World Machine + UE4: Complete Workflow
Hello, Habr! I bring to your attention a translation of the WorldMachine + UE4: Full Workflow article .
Ruslan Nazirov showed how you can create beautiful landscapes in World Machine and import them into Unreal Engine 4. Ruslan started working with Unreal Engine just a year ago, but now he is showing amazing results.
1. Creating the right landscape in World Machine. I use the GeoGlyph macro library to speed up the landscape creation process.
2. Creation of necessary height maps for terrain layers. You can use standard Erosion outputs, such as Flow, Wear, or Deposition. Or you can use third-party macros, for example, ReFlow from GeoGlyph. In this case, you will need to connect these cards to the Splat Converter to ensure that the weight of the Splatmap is correct.
3. At this stage, you can start painting the landscape to understand how the material will fall on it. Also at this stage, you can begin to search for the necessary textures for the landscape, because in UE4 they are used instead of simple colors.
4. The next step will be to export elevation maps for the terrain and layers (They will be needed for the correct application of material on the terrain in UE4)
5. After that, you need to create the correct terrain material in UE4. This is difficult, but I will give one piece of advice: you need to use different tiling options for textures, which will depend on the distance to the camera. In this case, remote areas of the landscape will use stretched versions of the textures to prevent a noticeable repetition of textures.
6. Terrain material usually contains several layers. You need to work with each layer separately.
7. Repeat this for each layer, and then use the Landscape Layer Blend node to blend all the layers into one.
8. You can improve layer customization by adding more options and using Ambient Occlusion, Roughness, and Displacement maps to add more detail to the landscape.
9. You can use distance-dependent tessellation to dramatically increase productivity when using the Displacement map. Use the code below for the tessellation multiplier. Remember that you need to disable the Adaptive Tesselation and Adaptive Tesselation and Crack Free Displacement checkboxes in the material options.
10. Instead of manually painting grass, you can use one of the exported layers from World Machine. To do this, use the Grass node and set it to your layer parameter (Use the same name as in the Landscape Layer Blend node). You also need to create a Landscape Grass Type asset to set parameters for the grass, such as density, size, and others. In general, you can use this method not only for grass, but also for stones, trees and other objects in the landscape.
11. When the landscape material is ready, it is time to import the landscape itself. Click the Landscape tab in the Modes window. Select Import From File. Then select your terrain material. After that, select the elevation map for the terrain that you created in World Machine. Create Layer Info for each layer (Weight-Blended Layer). For each Layer Info, select the desired layer map that you made in World Machine. You can set the Scale (scale) of the landscape, if necessary. After all these steps, click Import and you will get a landscape with the material you created.
12. After that, you can start adding objects and details to the landscape, adjust lighting and Post Process. There are many more different things you might want to do with the landscape. For example, it would be a good idea to make low-poly landscape geometry to visually expand its boundaries. Continue to experiment and you will get the desired result. I hope you find useful information here that will help you create your own worlds in UE4.
Ruslan Nazirov showed how you can create beautiful landscapes in World Machine and import them into Unreal Engine 4. Ruslan started working with Unreal Engine just a year ago, but now he is showing amazing results.
Landscape Creation Process for UE4
1. Creating the right landscape in World Machine. I use the GeoGlyph macro library to speed up the landscape creation process.
2. Creation of necessary height maps for terrain layers. You can use standard Erosion outputs, such as Flow, Wear, or Deposition. Or you can use third-party macros, for example, ReFlow from GeoGlyph. In this case, you will need to connect these cards to the Splat Converter to ensure that the weight of the Splatmap is correct.
3. At this stage, you can start painting the landscape to understand how the material will fall on it. Also at this stage, you can begin to search for the necessary textures for the landscape, because in UE4 they are used instead of simple colors.
4. The next step will be to export elevation maps for the terrain and layers (They will be needed for the correct application of material on the terrain in UE4)
5. After that, you need to create the correct terrain material in UE4. This is difficult, but I will give one piece of advice: you need to use different tiling options for textures, which will depend on the distance to the camera. In this case, remote areas of the landscape will use stretched versions of the textures to prevent a noticeable repetition of textures.
6. Terrain material usually contains several layers. You need to work with each layer separately.
7. Repeat this for each layer, and then use the Landscape Layer Blend node to blend all the layers into one.
8. You can improve layer customization by adding more options and using Ambient Occlusion, Roughness, and Displacement maps to add more detail to the landscape.
9. You can use distance-dependent tessellation to dramatically increase productivity when using the Displacement map. Use the code below for the tessellation multiplier. Remember that you need to disable the Adaptive Tesselation and Adaptive Tesselation and Crack Free Displacement checkboxes in the material options.
10. Instead of manually painting grass, you can use one of the exported layers from World Machine. To do this, use the Grass node and set it to your layer parameter (Use the same name as in the Landscape Layer Blend node). You also need to create a Landscape Grass Type asset to set parameters for the grass, such as density, size, and others. In general, you can use this method not only for grass, but also for stones, trees and other objects in the landscape.
11. When the landscape material is ready, it is time to import the landscape itself. Click the Landscape tab in the Modes window. Select Import From File. Then select your terrain material. After that, select the elevation map for the terrain that you created in World Machine. Create Layer Info for each layer (Weight-Blended Layer). For each Layer Info, select the desired layer map that you made in World Machine. You can set the Scale (scale) of the landscape, if necessary. After all these steps, click Import and you will get a landscape with the material you created.
12. After that, you can start adding objects and details to the landscape, adjust lighting and Post Process. There are many more different things you might want to do with the landscape. For example, it would be a good idea to make low-poly landscape geometry to visually expand its boundaries. Continue to experiment and you will get the desired result. I hope you find useful information here that will help you create your own worlds in UE4.