Heightmap Voxel

The HeightmapVoxels component allows you to create voxel-based terrain using a heightmap and a colormap texture. This is useful for creating large ground surfaces that support voxel destruction and physics.

Component: HeightmapVoxels

Usage Steps

1. Create GameObject: Create a new empty GameObject in your scene.

2. Add Component: Add the HeightmapVoxels component to the GameObject.

3. Prepare Textures:

   • You need two textures: a Heightmap (grayscale) and a Colormap (RGB).
   • Important: Select each texture in the Project view, go to the Inspector, and check Read/Write Enabled in the Import Settings. Click Apply.

4. Assign Textures: Drag your textures into the Heightmap and Colormap fields of the component.

5. Configure Settings: Adjust the Tile Size, Height Scale, and other parameters as needed.

6. Play: The terrain is generated automatically when the game starts (in the Start() method).

   

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
Heightmap	Grayscale texture defining terrain height. White is high, black is low.	None
Colormap	Texture defining the color of the terrain surface.	None
Forbid Mask	Optional mask texture.	None
Tile Size	Size of chunks to split the generation into. Smaller tiles may help with memory but increase object count.	256
Height Scale	Multiplier for the vertical height of the terrain.	1
Voxel Size	Size of individual voxels in world units. Smaller values = more detail but heavier performance.	0.25
Lod Bias	Level of Detail bias for the mesh generation.	1.0
Voxel ID	The material type of the generated voxels (e.g., Stone, Dirt, Grass). Affects sound and physics.	Stone
Indestructible	If enabled, the terrain cannot be destroyed by weapons or explosions.	true

Tips

• Performance: Large Heightmap textures can take time to generate. The script splits them into tiles to manage this.
• Physics: The generated terrain uses PxVoxelColliderGenerator for physics collisions.
• Destruction: If Indestructible is disabled, the ground can be dug into or destroyed like other voxel objects.

Performance Considerations

1. Voxel Count and Texture Resolution The number of voxels along the X and Z axes (the voxel grid resolution) is directly determined by the pixel resolution of your Heightmap texture.

• 1 pixel in the Heightmap = 1 vertical column of voxels.
• For example, a 100x100 pixel texture creates a 100x100 grid of voxel columns.
• The physical world size of the terrain = Pixel Width * Voxel Size.

2. Recommended Size Keep it under 256x256. It is strongly recommended to ensure your Heightmap texture is smaller than 256 pixels on each side.

• Generating voxels is computationally expensive.
• A texture larger than 256x256 will produce a massive amount of geometry and collision data, which can cause significant lag during initialization (game start) and high memory usage.
• If you need a larger area, consider increasing the Voxel Size parameter instead of increasing the texture resolution, or use multiple smaller HeightmapVoxel objects.