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Unreal Editor Utility

LandSnap

LandSnap is a lightweight Unreal Editor utility that instantly snaps and aligns selected actors and splines to Landscapes or designer-defined tagged surfaces, saving time and eliminating tedious manual adjustments during level design.

No complex setup. No bloated systems. Just fast, predictable placement.
Documentation Get it on FAB
At a Glance

Editor-first

  • Editor-only utility (no runtime impact)
  • Undo / Redo safe via scoped transactions
  • World Partition and HLOD safe

Fast by design

  • One-click snapping for actors and splines
  • Consistent, predictable placement
  • Conservative defaults that avoid over-tilting

Surface control

  • Landscape or tagged surface workflows
  • Allow and ignore tags for targeted placement
  • Controlled stacking on valid surfaces
Quick Start & Snap Targets

Quick Start (30 seconds)

  1. Enable the LandSnap plugin and restart the editor
  2. Select one or more Actors or an Actor with a Spline
  3. Click LandSnap or LandSnap Splines (or use hotkeys)
  4. Adjust Z Offset, alignment, or size presets if needed

Fast, predictable placement without the fuss.

Snap Targets

LandSnap can snap selected items to:

  • Landscapes (default)
  • Tagged Actors or Components (designer-controlled)

Supports stacking, roads-on-meshes, or placement on custom geometry.

Tagged Surface Snapping

  1. Add a tag (e.g. SnapSurface) to an Actor or Component
  2. Open Editor Preferences -> Plugins -> LandSnap
  3. Enable Allow Tagged Surfaces and add tags to Snap Surface Tags
  4. Select Actors or Splines and snap as normal

Only tagged surfaces are valid when tagged snapping is enabled.

What LandSnap Does

Snap Targets

  • Snaps selected Actors, Spline Components, and Spline Mesh Components
  • Snap to Landscape surfaces
  • Snap to tagged actors or components (designer-controlled)
  • Supports stacking on valid tagged surfaces

Placement & Alignment

  • Pivot snap or bounds-bottom placement
  • Optional alignment to surface normals (preserve yaw)
  • Optional spline up-vector alignment
  • Handles actors above or below the surface
  • Z Offset support
  • Configurable trace distances and collision channel
  • Multi-select snapping

Footprint & Stability

  • Convex footprint detection with best-fit plane alignment
  • Experimental concave detection modes for uneven terrain
  • Rotation-aware multi-pass settling on non-convex shapes
  • Bounce floater fix for lingering gaps
  • Size presets with auto-bucket selection
  • Debug line draw and verbose logging (LogLandSnap)
Documentation

1. Installation & Activation

Copy the LandSnap plugin into your project's Plugins/ folder.

Open Unreal Engine and go to Edit -> Plugins.

Enable LandSnap under the Editor category.

Restart the editor when prompted.

LandSnap is an Editor-only plugin and does not affect packaged builds.

2. Toolbar Buttons & Hotkeys

LandSnap adds buttons to the Level Editor toolbar:

  • LandSnap icon LandSnap - Snap selected actors to the surface
  • LandSnap Splines icon LandSnap Splines - Snap selected spline components to the surface

These buttons work on the current selection and support multi-select.

Hotkeys

Default hotkeys are provided for faster workflow:

  • Actor snap: Ctrl + Down Arrow
  • Spline snap: Shift + Down Arrow

Hotkeys can be customized in Editor Preferences.

3. Core Behavior

Actor Snapping

When using the LandSnap button or hotkey:

  • Selected actors are snapped to the surface below them.
  • Landscapes are supported by default.
  • Optional support for tagged surfaces can be enabled.
  • Actors can align their rotation to the surface normal.
  • A configurable Z Offset can be applied after snapping.

Placement Modes

  • Pivot Snap: Snaps the actor's pivot directly to the surface.
  • Pivot-Aware Bottom: Uses the actor's bounds to place it naturally on the surface (recommended for props).

LandSnap automatically traces both downward and upward to find the closest valid surface.

Spline Snapping

When using LandSnap Splines:

  • Works with both Spline Components and Spline Mesh Components
  • Spline points are snapped individually to the surface
  • Optional alignment of spline up vectors to the surface normal
  • Independent Z offset for splines

This is ideal for roads, paths, fences, cables, and similar spline-based assets.

4. Settings

LandSnap exposes settings in Editor Preferences -> Plugins -> LandSnap.

Settings Overview

Alignment

Setting Description
Align to Surface Normal Aligns actors to surface normals (optional preserve yaw).
Align Spline Up Vector Aligns spline up vectors to the surface normal.

Placement

Setting Description
Pivot-Aware Bottom Uses bounds-based bottom placement for natural contact.
Z Offset Applies a vertical offset after snapping.
Trace Distance Controls how far down/up traces search for a surface.

Snap Surfaces

Setting Description
Allow Landscape Surfaces Enable snapping to landscapes.
Allow Tagged Surfaces Enable snapping to tagged actors or components.
Snap Surface Tags Tags that mark valid snap targets.
Ignore Surface Tags Tags that block specific surfaces from snapping.
Allow Actor Tags Checks tags on actors for matching snap surfaces.
Allow Component Tags Checks tags on hit components for matching snap surfaces.

Footprint & Stability

Setting Description
Convex Detection Best-fit plane alignment for convex footprints.
Concave Detection (Experimental) Concave detection modes for uneven terrain.
Bounce Floater Fix Second-pass correction for lingering floating gaps.
Size Presets Manual or auto bucket presets by actor size.

Debug

Setting Description
Debug Line Draw Draws debug traces and helpers in the viewport.
Verbose Logging Enables detailed Output Log traces (LogLandSnap).

LandSnap favors tunable, size-aware placement for predictable results.

Tagged Surface Rules

If Allow Tagged Surfaces is enabled, a surface is considered valid when:

  • The actor has a matching tag (Actor Tags enabled), or
  • The hit component has a matching tag (Component Tags enabled)

Tags do not apply automatically - they must be added by the user.

5. Logging & Debugging

LandSnap is silent by default.

Debug output can be enabled in LandSnap settings

When enabled, detailed information is written to the Output Log to assist with troubleshooting

Notes & Limitations

  • Editor-only plugin (no runtime or packaged build usage)
  • Performance depends on trace count and actor complexity
  • Extremely large selections may take longer to process
Watch LandSnap