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How to Create Terrain in UE5: Complete Beginner’s Guide

Published: February 1, 2026
Reading Time: 8 minutes
Tags: Tutorial, Terrain, Landscape, Beginners

Creating realistic terrain in Unreal Engine 5 can seem daunting for beginners, but with the right approach, you’ll be building stunning landscapes in no time. This comprehensive guide walks you through everything you need to know about terrain creation in UE5.

What You’ll Learn

• How to create your first landscape in UE5
• Understanding heightmaps and landscape materials
• Sculpting techniques for realistic terrain
• Performance optimization tips
• Time-saving tools and workflows

Getting Started: Creating Your First Landscape

Method 1: Create a New Landscape

1. Open your UE5 project
2. Navigate to the Landscape mode in the top toolbar
3. Click Create in the Landscape panel
4. Configure your settings:
   • Section Size: 63x63 quads (good starting point)
   • Sections Per Component: 1x1
   • Number of Components: 8x8 (creates a 2km x 2km landscape)
   • Overall Resolution: 505x505
5. Click Create to generate your landscape

Understanding Landscape Scale

The scale settings determine your terrain’s size and detail level:

• Smaller landscapes (1-2km): Better for focused environments, game jam projects
• Larger landscapes (8km+): Open world games, but require more optimization
• Component count: More components = more flexibility but higher overhead

Sculpting Your Terrain

Essential Sculpting Tools

UE5 provides several built-in sculpting tools:

Sculpt Tool: Raises and lowers terrain. Hold Shift to lower.

• Best for: General terrain shaping
• Brush strength: Start at 0.3 for subtle changes

Smooth Tool: Blends rough edges and creates natural transitions.

• Best for: Cleaning up sharp edges, creating rolling hills
• Use liberally between sculpting passes

Flatten Tool: Creates plateaus and flat surfaces.

• Best for: Building sites, roads, clearings
• Set target height with Ctrl+Click

Erosion Tool: Simulates natural weathering and water flow.

• Best for: Realistic mountain ridges, valleys
• Slow and subtle - let it run for realistic results

Pro Sculpting Techniques

Layering approach: Start big, then refine

1. Block out major features (mountains, valleys)
2. Add medium details (hills, ridges)
3. Finish with fine details (rocks, erosion)

Use reference images: Real-world terrain follows patterns

• Study topographic maps
• Analyze how water flows shape terrain
• Notice how ridges connect to valleys

Brush falloff matters:

• Linear falloff: Sharp, defined edges
• Smooth falloff: Gentle, natural blending
• Sphere falloff: Rounded, hill-like shapes

Working with Heightmaps

Heightmaps are grayscale images that define terrain elevation. They’re powerful for creating realistic, large-scale terrain.

Importing Heightmaps

1. Create or download a 16-bit PNG heightmap
2. Landscape mode → Import → Select your heightmap
3. Match resolution to your heightmap dimensions
4. UE5 automatically creates the landscape

Best Heightmap Sources

• Gaea: Powerful terrain generator with erosion simulation
• World Creator: Great for artists, intuitive interface
• Real-world data: USGS, terrain.party for actual locations
• Landstamp Pro: Our tool for stamping pre-made terrain features

Heightmap Tips

• Use 16-bit PNG for maximum detail (65,536 height levels vs 256)
• Keep power-of-two dimensions +1 (1025, 2049, 4097)
• Black = lowest point, white = highest point
• Mid-gray (127/255) = zero elevation

Landscape Materials: Making It Look Real

Basic Material Setup

A good landscape material has:

1. Base color layers: Grass, rock, dirt, snow
2. Height-based blending: Snow on peaks, grass in valleys
3. Slope-based blending: Rock on cliffs, grass on flat areas
4. Normal maps: Surface detail without geometry

Quick Material Formula

Landscape Layer Blend (Height)
├─ Layer: Grass (0-100m elevation)
├─ Layer: Rock (100-500m elevation)  
└─ Layer: Snow (500m+ elevation)

+ Landscape Layer Blend (Slope)
  ├─ Layer: Grass (0-30° slope)
  └─ Layer: Cliff Rock (30-90° slope)

Material Optimization

• Use texture atlases to reduce draw calls
• Enable “Virtual Texturing” for massive landscapes
• Keep material complexity reasonable (< 400 instructions)

Time-Saving Tools and Workflows

Landscape Stamps

Instead of sculpting mountains from scratch, use stamps - pre-made terrain features you can drop onto your landscape.

Why use stamps?

• 10x faster than manual sculpting
• Consistent, professional results
• Non-destructive workflow
• Easy to iterate and adjust

Our Landstamp Pro plugin includes 100+ professional stamps for mountains, valleys, rivers, and more.

Procedural Tools

• PCG (Procedural Content Generation): Scatter rocks, trees, grass
• Foliage tool: Paint vegetation with density controls
• Water system: UE5’s built-in rivers and lakes

Performance Optimization

Terrain can tank performance if not optimized. Here’s how to keep it fast:

Enable Nanite

UE5’s Nanite automatically handles LOD (Level of Detail):

1. Select your landscape
2. Enable “Enable Nanite Support”
3. Rebuild landscape

Result: Better performance with no visual loss.

LOD Settings

Configure landscape LOD in project settings:

• LOD 0 Distance Multiplier: 1.0 (full detail up close)
• LOD Distribution: 1.75 (how quickly detail drops off)
• More aggressive LOD = better performance, less detail at distance

Component Streaming

For large landscapes:

• Enable “World Partition” in World Settings
• Landscape automatically streams in/out based on camera
• Essential for open world games

Texture Streaming

• Use Virtual Textures for landscape materials
• Set texture streaming pool size in project settings
• Monitor texture memory in stat commands

Common Beginner Mistakes

Too much detail too soon: Start with broad shapes, refine later.

Ignoring scale: Real mountains are HUGE. Don’t make tiny bumps.

Flat areas everywhere: Nature has subtle variation. Use very gentle noise.

No erosion consideration: Water flows downhill. Valleys should connect logically.

Forgetting about gameplay: Beautiful terrain that’s frustrating to navigate fails.

Advanced Techniques

Landscape Layers for Non-Destructive Editing

Create edit layers to:

• Test ideas without committing
• Combine multiple sculpting passes
• Enable/disable terrain features

Splines for Roads and Rivers

Use landscape splines to:

• Automatically cut roads into terrain
• Create riverbeds that follow natural flow
• Apply materials along paths

Blueprint Integration

Automate terrain tasks:

• Procedurally place rocks along ridges
• Generate cave entrances at cliff faces
• Spawn vegetation based on slope and height

Next Steps

Now that you understand the basics:

1. Practice the fundamentals: Spend time just sculpting different landforms
2. Study real terrain: Understand how natural forces shape land
3. Use professional tools: Speed up your workflow with Landstamp Pro
4. Build a complete scene: Terrain, materials, foliage, lighting
5. Optimize relentlessly: Performance matters as much as visuals

Recommended Tools

• Landstamp Pro: 100+ terrain stamps, non-destructive workflow
• Mountain Massifs Pack: AAA-quality mountain assets
• Chart Widgets: Track performance as you build

Conclusion

Creating terrain in UE5 is a skill that improves with practice. Start with simple landscapes, experiment with different tools, and don’t be afraid to iterate. The sculpting tools are powerful, but the real magic happens when you combine manual artistry with smart workflows and time-saving tools.

Ready to speed up your terrain workflow 10x? Check out Landstamp Pro - the professional terrain stamping plugin trusted by AAA studios and indie developers alike.

What terrain are you building? Share your projects with us on social media!

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Looking for more terrain tutorials? Check out our guides on creating realistic mountains and mastering non-destructive landscape editing.