Boonar Studio’s “Terrain Mixer” just became even more accessible for Blender users. The innovative procedural terrain creation tool is now officially available directly within Blender’s built-in Extensions library, making setup easier than ever!
Whether you're a seasoned environment designer or just curious about landscape generation, Terrain Mixer offers a highly flexible and intuitive way to sculpt, mask, and bake detailed terrains right inside your scene. But let’s take a closer look at what makes this free add-on so powerful.
Installing Terrain Mixer from Within Blender.
Gone are the days of downloading Terrain Mixer from an external website. Now, with just a few clicks, users can install the plugin from Blender itself.
- Open Blender.
- Navigate to Edit > Preferences > Extensions.
- Search for "Terrain Mixer" and click Install.
- After installation, you can find it in the N-panel under the “Terrain Mixer” tab.
This simplicity means artists can skip the manual setup and start crafting terrains in seconds.
Shader-Based Terrain Generation.
Terrain Mixer operates using shader-based techniques within Blender’s Cycles rendering engine, allowing real-time performance and procedural flexibility. Once you import it into your scene, it provides:
- Prebuilt terrain materials.
- Fully customizable workspace layouts specific to terrain creation.
- A quick-start interface with intuitive sliders and mask controls.
Upon importing, users are advised to save their project and unpack included resources. These textures and data are stored in a dedicated “textures” folder next to the .blend file for seamless access and organization.
Powerful Masking and Gizmo Controls.
Masking is a key part of Terrain Mixer’s design system. Users can:
- Enable geo-custom masks like spheres and curves.
- Apply multiple masks simultaneously.
- Use curve-based masks to dynamically shape terrain features.
- Manipulate terrain using gizmos inside the 3D viewport, bypassing node trees and sliders.
This gives artists both visual and tactile control over terrain shaping, especially useful for those who prefer working directly within the 3D space.
Baking Terrain: No Subdivision Needed.
When ready, users can bake terrains into height maps without subdividing geometry. This is a major performance boost, as high-detail outputs can be generated from low-poly setups:
- Fine-tune your design using masks and inputs.
- Enter baking mode and set render samples to minimal (e.g., 1 or 10).
- Bake the result and save it as an OpenEXR file.
- Apply the height map to another plane using Blender’s Displace modifier.
Even massive terrains (~2000m wide) retain excellent detail through this process.
Boosting Resolution With High-Res Inputs.
To push terrain quality even further, Boonar Studio provides free 4K, 8K, and 16K height maps on their Discord server. By replacing the default input textures in the Terrain Mixer’s directory with these high-res files, users can:
- Drastically increase surface detail.
- Maintain performance while working with complex height data.
- Customize inputs for professional-grade results..
You can also load your own height maps using the “custom height source” selector for complete control over terrain logic.
The Logic Behind the Mixer.
Terrain Mixer operates on a multi-input system:
- Each of the four inputs can switch between two height sources.
- Users can toggle and blend these sources using on-screen gizmos or the UI panel.
- This gives artists layered control over the terrain form, promoting experimentation and rapid iteration.
By combining inputs, masks, and custom textures, Terrain Mixer becomes an incredibly powerful terrain design toolkit, all within Blender and all for free.
Final Thoughts.
Boonar Studio has significantly lowered the entry barrier to procedural terrain creation with this Blender-integrated release. Terrain Mixer combines smart UI design, real-time manipulation, and non-destructive workflows—making it ideal for game devs, VFX artists, architects, and enthusiasts alike.
Watch the Tutorial.
🎥 Watch the full video tutorial below to see Terrain Mixer in action and learn how to fully integrate it into your creative workflow:
Boonar Studio is a creative digital lab focused on developing cutting-edge tools for 3D artists and Blender users. With a commitment to accessibility, community engagement, and procedural workflows, the studio continues to push Blender’s native capabilities through intuitive add-ons and learning resources. Their Terrain Mixer project is one of the most comprehensive free solutions for landscape creation currently available in the Blender ecosystem.
