What it does
World Machine creates terrain for games, films and visualisation through a graph of generators, filters, simulations and outputs. Artists can build rivers, erosion patterns and surface maps, then export terrain data or a full scene. Basic is free for personal non-commercial work; paid perpetual editions allow commercial export.
Draw a river's course with River Tool or let Create Water find one. Erosion provides flow, wear and sediment information that can guide materials as well as shape the ground. Reusable groups of devices can be saved as macros for another terrain.
Output devices control what leaves the graph. Export All builds the connected outputs and writes their files; names can use project, output and resolution tokens. Options include heightfields, OBJ meshes and glTF scenes containing geometry, materials and water. Professional and above can build a large landscape as separate tiles instead of one file.
The 3D view includes side-by-side or sliding comparisons of two terrain states. Slope overlays and saved camera slots help examine the same areas after changing an upstream device.
Paid editions
| Edition | One-time US price | Main difference |
|---|---|---|
| Indie | US$119 | Commercial export; builds use four CPU threads |
| Professional | US$299 | All CPU cores, tiled terrain and scripted builds |
| Studio Site | US$1,999 | Professional features across workstations at one physical address |
Paid licences include one year of updates and remain usable afterwards. Basic has a 1K build limit and excludes commercial work. Current native builds support Windows, macOS and Linux.
Strengths
- The viewport can compare two terrain states side by side.
- A complete terrain scene can be exported as glTF with materials and water.
Watch out for
- Basic is limited to personal non-commercial work and 1K builds.
- Tiled-world export and build automation require Professional or above.
Best for
- Technical environment artists creating reusable terrain graphs
- Game teams producing terrain masks and tiled landscapes
Sources
- World Machine: Terrain Generation (Oct 28, 2026)
- World Machine Features (Oct 28, 2026)
- Purchase World Machine (Oct 28, 2026)