Creating a Landscape Material
Last updated
Last updated
This will be the process to setup a standard landscape material, notes have been added for RVT setup.
Under the Material tab navigate to the "Landscape Layers" drop down and add a new element.
Select the "Landscape Layer" asset selection and navigate to your first landscape layer. Think of it as the base layer and a layer that would be used most.
This selection will populate with all the material functions visible in your project. make sure to select an appropriately prefixed "LL_" landscape layer either provided by the plugin or one you have made previously. You might encounter issues or crashes if you do not select the appropriate asset.
Next see the "Layer Blend Type" drop down. Since this is the first layer in the list it's best to use either the "Standard Weight Blend" or "Standard Alpha Blend" blend types.
If you are going to be using RVT for your landscape your first layer should be set to Alpha Blend.
Leave "Paint Over Previous Layer" disabled for the initial layer.
Once the initial layer has been added, new layers can be added with any setting.
If you are using overlay or cliff layer blend, these act similar to how photoshop layers work. They will always be on top of standard layers and they will stack on top of each other depending on where they are in the array. It's also best to custom sort your landscape paint layer list to the same as the landscape layer list here.
Enabling "Paint Over Previous Layer" will use the Affect Previous parameters listed in the Advanced Landscape Layers page here.
To add grass types to the landscape material navigate to the "Landscape Grass Types" drop down and add a new element to the "Grass Types" array.
Once an element has been added, expand it and input a grass type asset into the "Grass Type" asset selector.
To have a grass type apply to a layer, add a new element to the "Apply to Layers" array and insert one of the layer names of which was added in the "Landscape Layers" drop down.
You do not need to include the prefix "LL_" for the layer in this string list.
A noise mask can also be applied to each grass type for more variation. For example, if you want tall grass or a rocky grass type but to be in scarce patches around another grass type without having additional layers.
This plugin uses the in-material "physical material output" to generate physical materials on any layer, including overlay and cliff layers. No need to use physical materials on the layer info anymore.
To add a physical material navigate to the "Landscape Physical Materials" drop down and add an element to the "Physical Materials" array.
Input a physical material into the "Landscape Physical Material" asset selector.
Applying to a layer is exactly the same as how you apply grass types to layers. Add an element to the "Apply to Layers" array and insert a layer name.
If physical materials wont apply correctly, a map reload is sometimes required.
At this point the landscape material is setup in a basic form, you can select "New" and it should ask to save the material to a specific location.
You can "New" the material before setting up the layers, grass types and physical materials.
After the landscape material has been created and inserted into the "Landscape Master Material" with a Valid tag, navigate to the tools tab and hit the "New Material Instance" button.
Use the newly created material instance for your landscape!
Please see the Advanced Landscape Material page for more information about creating a landscape material!
