[Released] ATLAS - Next Gen Terrain Editor - essential tool for creating beautiful worlds

Community Showcases
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As promised we’ll be releasing more information about Atlas in the coming days and weeks. Today we’d like to take a moment to talk a bit more about stamps within Atlas.

on our site you can subscribe and get notified once Atlas goes live

STAMPS AS OBJECTS

In Atlas, stamps are regular GameObjects that you can transform in any way and condense into prefabs. This makes it extremely easy to create specific gameplay areas that can be reused throughout your project. Just like with regular props you can come back at any time and easily change things around while you finalize your level, even when your non terrain related props have already been placed.

Stamps will render based on their order in the hierarchy and can be nested without issues. You can look at a stamp as a layer in photoshop; each layer renders itself on top of the layer below and builds up to your final result. At the same time stamps are equipped with different blend modes which gives you enough variation to handle pretty much any scenario.

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In addition to our latest post about stamps as objects we’d like to have a closer look at splatmap control within Atlas.

on our site you can subscribe and get notified once Atlas goes live

SPLATMAP CONTROL
Within Atlas each stamp comes with its own masks for creating splatmaps. Depending on the stamp these masks can range from Erosion lines to Deposition, Curvature, Slope or anything that this stamp wants to express. These masks can then be filtered and mapped to the splatmap layers of your terrain.

Whereas Unity’s built-in terrain supports up to 8 splatmap layers, Atlas has 16 layers that you can write to and export as textures. How you use them is entirely up to you… Just to give an idea; you can upgrade the terrain shader to support 16 splatmap layers, or feed some of the layers to a scattering system.

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@Atlas-terrain
Be sure to correct your Instagram bio URL, as there is a typo.

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Will we get Vegetation Studio Pro integration on the first release？Looks like a very poweful combo，beacuse we can add vegetation mask and biome under the stamp object.

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The server was set up but not public (should’ve made it hidden on the site, sorry for that). We’ll fix is ASAP

It looks like it will work with Atlas out of the box. Not sure if the vegetation zones are GameObjects, but if so you could just add a vegetation zone + an atlas stamp to a prefab \o/

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Nice catch, thanks for the heads up.

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After talking about stamps and splatmap control we’d like to have a closer look at mask painting within Atlas.

Mask painting
Each stamp has an opacity mask, and each opacity mask can be painted with a brush.

After selecting a stamp by pressing [edit mask] you’ll be able to start brushing. This is especially handy when you want to isolate a specific piece out of a stamp or when you need to make a couple stamps fit better. You can always revert back to the previous mask or jump back to the original mask, so feel free to make a mess, no harm done.

In short mask painting is here and has your back in tricky situations.

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can each stamp, be adjusted?
Meaning can each stamp be changed by rot, Transform, scale, at any time… I see many of these tools, only allow you to back up, to it, or to… only do it at certain times…

I BELIEVE you should have total control over your height map where you can change each stamp, at any point, any time… When I did contract work for years I had clients who would come back to me and ask for change, and many times they change would take me hours of work… if I had a properly control, it would take seconds, to mins, if we can adjust EACH stamp at any time… and not make these as one, like in GAIA, you lose that control… unless you back up… So this is something that always bothered me about GAIA, as much as I like it, there are things I dislike about it for my own work flow…

SO I like to be clear what you are doing different here…

By looking at the one video, this looks to be the case, but you around all over the place, rather fast. So I WOULD be showing this off more…

I know in GAIA it has a non destructive work flow, but not like this. This is something I had suggested many times.( GAIA uses a session manager, which is ok… but I like to have more control over my height map…

This would make the height maps alot more editable… and control by the looks of it, but I like to be sure… and more clear about this… ( I even used Mad Maps, which was kinda like this…) but, the asset developer disappeared… (which worries me about this one knowing you been around since 2015, but you don’t seem to come here often… ( alot of tech demos, and asset made by people, just to disappear, if they don’t do well fast enough…

So, you peak my interest… Not a fan of your interface at all, it looks thrown together.

Have you used this yet, in your own games, or worked with other game developers that have used this?? I just hope this is not another fly by night, asset that we see all over the store… I had used every terrain asset you can think of and even been long time user tester for many of them and yet I still go back to World Machine… every time…

But with your work flow, this is something I been wanting for years now, and yet to get anyone to add it… where I have total control over each stamp/height map, and being able to edit any time I want too… ( so these stamps are not static, they can be changed, moved, rotating, later on as well in a non destructive manner??

if so please show this off more…

Last, I would like to be able to use with other height maps, where I can merge in my height maps made from World Machine… so, how are the stamps made… ( please don’t say PNG…)

Your comment about We strongly believe that the future of terrain editing lies in a non destructive object based workflow.

Me too, I say this all the time to every developer making terrains, textures, or other wise, I use heavily professional Substance Designer… to make all my textures, which is all non destructive… (something most Unity users miss out on.)

non Destructive, is where its AT…( when done right.)

By the way, I would make sure you are able to use this with other popular terrain tools, since many of us world builders, will use more than one tool in order to make there terrains…

There are many of us, who will use 2-3 different programs in order to make our maps… I for one, would not use your texturing tools, but I do like how you handle your stamps inside of Unity… as long as its what I think it is…

( Please make more videos, showing off some of this.)

I own and have used every terrain tool to date, inside Unity and out, such as WORLD MACHINE, GAEA, World Creator, Houdini, GAIA, 1,2 pro, and 2021, Terrain Composer 1 and 2, ( I was TC2 first tester) So I know how every terrain tool works… and what they are ALL missing… ( so I just hope this is like them, missing the important aspects…

Even if you capture some of the main parts missing, then you may have something here.( as long as you don’t disappear) Like Mad Maps did.)

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Well … that’s a pretty long list of terrain assets you’ve got over there.


Based on your questions you’ll mostly likely come to love Atlas as an addition to your toolkit. When it comes to adjusting/readjusting stamps as you go the answer is a resounding yes. We too found it very time consuming (read frustrating at times) to make changes and wanted more control over our heightmap so this was a must for us from the start.

We developed Atlas as a tool we wanted for ourselves so we’re definitely in it for the long run. To keep it as lightweight and accessible as possible we made the interface as close to default Unity as possible.

Good point about us having to show it off more. It’s something that we’ll be doing in future posts/videos and our documentation so if you have any suggestions, shoot ;).

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The problem of Gaia is that, it’s too big, and too slow. Computing stamps takes ages. All I want is a lightweight stamp terrain editor to toy with, not a noise world generator + tons of example assets + list of hundred parameters + environment system + level design tool…I really wish Atlas could keep things as simple as possible. Just like placing GameObjects, but they merge into a terrain.

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we really need it ！buy it ！

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Thanks for the answers, yes I been a professional developer for nearly 3 decades so I used alot of software over the years. Anyways, I to found most engines, and software annoying to use, and to edit as I was stating, which is why your asset peak my interest.

As far as the UI, Unity UI is horrible, I been a UX/UI Designer for years, and that is something that Unity fails at badly is there UI, so, I would make your own, because this is what can make software, not do as well, when you have a bad UX or UI… or both…

This is something many games and software, have high support due to bad designs… So this is important to get right, or users will never be able to use your asset as well, or get the most out of it… Imagine playing a game, and getting frustrated, because you are unable, do what you intended to, while playing… This happens in most other assets as well… Unity has been bringing in UI elements and better Unity editor tools, which will help too…So I would leverage that…

As far as the tool itself, I for sure will be watching this one, because its for sure, something I had wished every other asset developer would of listen, I tried to get all of them to do, but it never was what I wanted… This looks 100% what I been looking for.

Now I would like to know more about you and what you have used this asset on at all?? I mention this question, as I don’t want to support another tech demo, or another fly by night asset developer… This happens way to much… This happen with Mad Map, which remind me of this… Have you ever used Mad Map? if not check it out, they used it in there popular game… but yet still when inactive, and the asset sits there, not being updated for the last 3 years… this gets old, and why I stop buying most assets, I have over 300… and 295 are JUNK, or inactive…

Unreal, after 20 years I own 1… which is recent…So, I really hope to see what your plans are… You have not been that active around here, and curious if you been active on another known asset discord?? So, before I invest any time, I like to know more about your plans and your self… (Alot of people tend to buy, assets I recommend as well… I help people alot… So these questions are important, I won’t recommend an asset, if I feel its just another fly by night, tech demo.

Thanks for the replies.

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Well I recommended in the last post, show off, each important function, but don’t do it so fast. I would keep them simple and to the point. ( Short and to the point videos, showing off how to use your tool but by function.

Most assets also do a bad job of showing off there tools, this is also why UX/UI why its so important, many assets, don’t know how to build a good interface is part of the issue, its why I give them feed back. (some listen, some don’t) when I see alot of reports about the same issue, I tend to think of ways to fix that UI issue, when its related to that, but many developers don’t want to spend the time fixing. ( they rather, people struggle.) This is very common…

Odin also helped Unity developers, that is something I had wished they would of brought to asset developers, but sadly it never happen… So as far as the UI, I would look into the new UI elements, and editor tools, this will help you with all of this… as I mention in the last post.

Like I said you peak my interest… but the lack of knowing anything about you, or your plans, makes me very cautious…

I really hope you do something with this… Its the first time, I seen someone inside Unity anyways, make something like this, which is totally my work flow…

I for one would be using it with other software such as GAIA, World Machine, World Creator … Microsplats… So I would make sure you have people testing this as well… ( SUPER important.)

Important question, I mentioned it before, how are the stamps being made as well??

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I agree, on this part. I totally asked TC, GAIA and other developers to add stuff like this…for years, and never seen it 100% like this, and this is what I been wanting for a long time. (Not trying to bash those guys, they have great software as well… but, this is more my work flow for sure. I plan to use, with GAIA, and other terrain software…

.

(The GAIA part I have no issues with it being slow… and used since GAIA 1… If you are trying to stamp a huge area, that will cause problems, and more so if you are lacking memory to do so, and a weak GPU. This is all based on limitations of Unity, and your PC. specs.

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Hello, I just thought I’d chip in here and say I love what I’m seeing with Atlas. The state of terrain - especially realistic, detailed heightmaps - has been one of the greatest stress factors for me using Unity, and both your methods and results so far look very promising to relieve that stress. :smile:

At the moment I have just a couple questions if I may ask:
Are the textures and materials shown on your website included with Atlas? If not, where are they from?
Do you have any opinions on Mesh terrains for Atlas? (I’ve seen anecdotes saying they can be more performant than Unity terrains, though that’s rather vague.)
As of now (mid-January), what does the ETA for a public release, beta or otherwise, look like?

Thanks!

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Yup ^^ the plan for Atlas is an elegant tool that stays within its scope of “terrain editing”, anything out of bounds will have to split to another tool.

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We’re definitely no fans of the all too common editor windows that shouldn’t even be there or the casual “invasive” gameobjects that do a thing once. Not to mention red and green buttons everywhere XD, banners in the inspector, collapsible tool tips that are TLTR… That said we do have custom inspectors, we just want our tool to feel like it comes from Unity itself, not a “mod” that clearly doesn’t fit in with the rest of… Unity.

About us… we’re a group of 5 friends, most of us have known each other for years working on various projects. We started out using “gamemaker” and jumped on Unity when it was V3 … IIRC? it still had vertex lighting and a Ratchet and Clankish tutorial which sparked some inspiration :slight_smile:

Througout the years we have gone trough many terrain tools as well (first time we hear about Mad Maps though) but never found something that we truly liked.

Atlas started out to fuel our own needs, we need big worlds with specific game play areas so we can’t just generate it all but certainly can’t brush it either. Seeing the tool evolve and realizing it’s potential it lead us to spending a lot of time shaping the flow to make it easy to understand and user friendly.

We have used the tool in some of our own projects. The most interesting part however was in the last 2 months where we’ve been pushing Atlas to the edge by building scenes from scratch without limitations of our own projects, just seeing how far it can go.
Right now our development process of the tool itself is fairly simple. On one hand we have our coder who’s responsible for making the tool work and UX. At the same time we have our technical artist who constantly tests Atlas, finds new ways of using it and pushes its limits.

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Thanks alot for the information, about you guys, I remember the old days of Unity, I started around Unity 2. something, it was awhile ago. around when it become free.

I to, used alot of tools to make my terrains and for different reasons. like in world machine, we can set height, slope and meshify to make cliffs, no other terrain tool, does this.(so we can export to ZBRUSH, and back in seamlessly.

I like total control over my biomes/areas of each mountain, cliff, or other wise. No terrain tool has yet to handle this very well. Unreal is the closest, as I use Unreal professionally for years as well, but its still not really a main terrain tool either. So, so many are just missing features, so as I was saying before alot of us, end up using many different tools in order to reach our goals, now when I worked at the studio, we would build such tools. ( I wish I had my hands on them for my own work or had the time to build every tool I needed. haha, but I DON’T, I would rather make games.

Anyways thanks for this info. Mad Maps, is different than what you guys do and was used in Hurt world. But it reminds me of it the fact that you can use non destructive work flow. ( the tool never really took off) as it was not shown off very good. (But it was fairly good. ( I still use it ( modified it since its been not updated.)

I recommend to show off what you guys built with it as well.)

I will keep my eye on this one, and see where you guys take it, because it looks like something that is my work flow … and something that has been missing for awhile. ( the UI concerns me, but as long as source is there, I can always fix it myself… if I like the tool… and it does what I hope it to by looking at some of your brief videos, anyways, keep us updated, you could have a winner here for sure…

PS: since I ASK alot of questions I believe you keep missing it, ( no problem.

but how are the stamps being made?? So for example, if I make a height map in World machine, which I can use any file type I want to bring into Unity ( that allows) I use RAW .

I would love to check this out. when you guys get closer, to that point…

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Right the stamps … :smile:

The stamps are assets, they can contain a heightmap, colormap, 8 masks packed in 2 textures that can hold channels ranging from erosion to slope,curvature to whatever else this stamp wants to express and a main opacity mask.

You can make these yourself using whatever terrain software that can export any of these textures, the stamps don’t require all of the textures in order to work, so just a height texture will work as well.

We have been using GAEA from Quadspinner to make our stamps, and we can definitely recommend it ^^

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Hi, thanks ^^
The screenshots on our website are meant to show whats possible with atlas and unity today, the textures are bought from Quixel and the terrain shader in some of the screenshots is MicroSplat.
These are not included, but we do provide a starting texture pack that we built for those who need it.

We have experimented with mesh terrains actually… initially Atlas was also a terrain solution featuring custom mesh terrain with assetbundle based streaming system that got us to about 50/50km unique worlds with 0.25m accuracy with full viewing distance and a 2.5ms lag spike for loading tiles… BUT it wasn’t compatible with anything and tbh not stable enough but we got close! :smile:
We might revisit this later but for now we voted to make it work on Unities built in terrain so that Atlas can work with other tools from the asset store, and make it more usable overall.
Mesh terrains can def be more performant when done right but it has other drawbacks, it really depends on what you need.

That said when we do revisit it, it will most likely not be part of Atlas terrain editor since it is not meant to be a terrain solution on its own.
Right now you can build your world using Atlas in a non invasive way, there is nothing Atlas related needed at runtime, in other words Atlas does not impact your real time performance.

Right now we are rounding up the package and testing it in different versions of Unity, looking good so far ^^

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