
- TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 PATCH
- TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 SOFTWARE
- TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 PLUS
This normally causes an undesirable stair-stepped terracing look to the terrain.
TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 SOFTWARE
Choosing to work with 8-bit grayscale heightmap files for ease of support in standard paint software results in terrains that are using only 1/256th of the available altitude range. When developing maps with external heightmap files for importing into the Unreal Engine terrain system, always work with the proper 16-bit heightmap format and files. In most cases even exceeding a 512x512 terrain can lead into certain technical issues, and the map design should be examined and possibly re-evaluated as to whether using such a large terrain is a proper choice. For example, a 2048x2048 terrain, which is 8 million triangles, is slow to work with in the editor and results in a very large map file size. It is not recommended to create a terrain larger than 1024x1024 patches for both performance and file size reasons.
TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 PATCH
Choosing the most effective set of values for patch size and number of patches is required to obtain the best balance between terrain detail and rendering performance. 128x128 or 256x256, and the Display.DrawScale which specifies the size of each terrain patch, ultimately determine the total area of the final terrain mesh. The terrain heightmap XY resolution as set by the Terrain.NumPatches, ie. Note that geometry, such as sky spheres, placed outside of the maximum world size will still render, but "world" geometry is limited to this total available area. The actual size of the game play area is usually much less than this, often less than 1 square kilometer for outdoor terrain-based maps. This is equivalent to approximately 10 kilometers squared of area using the default engine unit conversion of 1 UU = 2 cm (10km x 10km). Unreal Engine 3 supports a maximum world size of 512k x 512k (524288 x 524288) Unreal Units. One of the challenges that level designers face is choosing the appropriate layout and resolution of this terrain mesh in order to provide the best visual quality versus performance setting. The terrain system essentially renders an X*Y array of mesh triangles whose vertex Z value determines the altitude of the triangles at each grid intersection. Map designs and layouts using terrain for video games will often utilize the terrain's ability to create impassable mountains or cliffs around the circumference of the play area, in order to restrict the movement of the game player and prevent them from leaving or falling off of the game map "world". Additional meshes are also used for the various foliage that may appear on the terrain. The terrain is often used in conjunction with specifically-designed geological meshes for large boulders, buttes, cliffs, and even water planes. Terrain can be used for small areas such as city lots, enclosed courtyards and even to simulate piles of debris or the entire game map may be based on a large outdoor terrain design that incorporates a variety of geological features such as mountains and valleys. Material layers that represent dirt, grass and rock can be created using terrain alphamaps that determine where the texture is blended onto the terrain. Additionally, heightmap information can be acquired from DEMs - Digital Elevation Model information. Terrain is typically created using one of two techniques: hand-painting directly on the terrain mesh to create the hills and valleys or importing externally created terrain heightmaps.


A multi-layer Decoration system provides additional flexibility and realism by rendering foliage such as grass, weeds, bushes and flowers, and even small rocks and debri.
TRIANGLE TESSELLATION 128X128 PLUS
Many different landscapes can be realized and various themes can be achieved utilizing a heightmap based system that can visually depict hills, valleys, mountains, rivers, roads, and more, plus a multi-layer Terrain Material system that supports real-world texture files such as dirt, rock, sand and mud.

Unreal Engine 3 supports a flexible terrain system that provides a wide variety of visual styles and uses.
