This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating an Landscape from scratch using UE5. You will learn how to use tools like landscape mode, landmass plugin and Blueprint sculpt. Get started today!
Creating the project
- We start the engine from the epic Games launcher by clicking on the start button.
- Select the Third Person template in the Games category. In the Project Defaults section we select BLUEPRINT which is the programming system we will use for this tutorial, we verify that the Target Platform is Desktop and we choose the Quality Preset we want, in my case I will work with Maximum quality. Check that the boxes of the items Starter Content and Raytracing are not checked. Finally we select the location of our project, give it a name and Create the project.
Activating plugins
For this project we will require the Landsmass Plugin
- We will go the Edit menu and inside this we choose Plugins.
- In the search bar type Landmass and check the box. Restart the project by clicking on the Restart Now button or simply closing it and reopening it.
Creating the level and the landscape
- Go to the File menu and select New Level (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + N). Select Basic and then Create.
- In the Selection Mode menu choose Landscape (or use the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+2).
- In Landscape mode, by default the Manage menu will start with the New tool (if not, we will go to this section and select the New Tool). Verify that the Enabled Edit Layers checkbox is checked (for the moment we do not add material). In the item Section Size we choose 63x63 Quads, in Sections Per Components we select 2x2 Sections and we leave the defaults values of Number of Components (8 x 8), Overall Resolution (1009 x 1009) and Total Components (64). Finish by clicking on the Create button.
Adding Landmass
- Inside the Sculpt menu (you can also do it from the Paint menu too) we go to Edit Layers, and right clicking on the initial layer (called Layer by default Layer) we create a new layer (selecting the Create option). Then right click on the layer we have created and select the Rename option and name the new layer Landmass.
- In the Sculpt menu select the Blueprint tool and then in the Blueprint Brush section choose CustomBrush_Landmass, check that the Landmass layer is selected (to select a layer left click on it and it will be shaded yellow).
It is important to remember the keyboard shortcuts for the different view modes: Lit (ALT+4), Unlit (ALT+3), Wireframe (ALT+2), Detail Lighting (ALT+5), Lighting Only (ALT+6).
- By left clicking on the editor we will create our Landmass component.
- By clicking on the asset from the Outliner Landscape_CustomBrush_Landmass_C we can select the spline points to modify them. With left click on any place of the spline we can add a new point.
- We add the points that we consider pertinent and we will create a form that is to our liking.
- We can modify the geometry of our Landmass from the Details panel, for the case of this initial volume I will modify parameters of the Falloff section: Change the value to 66 of Falloff Angle.
- In section Effects, modify the Bluring component, change the Blur size value to 3.
- In Curl Noise, I changed the parameters of Curl 1 Strength to 0.3, Curl 2 Strength to 0.6, Curl 1 Tiling to 3.0 and Curl 2 Tiling to 15.0, to achieve an elongated shape that will work as an initial reference for my island structure.
- Then selecting the asset from the Outliner, I moved it up a bit and pressing the E key activated the rotate tool to rotate it a bit.
- In the Displacement section change the Displacement Height to 2143.0 and Displacement Tiling to 3.6, achieving a more organic shape. It is important to play with these parameters until we achieve a striking shape.
- Duplicate our Blueprint by right clicking on the Landmass in Edit Layer Blueprint Brushes.
- I moved the new Landmass and rotated it to a look that I found interesting (I did not modify any Blueprint values in the details panel).
You can create the Landmass you consider necessary, and modify it as you wish, remember that it is your own landscape.
I hope this tutorial will be of great help and you start creating your own landscapes using Landsmass plugin, thanks and see you soon with a new guide.
