Interactive Brushes

Algorithms scatter. Brushes refine. Paint trees where you want them. Erase where you don't.

Brush Modes

Landscaper provides four interaction modes, cycled with the Spacebar. Each mode changes how mouse input is interpreted and displays a color-coded cursor ring.

Mode	Cursor	Action	Use Case
Orbit	None	Click+drag rotates camera	Navigation and inspection
Paint	Green ring	Click+drag places objects	Adding trees to sparse areas
Erase	Red ring	Click+drag removes objects	Clearing paths and clearings
Select	Blue cursor	Click to pick objects	Fine-tuning individual placements

Landscaper interface with the TOOLS accordion section expanded in the left panel. Four mode buttons appear in a single row: Orbit (highlighted in green, currently active), Paint, Erase, Select. Below TOOLS, the TERRAIN section is also expanded showing '256×256m — procedural elevation', 'Grid: 16m divisions', and a checked 'Atmospheric fog' checkbox. The center canvas shows a mixed forest of oaks, pines, and plumeria scattered on the green test terrain. Stats bar reads Objects 65, Tris 962,560, Draws 132. — **Figure 1.** The four interaction modes live under the *Tools* accordion. The active mode (here, *Orbit*) is highlighted in green. Press **Space** to cycle through them.

Paint Mode

Click and drag across the terrain to place objects within the brush radius. Each drag tick attempts to place 1–3 instances, depending on brush size. Placement is throttled — you must move at least 40% of the brush radius before new objects appear. This prevents accidental clustering.

Each painted object is a fully procedural instance, generated fresh with a random seed. The active species determines what gets placed. Spacing checks prevent objects from overlapping.

Erase Mode

Click and drag to remove all objects within the brush radius. Uses squared-distance checks for performance — no raycasting needed. Geometry and materials are disposed immediately on removal.

🗑

Erase brush clearing a path through dense forest

Recommended: 1920×1080

Select Mode

Click on an object to select it. The selected object is highlighted with a green emissive glow. From here you can:

Shift+Click — Add or remove objects from the selection
Delete key — Remove selected objects
G key — Activate translate gizmo (grab and move)
R key — Activate rotate gizmo
S key — Activate scale gizmo

The transform gizmo uses Three.js TransformControls for precise manipulation. Move a tree to the perfect spot. Rotate it to face a clearing. Scale it up to make a landmark.

✖

Select mode with transform gizmo — repositioning a tree

Recommended: 1920×1080

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action	Available In
Space	Cycle brush mode (Orbit → Paint → Erase → Select)	All modes
Delete	Delete selected objects	Select mode
G	Translate gizmo (grab)	Select mode
R	Rotate gizmo	Select mode
S	Scale gizmo	Select mode

Workflow

Scatter first — Use Poisson disk or clustered to populate the bulk of the terrain
Switch to Paint — Fill in sparse areas, add accent trees along ridgelines
Switch to Erase — Clear paths, roads, building sites, clearings
Switch to Select — Fine-tune individual trees with translate/rotate/scale
Export — Save the final manifest with all hand-edited placements preserved

✅ Pro Tip

Brush-painted objects are fully included in the export manifest. Whether placed by algorithm or by hand, every instance is saved. This means you can scatter 200 trees, erase 50, paint 30 in better spots, and export the result — all 180 trees are captured.