Weight blending uses each layer's painted weight to determine which to display. This is useful when you want two surfaces to blend seamlessly, such as rock into sand. Height blending uses weight information and an additional height value from the Texture Sample's Alpha channel. This is best used when one material needs to sit on top of another, such as grass and snow on top of the soil layer. Alpha blending uses the painted weight information with an Alpha layer to determine the final result.
The LandscapeLayerWeight expression allows material networks to be blended based on the weight of the associated layer from the Landscape the Material. The weight of this layer is used as the alpha value for blending the two input networks.
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Avoiding black spots
When using certain combinations of layer blend modes, black spots may appear all over your landscape where different layers meet. This issue is particularly common when using the LB_HeightBlend mode for multiple landscape layers. To avoid this problem, you can set the blend type to LB_AlphaBlend for one of the layers. For example, in the case of blending soil, grass, and snow layers, you can set the blend mode for the soil layer to LB_AlphaBlend while keeping the other layers at LB_HeightBlend. This will prevent the black spots from appearing.
The LB_HeightBlend mode works by adjusting the blend factor or weight of the layer based on the specified height value. When multiple layers in an area are set to LB_HeightBlend, they may all simultaneously have a height value of 0, resulting in a blend factor of 0 for each layer. This lack of implicit or explicit ordering causes black spots as no layers contribute to that area. The issue is exacerbated when blending a Normal map, leading to a Normal value of (0,0,0), which causes rendering issues with lighting.
To avoid these black spots, you can use Alpha blending instead of Weight blending for certain layers. Alpha blending does not depend on order, allowing you to paint any layer at any time. When using Alpha blending, the alpha layer weight increases while the weights of other existing layers decrease. However, a disadvantage of Alpha blending is that when one layer is painted to 100%, the weight value for all other layers becomes 0%.
Additionally, when assigning Layer Info for the first time on the landscape and for the first texture layer, it is crucial to select the desired Landscape Layer. For example, in a tutorial, the author chose the Base layer and set Layer Info to Weight-Blended Layer (Normal). For any additional texture Layer Info, ensure that you are painting on the correct Landscape Layer by toggling the visibility of each layer using the Eye icon.
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Using the Landscape Layer Blend node
To start painting different materials into a UE4 landscape, you need to create a new landscape and a new material. Name the material uniquely, such as "Landscape_Material". Then, find the landscape in the Outliner and assign the material as a parameter for the Landscape Material.
The Landscape Layer Blend node is a key part of the process. To create it, right-click and search for it in the Blueprint, then clamp it to the Material Output. To connect the Landscape Layer Blend Node to the Landscape Node, activate the "Use Material Attributes" option. Alternatively, the output of the Landscape Layer Blend can be inserted into a Break Material Attributes Node, and then everything can be individually connected to the Material Output Node.
The Landscape Layer Blend node can be used to blend multiple textures and materials networks into paintable landscape layers. You can use either multiple LandscapeLayerWeight nodes or one to two LandscapeLayerBlend nodes, depending on whether you are using a Normal Map.
The Blend Type can be set to LB Height Blend, which works by modulating the blend factor, or weight, for the layer using the specified height value. However, using certain combinations of layer blend modes can result in black spots all over the landscape where different layers meet.
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Applying materials to the landscape
To apply materials to your UE4 landscape, you must first create a new landscape and sculpt it to your desired shape. Then, create new materials for the landscape. You can use any random material with a Landscape Actor, but UE4 also provides Landscape-specific material nodes that can improve the textures for your landscape.
Once you have created your landscape materials, it is time to apply them to the landscape and begin using the Paint tools. To do this, first find your Material in the Content Browser. This should be located under a folder labelled 'Materials' that was created in the previous section. Click on it so that it is selected. With the Landscape Material selected in the Content Browser, select the Landscape in the world. Then, in the Details panel, expand the Landscape section and look for the Landscape Material input. Apply the Material to the Landscape using the 'Use Selected Asset from Content Browser' arrow icon. Alternatively, you can drag the Material asset from the Content Browser and drop it on the Landscape Material input in the Details panel.
Before you can start painting, you must first create and assign three Landscape Layer Info Objects. To do this, make sure you are in Landscape Paint mode. In the Landscape panel, under the Target Layers section, you should see three inputs labelled Soil, Grass, and Snow. To the right of these names, there is a Plus Sign icon. Clicking this will bring up a menu that will ask what type of layer you would like to add.
Finally, you can begin painting your landscape with the materials you have applied.
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Frequently asked questions
First, you need to create a new landscape and sculpt it using the Landscape system in UE4. Then, create new materials for the landscape and apply them to the landscape before using the Paint tools.
Find your Material in the Content Browser and select it. With the Landscape Material selected, select the Landscape in the world. Then, in the Details panel, expand the Landscape section and look for the Landscape Material input. Apply the Material using the "Use Selected Asset from Content Browser" arrow icon, or by dragging and dropping the Material asset onto the Landscape Material input.
After adding Material nodes and connecting LandscapeCoords to the textures' UVs, set up the Landscape Layer Blend node. This allows for the blending of layers via Weight blending, Height blending, or Alpha blending. Weight blending is used to seamlessly blend two surfaces, like rock and sand. Height blending is used when one material needs to sit on top of another, like grass and snow on soil. Alpha blending allows you to paint any layer at any time, but when one layer is at 100%, the weight value for all other layers becomes 0%.
