Terrain Editor



The Terrain editor is the part of the Starcraft 2 Map Editor that let's you modify the terrain of the map. It also lets you add the starting locations, units and doodads. It also provides features for editing regions and predefined cameras for use in triggers.

The Terrain Editor is not used if you are creating a Mod.

Layout
On the Terrain Editor one can see:
 * The Terrain View on the right side. This shows the state of the map. It allows you to select objects on the map and modify the terrain or place objects.
 * The Minimap is similar to the Minimap in Starcraft 2 which summerizes the current state of the map in one handy little picture.
 * The Active Layer is shown on the left side. It provides tools for manipulating the layer you currently have selected. All the possible layers are shown below.

Layers
The Terrain Editor is split into various layers, each of which is responsible for handling certain types of objects.

Terrain Layer
The Terrain Layer features the following brushes:
 * Texture Brush - Used to change the texture of the terrain.
 * Road Brush - Used to add or remove roads.
 * Height Brush - Used to adjust the height of the terrain.
 * Cliff Brush - Used to create cliffs and ramps.
 * Foliage Brush - Used to randomly generate foliage across the map.
 * Water Brush - Used to add water, lava, or any other liquid to the map.
 * Terrain Object Brush

Units Layer
The Units Layer lets you place the starting units for each player as soon as the game starts. You can select the player for whom you would like to set units, as well as optional filtering for the units list, by using the dropdowns at the top.

Doodads Layer
The Doodads Layer lets you place so-called doodads. Doodads are usually aesthetic models that can will not affect the game but certain doodads can also modify the environment (such as Line of Sight Blockers). Other doodads include Pathing Blockers and weather effects.

Points Layer
The Points Layer lets you mark specific points on your map for later use in triggers. You can also set starting locations for the players, especially important in melee maps. An example for why you would use points would be to have a set of units patrol a set of waypoints on the map.

Regions Layer
The Regions Layer lets you mark regions across the map. Regions may be of any shape and may be composed of multiple disjointed shapes. Regions are use mainly in triggers to refer to a particular area of a map. An example would be to mark the player's base in a region and have the enemy AI attack that region.

Pathing Layer
The Pathing Layer lets you define the pathing for units in the game. You can either force certain areas of the map to be non-passable (even for air units) as well force other areas of the map to be passable.

Cameras Layer
The Cameras Layer to place a number of Camera objects on the map. These cameras can then be applied to specific players through the Trigger Editor which you can use for in-game cinematics among other things. After placing a camera, double-click on it in the list to fine tune its properties which you can preview by ticking the checkbox at the bottom.