Adding a Height Grid

The Height Grid object is used to place a terrain sculpting patch that can be raised or lowered at individual points. Height grids have a variety of uses, one of them being to add slight variations to the topology of a landscape design to provide more realism.

To add a height grid:

1.   Click the Add Height Grid button that is found near the top of the screen under the Terrain tab.

2.   Click an area of your landscape design to place the first corner of the height grid.

3.   Click another area of your landscape design to place the opposite corner of the height grid.

To raise and lower points:

1.   Click the height grid in your landscape to select it.

2.   Click the Edit Points button, found in the Properties.

3.   Click a point to select it. Multiple points can also be selected at once.

4.   Adjust the Height property to raise or lower the selected points. Note: In Perspective view, press and hold the Ctrl key while dragging the mouse up and down to adjust the heights while maintaining the relative height difference between them.

The picture below illustrates a simple height grid that has been added to an empty landscape design.

The sculpted terrain in the landscape design shown below was created using a Height Grid.

Tips:

•      Multiple height grids can be used if needed, and may be layered on top of each other to achieve stacking effects.

•      When editing a height grid, multiple points can be selected and edited at once. For details, see Editing Points.

•      The number of grid points can be increased or decreased to achieve the level of precision needed.

•      The Height slider is limited to 25 feet (7.62 m), but by typing a value in the text field, it can be increased to plus or minus 300 feet (91.44 m).

•      If a height grid overlaps other terrain sculpting objects, it may be necessary to modify the Terrain Sculpting Order.

See also:

Height Grid Properties
Setting Object Properties
Selecting Objects
Selecting Points
Editing Objects
Adding Slope
Adding a Height Map
Adding a Height Painter