Rock and cliff entities

The tutorial focuses on shaping ravines and cliffs with steep sides to create natural obstacles on the map.

Asset location in resources

To create cliffs and ravines with sharp edges that restrict the free movement of units, use asset entities from the landscape\rock folder.

Placing cliff entities

Placing Cliff entities on the map

It is recommended to align the placed cliff and rock entities to zero height in their properties. To do this, change the constrain parameter from ground to zero.

Blending Seamlessly

After placing cliff entities on the map, you need to visually smooth the seams between the ground surface and the cliff entity surfaces. Let's go through the smoothing process step by step.

1. Select the entity.

2. Find the materials block in the entity's properties.

3. In layer 1 of the textures block, select a material that matches the ground surface material at the intended seams.

Selecting matching ground material

1. Adjust the tiles parameter in the cliff entity's properties to visually match the material detail on the entity with the material detail on the ground surface.

Adjusting tiles parameter in the cliff entity material to match the ground material

1. Smooth the heights of the ground surface using the [Heights] brush so that the ground surface transitions smoothly into the cliff entity surface.

Smoothing Heights with the Heights Brush

1. If necessary, use the [Polygons] brush to subdivide the ground surface mesh at the seams with cliff entities. This will allow for a more precise transition between the ground surface and the cliff entity.

Subdividing mesh for seamless transition

As a result of the above steps, the seams between the ground surface and the cliff entities will become visually unnoticeable.

Additional Options

If the result is not satisfactory, use the additional options:

1. Use the diffuse_color parameter in the materials block of the cliff entity's properties to tint the entity's material to match the ground surface material.

Tinting entity material with diffuse color

1. The uv_ratio parameter allows you to adjust the tiling texture of the material for entities with rectangular texture layouts. For example, the cliff_big_01 entity by default has uv_ratio x=2, y=1.

Adjusting UV Ratio for Texture Tiling

1. Change the material mask in the entity's properties. To do this, select the cliff entity, find and change the mask by which the layer 1 material is applied to the entity. The masks are located in the folder with the entity.

Changing material mask for better blending

1. To enhance the visual effect and create additional natural cover for units, you can diversify the surface with stone entities.