Voxel Plugin vs Worldsmith

Voxel Plugin is voxel technology for Unreal Engine, with version 2 focused on creating and generating interactive terrain. Worlds can be changed at runtime, and those changes are described as reversible and non-destructive. Terrain is authored with stamps that generate 2D height or 3D volume data; procedural generation is deterministic when the same seeds are used. Voxel Graphs provide node-based control over world generation, but are not included in the Free plan.

The plugin targets Nanite as its main rendering pipeline and supports tessellation and displacement there. Unreal Engine's PCG framework can query voxel terrain and metadata, and PCG graphs can call Voxel Graphs; foliage workflows use PCG rather than direct plugin handling. Voxel Plugin 2 does not support cubic terrain or static, pre-baked world generation. Its documented release targets Unreal Engine 5.6 and 5.7 and is actively being developed, with documentation warning it may be buggy. The Free plan is free; Pro costs $349, paid once and is not for project budgets over $200k.

Worldsmith is a free, open-source browser application for generating fantasy world maps from a numeric seed, with a mode for rendering real Earth. Procedural terrain uses domain-warped fractal noise, including ridged mountain ranges, while biomes derive from elevation, moisture, and temperature. Rivers use D8 flow accumulation to form tributary drainage networks. Exports include PNG maps up to 5120 pixels, editable SVG maps up to 3840 pixels, JSON world data, and 8-bit or 16-bit heightmaps. The maker says heightmaps can be imported into Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, and World Machine. Earth mode uses NOAA ETOPO1 elevation and bathymetry, averaged to about five kilometers per sample; synthesized detail is disclosed and can be disabled with Detail set to 0. The app runs entirely client-side without an account, server, or dependencies, and is offered under the MIT license.