Introduction

LibreTerrain is a free, open-source, node-based terrain authoring application. You build a landscape in a node graph, shape it with noise, erosion and water simulation, colour it, grow vegetation on it and preview it live in 3D. Then you export heightmaps, masks, colour maps and vegetation data into Unreal Engine, Blender, Godot or any other tool.

It is built with a Rust terrain engine and a Godot 4 editor, and is developed by EllisonDigital and contributors.

Current release: 2026.1

2026.1 is the first stable release. Project files and node settings are stable from 2026.1: every later release opens 2026.1 projects with the same result.

Where to start

Installation
Download and install on Windows, macOS or Linux.

The interface
Graph, viewport, 2D map, settings and tabs.

Your first terrain
From an empty graph to an exported heightmap.

Node reference
All 60 nodes, grouped by category.

Key ideas

• Everything is a node. Primitives, noise, terrain shapes, filters, masks, simulations, colour and vegetation are all nodes in a graph. Changing a setting upstream flows through to everything after it.
• Non-destructive and cached. After an edit, only that node and the nodes after it are recomputed. The status bar tells you how many, for example "1 node computed, 7 ms".
• Measured in metres. All sizes are in metres and all randomness comes from a seed, so a node looks the same at every resolution and on every machine. Preview fast at low resolution, then build at 16K or more.
• Three graphs per project. The Terrain, Vegetation and Colour tabs each have their own graph. Terrain outputs travel to the other tabs through portals.
• Build once, use anywhere. Mark the outputs you want and press Build to write them all, with a build.json manifest that the import helpers understand.

Getting help

• Questions and ideas: GitHub Discussions
• Bugs: GitHub Issues
• Hover over any setting in the app to see what it does.