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Thermal Erosion

modifier.thermal_erosion · Geology · Mask-aware · Resolution-dependent

Relaxes slopes steeper than the talus angle toward repose.

Purpose

Settles steep, sharp terrain into weathered slopes by letting material shed downhill until it rests at a natural angle. Reach for it to turn raw noise or hard-edged shapes into ground that looks like it has stood for a while.

Inputs

  • in
  • mask (optional)

Outputs

  • heightfield
  • wear
  • debris

Parameters

Parameter Type Range Default Unit Description Field-driven
Talus (talus) float [0, 90] 35 ° no
Strength (strength) float [0, 1] 0.5 no
Iterations (iterations) int [0, 1000] 35 no

Layer contract

Honours a mask on its input, applying everywhere the mask is absent.

Emits wear, debris alongside the height layer.

Behaviour

Thermal erosion is an iterative simulation, so it is resolution-dependent: the same settings at preview and build resolutions give related but slightly different terrain, so treat the preview as representative. Talus sets the steepest slope that survives; gentler ground is left alone. With no mask the whole field settles; a mask confines the effect to the region you paint or select, and the protected ground keeps its original height.

See also