These tutorials describe one method for creating real world landscapes in UE4. We use GIS data downloaded from US Geological Survey, 3rd party content from the UE4 market place, and a plugin we’ve developed for the Unreal Editor, called TerraForm Lite, to import vector data (e.g. road maps) as splines in UE4.
We create an area called Twin Mountains, just west of Mt Washington, NH, USA. It’s about 8km by 8km of rocky/mountainous terrain, largely covered by forests. There are roads, rail lines and loads of hiking trails.
We Use:
We combine these with procedural terrain tools and content from UE4’s market place to generate a real world terrain. In this tutorial we use the GIS data to drive content from "Procedural Landscape Ecosystem" by Gokhan Karayadi (which is awesome and highly recommended - see below).
Here's a couple of screenshots:
As we add more functionality to the TerraForm tools, we’ll add further natural features and man-made infrastructure to the landscape and expand the tutorials.
I've put all the GIS source files created in the tutorial on our site (look for "Samples"), in case you just want to do the UE4 bits. You will need a few other pieces of software to follow the whole process, but freeware options exist for most.
It's written (not video) and has images for every step so a bit too long for a post on here in full. Here are section headings with links:
Using Maps (GIS Data) to Create Real World Landscapes in UE4:
This is in support of a wider effort to bring more GIS capabilities to UE4. There is a free version of TerraForm on our site.
If you find it useful, we'll create more tutorials and develop more features, so please do let us know what you think.
Cheers!
We create an area called Twin Mountains, just west of Mt Washington, NH, USA. It’s about 8km by 8km of rocky/mountainous terrain, largely covered by forests. There are roads, rail lines and loads of hiking trails.
We Use:
- Digital Terrain Model (“DTM”) data to generate a height map in UE4;
- Aerial photography mosaics to create landscape layer masks, and;
- GIS vector data to generate roads, rail lines and trails.
We combine these with procedural terrain tools and content from UE4’s market place to generate a real world terrain. In this tutorial we use the GIS data to drive content from "Procedural Landscape Ecosystem" by Gokhan Karayadi (which is awesome and highly recommended - see below).
Here's a couple of screenshots:
As we add more functionality to the TerraForm tools, we’ll add further natural features and man-made infrastructure to the landscape and expand the tutorials.
I've put all the GIS source files created in the tutorial on our site (look for "Samples"), in case you just want to do the UE4 bits. You will need a few other pieces of software to follow the whole process, but freeware options exist for most.
It's written (not video) and has images for every step so a bit too long for a post on here in full. Here are section headings with links:
Using Maps (GIS Data) to Create Real World Landscapes in UE4:
- Introduction – What’s in this tutorial?
- The Basics – What UE4 can (and can’t) do.
- Data/Tools – What you’ll need and where to get it.
- Downloading Data – Instructions for getting hold of GIS data.
- Defining UE4 Landscape Extents – How to define the dimensions for the UE4 landscape.
- Exporting GIS Data – How to export GIS data ready for UE4.
- Editing Vector Data – How to edit GIS vector data for UE4.
- Creating Landscape Masks – How to create landscape masks from aerial imagery.
- Creating UE4 Landscape – How to create a UE4 landscape from your height map.
- Surfaces & Vegetation – Using masks to drive procedural landscape texturing and vegetation.
- Adding Rail, Roads, etc. – Importing vector data as UE4 splines
This is in support of a wider effort to bring more GIS capabilities to UE4. There is a free version of TerraForm on our site.
If you find it useful, we'll create more tutorials and develop more features, so please do let us know what you think.
Cheers!
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