Landscape

UE's terrain system. Heightmap-based, layer-painted, scalable to huge worlds with World Partition.

Authoring

1. Modes → Landscape
2. Set Size (e.g. 8129×8129) and component count (impacts LOD streaming)
3. Sculpt tools: raise, lower, smooth, flatten, ramp, retopologize
4. Paint tools: weight-paint material layers
5. Manage: edit Landscape components, add subsections

Materials

Layered material with LandscapeLayerBlend node:

finalAlbedo = LandscapeLayerBlend(grass, rock, sand, snow, ...)

Each weight is a per-layer painted texture. Use LandscapeLayerCoords for per-layer UV tiling.

Performance

Setting	Effect
Component Size	Smaller = more flexible LOD, more draw calls
Number of Subsections	Per-component subdivision
LOD Distribution	Falloff curve
LOD Streaming Threshold	Distance at which LODs drop

Nanite Landscape (5.4+ experimental)

r.Nanite.Landscape 1 — landscape rendered as Nanite. Per-pixel detail, no per-component triangulation. Still experimental in 5.7; watch CVars.

World Partition + Landscape

Landscape integrates with WP — automatic per-cell streaming. Author normally, WP cuts it up.

Modern alternatives

Tool	When
Landscape	Heightmap terrain — most projects
Voxel Plugin Pro	Voxel terrain with overhangs
OpenLand	Runtime-modifiable landscape
Mesh terrain via PCG	Stylized / non-heightmap

See also

• PCG + World Partition
• Tools → World Partition