Using the terrain editor

In building any game that involves an outdoor environment, a terrain editor is a must-have for any game developer. Unity has its own built-in terrain editor and this makes building complete environments quick and easy.

In Unity terms, think of a terrain as simply a game object that has a terrain toolkit component applied to it. Beginning as a plane—a flat, single-sided 3D shape—the terrain you'll create shortly can be transformed into a complete set of realistic geometry, with additional details such as trees, rocks, foliage, and even atmospheric effects such as wind.

Terrain menu features

In order to take a look at the features outlined in the following section, you will need to create a terrain. So let's begin by introducing a new terrain object to the game—this is an asset that can be created within Unity, so simply go to Terrain | Create Terrain from the top menu.

Before you can begin to modify your terrain, you should set up various settings for size and detail...