Hi everyone, I’m working on the third project of the Unity 6 basic course, Galaxy Strike. The first lessons focus on Unity’s terrain tool. It’s a great tool, but I’m having some problems. I can’t create a landscape following the instructor’s instructions. I’m definitely doing something wrong. Could you give me some tips on how to use this tool? For example, do you need a graphics tablet (I have one)? Or is a mouse sufficient?
you need to specify what kind of problem you are facing, also i recommend watching the same video multiple times or follow exactly using pause, and you don’t need graphics tablet, mouse and keyboard is sufficient.
Thank you very much for the answer but is very hard to explain the problem because is very hard to describe what happen. but I try: As you well know, using the brush to shape the terrain, aside from the shape of the brush, is essentially made up of two components: size and opacity, the latter determining how quickly the brush raises or lowers the terrain. I often make mistakes (e.g., terrain too high or too low, or an odd, wrong shape) and can never fix them without pressing Ctrl-Z. Therefore, the work often turns out to be such a mess that I’ve often felt like starting from scratch, without ever achieving my goal. For this reason, I’d like at least some suggestions or even two or three specific lessons to help me learn how to use the terrain tool properly.
Hi Kusunoki86,
Unity is not a 3D modelling software, so the tools are usually very limited. For prototyping, they are usually sufficient, though, and Stephen showed basically everything there is to know. If you want to learn more about Unity’s Terrain tool, you could follow the official Unity tutorial, which is free.
If Unity does not cover the problems you’d like to solve in your project, it is unlikely that they have a premade solution for you. For advanced operations, you’ll either have to write your own extension, or you could edit the mesh data by looking at numbers, doing the maths and changing numbers.
The limits of Unity’s Terrain tool have been known for several years, and it is unlikely that Unity will enhance it. For this reason, game developers usually use external software to create terrains. See, for example, this discussion and this.
That being said, don’t waste your time trying to make your terrain look perfect with Unity’s terrain tool. It’s a hassle. In this course game, a simple terrain is enough, and little flaws here and there are fine. If you want to make a better terrain for your game, use another program, and import that terrain into Unity.
I hope this helped. 
Thank you so much, Nina. Your answer is very helpful and interesting. I’ve read the discussions you shared and found some interesting things. Now I think I have two problems:
- Regarding the terrain tool, what advice can you give me for using those brushes and doing the exercise? Large size, low force, and small mouse taps. If I make a mistake, don’t try to correct it, but use Ctrl-Z?
- Terrain generators, like Gaia or MapMagic, are very interesting, but there’s one thing I don’t understand: are they generators to which you add your assets and it then uses them to generate the terrain with the style of your assets? Because all the generators I’ve seen have this realistic style, which, for goodness sake! is very nice. But the style of my game is a bit like BOTW, Fortnite, Geshin Impact. In short, it’s not realistic. It’s a bit like anime. Can you give me some more information on these tools? I’d like to make a well-considered choice.
Last question: In those discussions, Blender is mentioned for creating environments. In what sense? Let’s take this example. Grant Abbit’s Blender course, Blender Environment Artist: Create 3D Worlds, comes to mind. Let’s imagine I take that course and create that environment. Then how do I use it in Unity? I create a terrain and use it to create the flat terrain, and then I add that environment created in Blender? If that were the case, I’d still be missing a good tutorial, or lessons in that course, that would explain how to import it and use it in Unity.
Yes, Ctrl+Z is usually the solution if you made a mistake or if you are unhappy with the result. If Ctrl+Z cannot be used for some reason, you could try to fix the issue with the brushes. If that does not work either, deleting and recreating the terrain is often faster than trying to fix flaws.
Of course, this always depends on your game. If you spent hours making your terrain, you certainly don’t want to delete it.
are they generators to which you add your assets and it then uses them to generate the terrain with the style of your assets?
Here is an example video, which you could skim to see how Gaia works:
But the style of my game is a bit like BOTW, Fortnite, Geshin Impact. In short, it’s not realistic. It’s a bit like anime.
If you check Gaia’s website, it looks as if the assets can be changed.
I create a terrain and use it to create the flat terrain, and then I add that environment created in Blender? If that were the case, I’d still be missing a good tutorial, or lessons in that course, that would explain how to import it and use it in Unity.
There are many free tutorials on Youtube showing you how to do that. Also please feel free to ask our helpful community of students for advice over on our Discord chat server.