Using Foliage Mode in Unreal Engine for Easy Tree and Object Placement

In this vlog, I’ll show how I used Foliage Mode in Unreal Engine to place trees and other natural objects in my scene. This tool is very helpful for building outdoor environments like forests, parks, or city streets with plants.

Foliage Mode lets me paint objects such as trees, grass, and rocks directly onto the landscape. I don’t need to place each item manually. Instead, I just select the models I want and "paint" them over the surface. This makes the process fast and natural.

Step 1: Finding Tree Models for Foliage Mode

The first step I took was to find good tree models that work well with Foliage Mode in Unreal Engine. It’s important to use models that are optimized for foliage, so they don’t slow down the scene when many of them are used.

I also searched for different types of trees and plants to create more variation in the environment. Using just one tree model makes the scene look boring and too perfect. But by mixing different trees — like tall, short, wide, or thin ones — the result looks more natural and realistic.

Many websites offer free or paid foliage models, but I always make sure the files are in static mesh format, with good textures and LODs (Level of Detail) for better performance.

Step 2: Painting Trees with Foliage Mode

After collecting the tree models, I moved to the next step — using the Foliage Mode in Unreal Engine. This tool is found in the Landscape or Select Mode panel. I simply added the tree models to the foliage brush and began painting them onto the terrain.

The process was smooth and fast. I was able to control the density of the trees, the random rotation, and the scale range to make everything feel more natural. I painted the trees along paths, open areas, and hillsides. The results looked much better than placing each tree by hand.

One of the best parts of this tool is how interactive it is — I can erase or add more trees anytime with just a few clicks. It gave me full control over how the forest or greenery looked, and saved a lot of time during the scene setup.