446 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
Selection Tool: This tool allows you to select landscape components, one a t a time.
The tool works like a toggle. To select a component, simply Left-click on
it. To de-select a compo nent Left-click on it one more time. To de-select a
component press the Shift key on the keyboard an d Left-cli ck on it.
To select m ultiple components, Left-click one at a time. Each selected compo-
nent will be highlighted red.
TABLE 7.19: Selection Tool – Manage Mode
•
Options
Clear Component Selection: Clears th e currently selecte d compo-
nents.
Add: This tool allows you to add components to your landscape. The new com-
ponen t will be added to the location of the cursor. To apply this tool, simply
Left-click on the region in the landscape.
TABLE 7.20: Add Tool – Manage Mode
•
Options
Left-click: Adds a new compo n e n t to the cursor location.
Delete: This to ol a llows you to delete a comp onent from your lan dscape. To apply
this tool, simply Lef t-click on the r egio n in the landscape.
TABLE 7.21: Delete Tool – Manage Mode
•
Options
Left-click: Deletes s e lected compo n e n ts from the landscape. If
there are no selected co m ponents, it will delete the highlighted
component u n d e r the mask mouse cursor.
Move Level: This tool moves the selected components to the current streaming
level. This is an o ptimization facility, allowing you to select parts of your land-
scape to a streaming level to stream the moved sections in and out of that level.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/.
Terrains and Landscapes in Un real Engine 447
After you selected the options, click on the Apply button to apply the change s to
the entire landscape.
Change Component Size : This tool makes it possible to change the size of the en-
tire landscape.
TABLE 7.22: Change Component Size – Manage Mode
•
Options
Section Per Size: This drop-down box gives you options for the num-
be r of quads in e a c h land scape se c tion.
Section Per Compo nent: T h is drop-down box gives you options for
1 × 1 or 2 × 2 section s per compo n e n t. Controls LOD aggrega-
tion.
Resize Mode: Specifies whether to expand or cl ip the current land-
scape to resi ze.
NOTE
The Change Component Size works on the entire landscape, not a selection
of compon ents.
Edit Splines: This tool allows you to cr eate and edit splines in your lan dscape.
Splines are p owerful one-dimensional curves th at can control certain features of
the terrain by pushin g or pulling its vertices to conform to a certain shape. For
more information about these tools, please see Section 7.5.
7.5 LANDSCAPE SPLINES
You can create a Spline Actor in your landscape by using the Edit Splines tool
in the Manage mode of the Landscape Tool. These powerful actors will be useful
in creating fea tures su ch as roads, rivers, or other items that in general follow a o ne-
dimensional curved path through the terrain
7
[31].
7
The contents of this section are adopted from the official UE4 online documentation found at:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/.
448 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
7.5.1 CREATING SPLINES
Creating Landscape Splines is fairly easy. To create a Landscape Spline you nee d
to perform the following actions:
FIGURE 7.38: Control+Click on the Landscape to Add Spline Control Points.
1. Go to the Manag e Mode of the Landscape Tool.
2. Find and click on the Edit Splines tool in the Manage mode.
3. On the currently selected la ndscape, while holding the Control key on the key-
board, Left-click to create the first control point.
4. Repeat the above step for additional control p oints – i.e., while holding the Con -
trol key on the keyboard, Left-click to create each additional contr ol point
(see Figure 7.38).
7.5.2 JOINING SPLINES
You can select join two splines, by selecting one and then pressing the Control key
on the keyboa rd and Left-clicking on the second to me rge the two.
7.5.3 SPLITTING SPLINES
To split a spline, press the Control key on the keyboard and Left-click on a
segment.
7.5.4 ASSIGNING STAT IC MESH ACTORS TO SPLINES
One of the most widely used features of a Landscape Spline is the fact that you
can assign a static mesh actor to th e splines. D oing so will give you a tremendous
amount of flexibility on customizing the visual look of the splines that run through
your landscape.
The process of assigning static mesh actors to splines is easy. Perform the following
steps and you can custom iz e the look of y our splines in no time (see Figure 7.39):
1. In the Content Browser, find and select a static mesh you wish to assign to your
spline.
Terrains and Landscapes in Un real Engine 449
FIGURE 7.39: The Process of Assigning Static Mesh Actors to Landscape Splines.
2. In the editor wind ow, Left-click on one of the control points of the spline to
which you wish the actor to be assigned.
3. Find the Landscape Spline section o f the Details rollout of the selected spline.
4. Click on Segments next to Select all Connected: section. This will ensure
that the mesh will be applied to all of the segments of the spline you have selected.
5. Click on the + sing in the Landscape Spline Meshes section to add one mesh
slot.
6. Expand the element of the Spline s Meshes collection.
7. Press the button next to the Mes h slot to assign the selected mesh from the
Content Browser to this spline. Alternatively, you can drag the mesh from the
Content Browser into the Me sh slot, or click on the drop-down list and select a
mesh from the opened list.
7.5.5 EDITING SPLINES
To edit a spline’s shape and cu rvature, you need to select one of its control poin ts. You
may use the translation and rotation gizmos with spline the usual way. Translation
widget will move a control point along the X, Y, and Z axis, or a plane. Th e rotatio n
widget will allow you to rotate th e tangents o f the control point.
Scaling the control points allows you to interact with the their tangents. This will
make it possible to incre ase or decrease the curvature of a spline at a given control
point.
7.5.6 APPLYING SPLINES TO A LANDSCAPE
To apply a spline to you r landscape, you can press the Ap ply Splines to Landscape.
This will modify the la ndscape’s Heightmap to make the spline conform with the
landscape. This conformation of the spline and the landscape to each other follows
the information provided within the pro perties sections of the spline at the tim e o f its
creation.
450 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
Spline Propert ies and Interfaces
Below is a list of spline control points or segments properties
8
[31].
Control Point Properties: The following properties govern various aspects of a
spline’s control po int [31].
TABLE 7.23: Spline Control Points
•
Property
Location: Position of the control point relative to the Landscape it
is a tta c h e d to .
Rotatio n: Rotation of the control point, controls the direction of
the tangent of any attached spline segments at this point.
Width: Width of the spline at this point. Shown as solid lines. Af-
fects all connected segments.
Side Falloff: The width of the cosine-blended falloff region on either
side of the spline at this point. Shown as dotted lines.
End Falloff: Only relevant at the end of a spline (a control point
with only one attac h e d segment), the length of the cosi n e -
blended falloff region that smoothly ends the splin e segment.
Layer Name: Name of the blend mask layer to paint to when the
spline is applied to the Landscape.
Raise Terrain: Raises the Landscape to match spline when the
spline is applied to the Landscape. Good for roads on embank-
ments.
Lower Terrain: Lowers the Landscape to match s p line when the
spline is applied to the Lands c a pe. This is good for rivers and
ditches.
Spline Segment Properties: The following proper ties control various aspects of a
spline’s segment [31].
8
The contents of this section are adopted from the official UE4 online documentation found at:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/.
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.