Each component is made up of a single quad. For this reason, it makes sense to think about the number of quads in each component.Ī very simple Landscape is illustrated below (outlined in green) containing four components. The shared row of vertices along the edge of two neighboring components are duplicated and stored in each component. Because of this, its size has to be a power-of-two number of vertices.

The size of the Landscape component is decided when the Landscape is created and the choice depends on the size and detail of the Landscape you wish to create.Įach component's height data is stored in a single texture. Components in a Landscape are all the same size and are always square. Landscapes are divided into multiple Components, which are Unreal's base unit of rendering, visibility calculation, and collision. The edges of the Landscape are highlighted in yellow, the edge of each component is in light green, section edges (if set to 2x2 sections) in a medium green, and the individual Landscape quads in a dark green. The restrictions on heightmaps for Landscapes are much more complex and rigid.Ī Landscape Actor is color coded so that it is easier to tell what each section does. In previous terrain systems in Unreal Engine, there were either no restrictions (i.e., any dimensions were valid and would work) or the restrictions were fairly simple (i.e., only square power of two heightmaps were allowed). In order to create a system that allows for huge terrains while still being efficient in terms of memory and performance, the architecture implicitly applies restrictions on the dimensions of the heightmap, meaning there are certain dimensions that are valid and others that are not. Being able to determine what dimensions for heightmaps are valid and, beyond that, which are optimal requires a thorough understanding of the underlying architecture of the Landscape. Valid dimensions for Landscape heightmaps are not always immediately obvious when getting started. The following document aims to bring these restrictions to your attention as well as provide you with valuable information so that you can strike the best balance between beauty and performance with your Landscape. To get the best performance possible from the Landscape system, there are certain technical restrictions that have to be applied.

Unreal engine 4 heightmap