Terrain Overview
Add a site-accurate 3D ground surface to your project. The Terrain module makes slopes, levels, and earthwork visible in the design — grounding the 3D model in the real site.
Terrain OverviewThe Terrain workspace gives your project a true 3D ground surface derived from real elevation data or drawn from scratch. Once terrain is active, every plant, structure, and hardscape element can be settled onto the surface so it rises from the actual slope rather than a flat plane. The workspace groups all terrain work into four areas: importing or creating the surface (Data), sculpting and grading it (Model), measuring slopes and earthwork (Analyze), and toggling visual overlays such as contours and hillshade (View). Use terrain whenever the site has meaningful slope, you need to check drainage gradients, or you want earthwork quantities in your cost estimate.
When to use terrain
Use the Terrain module when:
- The site has significant slopes — even a gentle 1–2 m level change across a garden affects planting design, drainage, retaining structures, and accessibility
- Cut and fill earthwork is part of the brief — terrain enables cut/fill volume calculations
- Contour drawings are a deliverable — the terrain mesh generates contour line overlays directly
- The 3D presentation needs to show the site topography — a flat design on a clearly sloped site looks unrealistic to clients
- Drainage design is involved — slope direction and gradient analysis requires terrain data
For small, effectively flat urban gardens with no level changes, terrain is optional. The flat ground plane is sufficient for most design and presentation tasks.
Ways to create terrain
There are two ways to add terrain to a project:
Import — recommended when survey data or public elevation data is available. Import a GeoTIFF, XYZ point cloud, or CSV elevation file to create an accurate terrain mesh from real-world data. See the Terrain Import article.
From scratch — for hypothetical designs, concept-stage work, or when no survey data is available. Create a blank terrain grid and use the sculpt brushes or height-point tools to model the ground surface manually. See the Terrain from Scratch article.
Both methods produce the same type of terrain entity. An imported terrain can be further edited with the sculpt tools, and a from-scratch terrain can have real elevation data applied to it later.
Access the Terrain module
Click the Terrain icon in the top bar to open the Terrain panel. The panel shows:
- A list of terrain entities in the project (if any exist)
- + Add Terrain button to create a new terrain via import or from scratch
- Terrain HUD (shown when a terrain entity is selected) with tabs: Edit, Analyze, View
Selecting a terrain entity on the canvas activates the terrain HUD. The HUD provides all terrain editing, analysis, and overlay tools for the selected terrain.
Measure slopes and earthwork from the Analyze flyout
Click the Analyze button to access the analysis tools. Profile lets you draw a cross-section line and see the elevation graph. Region draws a polygon and reports area, average elevation, minimum and maximum heights, and slope statistics. Slope and Cut/Fill overlays color the surface by gradient steepness or by cut versus fill volume relative to a reference plane — the Cut/Fill legend panel shows total cut and fill in cubic meters or cubic feet.
Toggle visual overlays from the View flyout
Click the View button to show or hide surface overlays. Contours draws elevation contour lines at a configurable interval. Hillshade adds simulated sun shading to reveal subtle landform. Slope colors the surface by steepness. Aspect colors it by compass-facing direction. Runoff animates water-flow arrows across the surface to show drainage paths. Each overlay can be on or off independently and all are visible in both the terrain workspace and the 3D editor.
Settle the garden onto terrain
Once your terrain surface is shaped, return to the 2D or 3D editor and use Settle garden onto terrain in the terrain sidebar. This snaps every object's base elevation to the terrain height at its position. Choose Snap to terrain to pin objects flush to the ground, or Keep height offsets to preserve any designed clearance above it. The sidebar reports how many objects were settled so you can spot anything that was skipped.
The cursor status strip at the bottom of the terrain canvas shows live elevation and slope percentage as you hover. Use this to spot-check grades before drawing grading primitives — it is much faster than running a full Profile analysis for a single point.
Even a gently sloping site benefits from terrain. A basic levels survey entered as a CSV of spot elevations is enough to produce a realistic surface that makes the 3D view read correctly and lets you check drainage direction and earthwork quantities.
Grading primitives (Pad, Sloped Pad, Retaining Wall, etc.) modify the terrain surface. If you want to compare the graded design against the original surface, switch the surface-view selector in the top bar from Proposed to Existing — this shows the raw surface without any applied modifiers. Compare shows the two side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does adding terrain change my 2D drawing or plan view?
No. The plan view is unaffected — all 2D entities keep their drawn positions and dimensions. Terrain drives the 3D ground surface and the elevation data that analysis tools read. The only change you will see in 2D is that contour lines can optionally be displayed as a visual overlay on the plan.
Can I use terrain if I have no elevation file?
Yes. Use Create terrain in the Data flyout to start from a flat or gently shaped grid. You can then use Volume Points to place spot elevations at known heights, or use Spray Sculpt to model the landform by eye. A hand-modeled terrain is still useful for settling objects onto the ground and running drainage checks.
What elevation file formats are supported for import?
The import wizard accepts DXF files with contour polylines, GeoTIFF and DEM raster files, OBJ and similar mesh files, LiDAR LAS and LAZ point clouds, and photogrammetry exports. Each format has a preset entry in the Data flyout that pre-filters the file picker to the relevant extensions.
How does terrain affect plant and structure placement?
After running Settle garden onto terrain, plant bases and structure footprints snap to the terrain elevation at each location. In the 3D view plants rise from the sloped ground and structures follow the grade. In the plan view everything stays at its drawn position — only 3D elevation changes.
Can I see the original surface after I have graded it?
Yes. Use the surface-view selector in the top bar. Switch from Proposed to Existing to hide all grading modifiers and show the raw original surface; switch back to Proposed to see the graded design. Choose Compare to view existing and proposed together. Use this when you want to compare the existing grade with the proposed grade before finalizing earthwork.