Creating a simple scene

Creating a Simple Scene

In this chapter, we will show you the tools you can use to create a simple, but already interesting scene.

Within a few minutes, you will learn how to create a natural environment, add buildings, small objects, animals, and characters.

Terrain basics

You can start a new scene in different ways – on an empty space, on a random island, or on the sea. In this chapter, we will start simply: we will use a scene with one empty grassy terrain.

When the scene is open, click Terrain Tools in the top bar.

A panel will appear on the right with tools you can use to edit the terrain – add, remove, smooth, and more.

Using the tools is simple: select a tool and hold the left mouse button to start modifying the terrain.

What exactly happens depends on the chosen tool. You can think of them as different types of brushes you paint the landscape with.

Before we look at the individual tools, let’s explain their shared settings.

The result is mainly influenced by two things: the terrain type and the “brush” settings.

Shape determines what shape the area affected by the brush will be – for example a circle or a square.

Radius sets the brush size, and intensity determines how strongly the tool will act.

Next, you can choose which terrain type you want to work with.
The default option is Any — the tool then works with whatever is under the cursor.

Adding terrain

When you add terrain, the Editor uses the material that is currently under the brush:

• if you work on grass, it adds grass
• if you select sand in the menu, you will add sandy terrain

It works similarly to painting with a brush using the color that is currently “active”.

Removing terrain

When you remove terrain, it depends on what you have set:

• Any → removes any terrain type you point at
• Specific type (e.g. rock) → removes only the selected type and leaves the rest

For example: if you want to remove only rock but keep grass, set the type to Rock.

By removing terrain, you can easily create caves. They add adventure to your scene, but it gets dark in deeper areas, so don’t forget to add lights – for example torches.

Building structures

Once your terrain is ready, you can start building your own buildings on it.

We will continue from the previous chapter, where you learned how to place entities into the scene, move them, and rotate them.

Now we will use and expand these skills while building.

The foundation is building blocks.

Blocks are placed into an invisible grid in the terrain. They come in different sizes – from small 1×1×1 blocks to wide and long pieces.

You can find out a block’s size by hovering your mouse cursor over it for a moment.

For larger structures, it is often faster to use bigger blocks and assemble them like building bricks.

Blocks automatically align to the grid, so they fit together nicely.

If you want to place an object outside the grid, you can turn off grid mode – using the button in the top bar or the V key.

Building is significantly sped up by the familiar shortcuts CTRL+C and CTRL+V.

By dragging the mouse while holding the left mouse button, you can select multiple objects at once, copy them, and paste them elsewhere.

You can also use CTRL+D to quickly create a duplicate. Another option is to hold CTRL and click individual objects you want to select.

When building, it is worth using object groups.

You can create any number of groups. When you select a group, all objects belonging to it are selected, and you can move them together.

For example, you can put all roof blocks into one group and then work with the entire roof as a single object.

You can create a group from the currently selected objects by clicking Create group in the Selection and properties panel on the left.

In this menu, you can later add more objects to the group, split the group, or edit only some elements inside it.

Small objects

Buildings are not just walls, a roof, doors, and windows.

Atmosphere is also created by interior furnishings and small details. In the menu you will find tables, chairs, beds, and many other objects you can use to furnish your building.

For smaller objects, it can sometimes help to turn off the grid so they can be placed more precisely. But once you are done, don’t forget to turn it back on.

Many small objects have their own interactions – they can be used or picked up.

You can find all setting options in the left panel. That is where you decide what the player can do with the object in the game.

Vegetation

Most scenes look better when they include vegetation – trees, bushes, and plants.

You will find them among the entities and work with them the same way as with other objects.

Some plants can grow – for example, if you place a seed or a small tree and time is running in the scene, the tree will gradually grow. Mature plants will not wither afterwards, and there is no need to take care of them.

For quickly planting a larger amount of objects, the Object Brush is useful. It works great for vegetation, rocks, or small objects.

The object brush has multiple settings. The most important one is Intensity – it determines how densely objects will be placed in the scene.

You can add, remove, or mix objects from different palettes together.

Animals

One of the easiest ways to bring a scene to life is to add animals.

You can find them under the Characters button. You will have common animals, aquatic creatures, as well as various fantasy creatures available.

Placing an animal works the same as with other entities: select it in the list and click into the scene.

When you start the scene, the animal behaves automatically; there is no need to set anything else up.

You can ride some animals – just approach them and press the right mouse button.

For it to work, the animal needs to be tame enough. You can set that on the left in the panel under Default tameness value.

Human characters (NPC)

In games, the abbreviation NPC (“Non-player character” / “Non-playable character”) is often used.

It means the character is not controlled by the player, but is part of the world. In the Editor, these are humanoid characters – humans and human-like creatures.

Placing an NPC works the same as placing other objects: select the character and click into the scene.

In the list you will find fully human characters, stylized characters, and variants that differ mainly by clothing (for example a modern man vs. a cowboy). But the biggest strength of the Editor is that you can customize the character’s appearance exactly to your preferences.

You can change the character’s appearance using the button next to Appearance. The second option is to edit their clothing.