Snow Surface

Overview

The Snow Surface component is a URP-exclusive feature that generates a deformable snow mesh on top of terrain or custom geometry. Unlike the screen-space snow coverage, Snow Surface creates actual 3D geometry that objects can sink into, carve and plow through, producing real tracks, trails with raised berms, and snow spray. It has real colliders, GPU tessellation for rounded carved borders, and can reveal a dirt ground under deep deformations.

Adding a Snow Surface

To add a deformable snow layer to your terrain or mesh:

1. Select the terrain or mesh object you want to cover with deformable snow.
2. Click Add Component and search for SnowSurface.
3. The component generates a snow mesh that conforms to the surface below it. Set Base Thickness to lay down an even snow layer, or leave it at 0 and let objects and snowfall accumulate the snow.

You can also register and unregister Snow Surfaces at runtime via the static API:

GlobalSnow.RegisterSnowSurface(snowSurfaceComponent);
GlobalSnow.UnregisterSnowSurface(snowSurfaceComponent);

// Get all active snow surfaces
IReadOnlyList<SnowSurface> surfaces = GlobalSnow.GetSnowSurfaces();

Snow Painter

Open the painter from Window > Kronnect > Global Snow > Snow Surface Painter, or use the Paint tab on the SnowSurface inspector. Paint directly in the Scene View to sculpt the snow before play:

While painting: [ and ] change the brush radius, Shift+Scroll changes the strength. The Max Terrain Step guard stops brush strokes and surface expansion from spilling over roof edges and cliffs.

Geometry Settings

These parameters control the resolution and extent of the generated snow mesh.

Base Snow and Borders

Control the resting snow layer and how the surface blends into the surrounding terrain.

Pressure and Deformation

These parameters control how the snow mesh reacts to objects pressing into it.

Snow Overflow

When an object presses into the snow, displaced snow can pile up around the edges of the depression, creating a realistic overflow effect.

Tessellation

GPU tessellation subdivides the mesh where the snow is deformed and follows a smooth thickness field, rounding carved borders and walls. It fades out with camera distance and falls back to the plain mesh on platforms without tessellation support (VR is supported in single pass instanced).

Colliders

The snow surface bakes real colliders in tiles so characters and rigidbodies stand and collide on top of the snow.

Impact FX

Snow spray with powder and flying chunks when objects hit or plow through the snow.

Dirt and Exposed Ground

Trails and deep depressions can reveal a configurable dirt ground: a PBR set with albedo, normal and height maps and world-space tiling (a gravel set is included). The dirt set is configured on the Global Snow component (Snow Surface section) and is shared by every surface. The screen-space terrain marks blend to the same dirt set, so surface trails and global snow marks connect seamlessly.

Making Objects Deform the Snow

Any rigidbody that touches the surface deforms it. To fine-tune how a specific object marks the snow, add a GlobalSnowColliderExtraInfo component to it:

Read-Only Properties

These properties are available at runtime for querying the mesh state:

Scripting API

The GlobalSnow static class exposes a simple world-space API to add, remove and measure snow from any script, without referencing a specific SnowSurface. It reuses, expands, creates and merges the underlying surfaces automatically. Lower-level per-surface deformation methods are listed below it:

// drop 20 cm of snow in a 1 m radius wherever the player looks
GlobalSnow.AddSnow(hit.point, 1f, 0.2f);

GlobalSnow.AddSnowDeformation(hit.point, 0.5f, 0.1f);

snowSurface.GetTriangleCounts(out int orig, out int current);
Debug.Log($"Triangles: {current}/{orig}");

Usage Tips

• Performance - Snow Surface generates real geometry and colliders. Keep the mesh resolution appropriate for your target platform and use the Max Resolution cap. Tessellation only kicks in near the camera on deformed areas.
• Terrain layers - Use the Terrain Layer Mask to keep snow off surfaces that should not have it (water, roads with specific terrain textures).
• Vehicles - Add GlobalSnowColliderExtraInfo with Plow Mode enabled for cars, tanks and projectiles to carve trails with berms instead of just sinking.
• Multiple surfaces - You can add several SnowSurface components across the scene. Use GlobalSnow.GetSnowSurfaces() to iterate over all active surfaces.

Next Steps

• Parameters - full Global Snow inspector reference, including the shared dirt set and snowfall.
• Scripting Support (C#) - complete runtime API including SnowSurface methods.
• Performance Tips - optimize Snow Surface mesh resolution and colliders.