Last reviewed 31 Jul 2026

Applies to

Unity 2022.3 Terrain Tools 5.0 VRChat world projects

Difficulty Beginner

Install and Use Unity Terrain Tools 5.0

Unity Terrain Tools adds sculpting brushes, effects, transforms, Brush Mask Filters, and the Terrain Toolbox to Unity's built-in Terrain workflow. Unity provides the Terrain Tools 5.0 package line for Unity 2022.3.

Use the built-in Terrain tools to create and size the landscape first. Install this package when you need more control over its heightmap, texture data, or repeated Terrain operations.

Install and confirm

The package appears in Package Manager's Unity Registry collection.

Open Window → Package Manager.
Select Packages: Unity Registry, choose Terrain Tools, then select Install.
Open Window → Terrain → Terrain Toolbox to confirm the package loaded.

VRChat Android note

Terrain Tools changes Terrain authoring data; it does not make the finished landscape inexpensive to render. VRChat's Android guidance still recommends limiting texture size, material count, mesh complexity, and real-time lighting costs. Review the resulting Terrain Layers, foliage, shadows, and view distances on the Android build target.

What Terrain Tools Adds

Feature	Use it for
Terrain Toolbox	Create Terrain tiles, apply settings to multiple tiles, and import or export heightmap and splatmap data
Sculpt tools	Clone an existing area, build a bridge-shaped height transition, stamp meshes, and apply other heightmap operations
Effects	Apply operations such as Sharpen Peaks to the current brush stroke
Transform tools	Transform selected Terrain height or texture data with tools such as Twist
Brush Mask Filters	Restrict a brush by Terrain height, slope, layer, aspect, or concavity, or modify its mask mathematically
Erosion tools	Apply erosion simulations supplied by the package

The package extends the Terrain Inspector. It does not replace the Terrain GameObject or its Terrain Data asset.

1. Install Terrain Tools

Open Window → Package Manager.
In the package collection menu, select Packages: Unity Registry.
Find and select Terrain Tools.
Select Install.
Wait for Unity to finish importing and compiling the package.

Unity 2022.3 supports released Terrain Tools 5.0 versions. Let Package Manager resolve the available 5.0 release for the project instead of adding a package intended for a different Unity editor line.

2. Confirm the Package Loaded

Open Window → Terrain → Terrain Toolbox. Unity opens a dockable editor window with these sections:

Terrain Toolbox section	Purpose
Create New Terrain	Create one or more Terrain tiles from settings, presets, or imported heightmaps
Terrain Settings	Change settings across selected Terrain tiles
Terrain Utilities	Import, export, and run utility operations on Terrain data
Terrain Visualization	Inspect Terrain data through the Toolbox visualization modes

You can also select a Terrain GameObject, open Paint Terrain, and inspect the additional Sculpt, Effects, Transform, and Erosion tools.

3. Clone Existing Terrain

Clone copies height or texture information from one Terrain area to another.

Select the Terrain GameObject.
Open Paint Terrain → Sculpt → Clone.
Enable Heightmap, Textures, or both under the clone targets.
Hold Ctrl and click the source area. On macOS, hold Option instead.
Release the modifier key and paint over the destination area.
Adjust the height offset or movement behavior when the copied result needs a different alignment.

Check the target toggles before painting. A Heightmap-only clone changes the landform without copying its Terrain Layer paint.

4. Create a Height Transition with Bridge

Bridge creates a brush operation between two selected points.

Open Paint Terrain → Sculpt → Bridge.
Adjust the Width Profile, Height Offset Profile, Strength Profile, and Horizontal Offset Profile curves.
Hold Ctrl and click the start point.
Release Ctrl, then click the end point to create the heightmap stroke.
Inspect the result. Undo it and revise the profiles before repeating the stroke when the route needs a different shape.

Use the profile curves to shape the transition. This tool modifies the Terrain heightmap; it does not create a separate bridge mesh, collider, or handrail.

5. Sharpen a Peak

Sharpen Peaks increases or reduces the sharpness of heightmap features under the brush.

Open Paint Terrain → Effects → Sharpen Peaks.
Set Sharpness between 0 and 1.
Paint over the heightmap feature.

Values closer to 1 create sharper peaks. Values closer to 0 flatten them. Use a low brush strength for a controlled pass.

6. Twist Height or Texture Data

Twist rotates Terrain data around the brush centre.

Open Paint Terrain → Transform → Twist.
Choose Material, Heightmap, or both as the target.
Set Twist Amount to control the direction and intensity.
Paint once, inspect the result, and undo the stroke if it distorts the playable surface.

Selecting only one target is useful when the texture pattern should change without reshaping the ground, or the heightmap should change without rotating its painted Terrain Layers.

7. Limit a Brush with Mask Filters

A Brush Mask is a greyscale texture that controls the strength of a Terrain edit. Black areas receive no effect and white areas receive the full effect. Brush Mask Filters change that mask before Unity applies the stroke.

Choose a Paint Terrain tool.
Find its Brush Mask Filters list.
Select the + button and add a filter.
Configure the filter and inspect the highlighted affected area on the Terrain.
Drag filters to change their order when using more than one.

Terrain-based filters include Aspect, Concavity, Height, Slope, and Layer. Mathematical filters include Add, Clamp, Complement, Power, and Remap. Unity processes the stack from top to bottom.

Terrain-based filters are especially useful while painting Terrain Layers. Unity warns that using them with height-changing tools can produce unusual results or visual artifacts because the edited heightmap is sampled again as it changes.

Test the Result in the World

After a Terrain Tools pass:

Save the scene and enter Play mode.
Walk the edited route at player height.
Check slopes, sightlines, boundaries, and transitions into mesh-built paths or structures.
Inspect Terrain Layers, tree and detail distances, shadows, and visible tile count.
Test the intended PC and Android versions separately when the world supports both.

Terrain Tools can speed up authoring, but the package does not select runtime settings for a VRChat world.

Help! Terrain Tools does not appear in Package Manager.

Set the collection menu to Packages: Unity Registry, then search for Terrain Tools. If the project is not using Unity 2022.3, check the Terrain Tools package page for the version released for that editor line.

Help! The Terrain Toolbox menu is missing after installation.

Open Package Manager, select Packages: In Project, and confirm Terrain Tools is installed. Wait for Unity to finish compiling, then review the Console for package import or compilation errors before reopening Window → Terrain → Terrain Toolbox.

Help! Clone changes the shape but not the texture.

Open the Clone tool's target settings and enable Textures. Enable Heightmap only when the destination should also receive the sampled landform.

Help! Bridge starts from the wrong place.

Hold Ctrl and click again to set a new start point, then release Ctrl and click the intended end point. Review the four profile curves before applying the operation.

Help! A Brush Mask Filter produces artifacts while sculpting.

Undo the stroke and remove the Terrain-based filter from the height-changing tool. Unity's Terrain Tools documentation notes that these filters can produce unusual results when the heightmap used to calculate the mask changes during the edit.

Help! The Terrain looks acceptable on PC but is expensive on Android.

Review the finished Terrain rather than the editor tool that created it. Reduce costly textures, materials, foliage, shadows, and view distances as needed, then test again on the Android build target using VRChat's platform guidance.