Terrain Editor

The Terrain Editor is pending major changes. This article will only cover the basics for the time being.


The Terrain Editor is used to create and modify Terrain object of the current level. With the various Brushes it is possible to create valleys, mountains and so on. This tool also packs the Terrain Painter which is used to assign terrain’s textures and materials, changing the look and feel of a given surface (e.g. asphalt, dirt, gravel, mud, etc.).

Basics

Below the main toolbar is displayed the terrain editor toolbar:

Section
Description
Section
  1. Heightmap Import / Export
Description
Use this to import a grayscale heightmap image as a terrain, or to export the current terrain as a grayscale heightmap image
Section
  1. Brush Shape
Description
Shape of the brush, either round or square
Section
  1. Sculpt Modes
Description
The edit mode of the brush (raise, lower, smooth, etc.)
Section
  1. Terrain Painter
Description
Paint the terrain surface with different textures & materials
Section
  1. Brush Properties
Description
Settings that affects the brush dynamics

Terrain Editing & Sculpting

The Sculpt Modes allows to edit the terrain heightmap in real-time. Once a mode is selected, simply click on the terrain to sculpt the terrain accordingly. The red circle indicates your brush size.

Basic Sculpt Modes
Sculpt Mode
Icon
Description
Sculpt Mode
Raise
Icon
Description
Pushes the terrain upward
Sculpt Mode
Lower
Icon
Description
Pushes the terrain downward
Sculpt Mode
Smooth
Icon
Description
Smooths the terrain
Sculpt Mode
Smooth Slope
Icon
Description
Creates a smooth slope
Sculpt Mode
Noise
Icon
Description
Paints random noise, useful for uneven surfaces
Sculpt Mode
Flatten
Icon
Description
Flattens the terrain
Sculpt Mode
Set Height
Icon
Description
Sets the terrain to the height set in the toolbar

Use the Height Picker tool in the toolbar ( ) to easily get the height of the terrain at a given point. The value is automatically inserted in the Height property of the brush. Use this together with the Set Height sculpt mode to flatten a terrain in a more controlled way.

Advanced Sculpt Modes

These modes offers unique functionality that can be helpful in certain situations:

Sculpt Mode
Icon
Description
Sculpt Mode
Clear Terrain
Icon
Description
Erases terrain and leaves a hole which vehicles can drive through. Useful to create tunnels
Sculpt Mode
Restore Terrain
Icon
Description
Restores erased terrain
Sculpt Mode
Average Height
Icon
Description
Smooths the terrain by averaging all the points in the brush area
Sculpt Mode
Align with Mesh (Up)
Icon
Description
Terrain height will be aligned to any mesh above it
Sculpt Mode
Align with Mesh (Down)
Icon
Description
Terrain height will be aligned to any mesh below it
Sculpt Mode
Subtract Mesh
Icon
Description
Subtract the shape of the mesh from the terrain

Align with Mesh can be used to conform the terrain to any mesh shape. Use this if you need to create very specific and precise shapes with the terrain (e.g. ramps, holes, etc). The mesh must have its collision mode set correctly to be detected by the brush.

Terrain Painter & Groundmodels

This brush mode is used to paint the terrain surfaces with different textures and materials.

The Terrain Painter window will display all the available Materials that are available in the current level. Once a material is selected, click on the terrain to paint it in real time.

Double-click a material to access the Terrain Material Editor, from where to edit the existing materials and create new ones.

Terrain Material Editor window Terrain Material Editor window

Groundmodels

The name of each material is not casual, but matches a Groundmodel. This determines the surface’s physics (e.g. asphalt, beachsand, ice, etc.)

The full list of available groundmodels can be found in: BeamNG.drive\gameengine.zip\art\groundmodels.json

The groundmodels.json file defines the physics of all the surfaces in the game.

Do not modify this file for any reason!

To assign a specific groundmodel to a terrain material, simply name the latter with either the main Name or one of the Aliases of the groundmodel

Example Example

In the above example, ASPHALT_WET is the main name of the groundmodel, while asphalt_wet2 and asphalt_wet3 are aliases. If the terrain material is named with any of them, surfaces painted with it will have the ASPHALT_WET surface’s physics.

You can use aliases to create more variants of your materials, using the same groundmodels, but with different textures.

Last modified: December 7, 2021

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