Minecraft | How to Create Easy Terrain with World Edit (for beginners)

So you're sick and tired of boring, flat plots but too lazy to place every block of your terrain by hand? Well, don't worry - so am I. Today I'm going to teach you two methods to create simple yet realistic terrain using World Edit. It can be installed as a mod but is most commonly found as a plugin on creative plot servers, which is how I'm going to be demonstrating these techniques.                       

Disclaimer: Different servers may have different limitations on what commands you can use, particularly brush size and blocks like lava and gravel. For this reason, I'm only going to be using brushes of maximum 5 radius and made of grass.

Method 1: Spheres

This method is ideal for creating steeper terrain - for example, large hills and mountains.

Step 1: Set up your tools

The easiest way to build up lots and lots of spheres from a safe distance away is to use the brush tool. You're going to want 5 different tools (sword, spade, pickaxe etc.) in your hotbar, each of which we will bind with a different command.

The brush tool has many different functions, but in this instance, we'll be using

//brush sphere [material] [radius]

Scroll along your hotbar until you've got the tool you want to make the biggest spheres in your hand. Then type in the command:

//brush sphere grass 5

With the next tool along, use the command:

//brush sphere grass 4

Keep going until you've bound a command to each of your tools. Make sure you remember which one's which!

Step 2: The general shape

Whatever terrain you're making, you'll want to get the general shape first. To do this, use the biggest brush you have, and get spamming! Do this until you've got your mountain to about the right height and width- although both of these will increase as you move to the more precise brushes.

Step 3: Building it out

Use the next size down to fill in the gaps between each sphere, and generally smooth down the harsh cliffs and weirdly flat edges that using spheres gives you. Your aim is to make the mountain look interesting, not just a massive blob. Try adding ridges to make it look more like it was eroded (I don't really know why mountains do this - I probably should have paid more attention in Geography).

Step 4: Halfway there!

You know the drill by now - it's time for the next size down. This may not look particularly different to the last step, but it's just as important. We're trying to get the size and shape as close as possible to what it'll finally look like before we go in and smooth it out.

 Step 5: More precision

It's time to make your mountain look less like a pile of spheres and more like, well... a mountain. Use your 2 radius brush to smooth out the steepest slopes and get the gradients looking right. Make sure you've revisited the top (to make it look sharper) not just flown around the sides.

Step 6: Almost done

It's time for the most important stage: using the 1 radius to finish off the sides of the mountain. This should take the longest amount of time to do: the longer you spend on this, the more natural it will look, and the less time you have to spend smoothing it out afterwards. Fly around the whole thing, ironing out any imperfections and making sure the gradient is pretty much consistent.

Step 7: (optional) Time to smooth

Still think your terrain is too rough or pockmarked? Well, you have two choices: smooth it out by hand when you go in to add your flora and fauna, which is slow, or use another brush. The brush I'll teach you to use is

/brush smooth [size]

Get out a new tool (or unbind your old ones with /brush none) and type in

/brush smooth 2

Now, when you right click with this tool, the terrain will we be averaged out in some complex algorithmic way that I will never understand. Use this carefully and sparingly because, as helpful as it is, it has the habit of straightening out blocks into boring old lines. Obviously this can be rectified by going over it by hand, as well as with the plentiful use of //undo, but it's better if you don't have to. After all, a landscape with character is much more interesting, plus it'll look like you've done it by hand.

 Method 2: Cylinders 

If you want to create a large area with varied terrain, but nothing particularly steep, then you'll want to use cylinders instead of spheres. I'm not going to do a step-by-step for this one because the premise is pretty much the same. Use a variety of different radii of

/brush cylinder [block] [radius] [height]

(it's easiest to use a height of 2 if you're building on already flat terrain, for example, a plot) to build up your tallest areas then work into more precise sizes to get the detail. You can also use cylinders of air to dig out low-lying areas like rivers. As before, this technique will require smoothing out, either by hand or by using /brush smooth.

This technique is great for when you want terrain that's flat enough to build on but still much more varied than a traditional flat plot.

So there you have it, two techniques for creating great terrain in a few easy steps. The most effective landscapes have a variety of terrain, including steep mountains, low-lying plains and hand-carved cliffs, so try to use both of these techniques in conjunction with good old-fashioned building by hand, and have fun with it!

Happy building!

-PotterGoddess :)

Want to find out more about World Edit? Try this beginner's guide by Grian