Ideas for World Machine

Allow custom toolbar categories

2026-03-19T18:50:25Z

Allow the category tabs for the device workview toolbar to be customized instead of a fixed "Device Family" sort order. This would let power users setup the tabs to work better for their own workflows

Report Build Start node 🧱🔨

2025-10-28T12:07:14Z

Parameter tab device, that report bool value if build started Reason: - On practise i use big amount of devices, wich just improve visual looks of data for Viewport while work. I do not need their calculation on export. Current Control device can not cover my needs, because it have no automatic way to turn off nodes on build start That new node may also have different bools values for tiled and normal builds. Me as TiledBuild user will also benifit from it 🤓

🎨Merge mode for Bitmap Instance Scattering

2025-11-14T23:05:35Z

The current implementation of Instance Scattering has the potential to speed up the process of placing bitmaps and heightfields for quick biome creation. However, the existing “Highest (value)” mode works correctly only when using heightfields alone. If you try to use a bitmap and a heightfield at the same time, the bitmap instance layers overwrite each other’s values, which corrupts the final result. I would like to request a separate mode that prevents a Bitmap value from being overwritten unless the corresponding Heightfield instance is actually the highest at that location. For reference, the Layers node already has a “Height Merge” mode that correctly processes bitmap + heightfield inputs simultaneously without overwriting bitmap values. An example image demonstrating the issue is attached. Here you may see that volcano bitmap values become conflict with each other:

Add short cut for Vertical Scrolling in Graph View

2025-11-01T08:09:19Z

I have a need to move in Devices Workview tab not only by X axis, but also by Y axis

Device: Print String to Build Log

2025-10-30T14:01:32Z

Utility device that print provided String to Build Log on calculation Needed for debug purposes of macroses, or to interact with user as macro author by using Build Log

Macros improvements: Add curve editor as parameter type

2025-10-29T03:10:02Z

In real work i use a lot Curve filter before my macroses, because it is very comfortable to draw curve by hand But i wish to have it as part of parameters window of my macroses

Option to semi-automatically organize devices

2023-07-05T07:32:01Z

Frequently you started creating node systems in one place, you have X amount of nodes, and when you need to delete or add new nodes, you need manually reorginaze them to effective view-reading - thats is very boring So, main idea of this feature will in little economy of your time - a banch of nodes that places randomly on each other(like on pic1), selected by mouse, and in one click automaticaly arranging according to grid, and having Minimal amount of grids` squeres beetween each of them (like on pic2) Notice, that this feature is not aimed to place nodes as logicaly-effective as possible. It just make space between nodes, so you can more easier organize them by view different nodes` threads and move them freely as you comfort after applying of this feature

project Auto-save by timer

2025-11-02T19:11:26Z

Ability to set auto-save based on timer Ultra useful if you live in regions with unstable/damaged electricity (for example Ukraine) Could work in two modes: - Overwrite existing project file - Do clone of current project file, save and do not overwrite previous versions About second mode: For example "My_Project.tmd" is up-to-date file "My_Project1.tmd" "My_Project2.tmd" "My_Project3.tmd" - previous stages Amout of those previous stages could be also limited in settings. So you may limit back-ups by amount of 3, 5, 10. If you reach that limit - program start to overwrite your back-ups.

Report Parameter

2025-11-19T21:51:25Z

Report device, that report any parameter of node connected to it by choise of user. Similar to Tap device logic or so Practice need: Make chain of devices to build own values based on setting of previously connected node. It is more comfortable, than need to create external Macro control tab logic

Move between inputs, outputs, parameters by using arrows or wheel 🔃

2025-11-05T10:15:01Z

So, all my life using WM usually i have to work with nodes and macroses that have 10, 16, 32, or half of million inputs/outpus (i'm joking, but on practice monster-nodes is not as rare as you think) I wish to move between vertical list of inputs and outputs by using vertical arrows on keyboard by holding ALT, CTRL, or SHIFT, or mouse scroll wheel, rather than aim to click on each connection by hand. Same could be done for horizontal parameters inputs - horizontal arrows will work fine for them. It makes quick preview of connection very very very comfortable Thanksss 💛💚🤎🖤🤍💖

One-time bake data device 👨‍🍳

2025-11-01T08:25:11Z

Similar to Library input/output, but combined together and automatical. On first build it bake library to disk And outputs it forever Until input data chain will be not modified by user Needed button like "clear" or "refresh" inside for manual debug. Explanation of practical view: For those 5 years we and friends use Library output/input to prevent re-calculation of projects parts that builded ones and will be never changed after build. It saves a lot of time to not re-calculate something that never changes, or changes rarely. It is not comfortable to not have automatic solution for that. I wish to have node that bake itself to disk forever, until chain before it will be not modified. I did try to solve that problem in another vote: https://worldmachine.featureupvote.com/suggestions/507694/library-inputoutput-improvements But separate "Bake data" device sounds more better solution of issue

Flipper improvements

2025-10-28T12:48:50Z

Make Flipper to process Materials, or/and other composite datatypes

Ability to create user-customizable Composite Datatypes

2025-10-28T10:18:04Z

In my practice i use composite datatypes to process alot of data by one node Users will benifit, if it will be possible to create configurable composite datatypes defined by user needs, and process it by one node Me and some of other guys did support that idea on forum by link below Also here i describe my example on how to trick current materials composite datatype to do some fancy things with alot of data by using one node: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/add-ability-to-create-own-composite-types/7590

Crop&Transform improvements

2025-10-19T23:29:36Z

Allow to control Width and Height value by external input

2D Sprites placement support

2025-10-15T15:53:43Z

Add ability to put 2D Sprites on specified height, with display settings like - control rotation: align displaying horizontaly, vertically, by both axises, fixed rotation. - control scale - control translation - priority level of overlaying each other All for illustrative and stylizing potential that WM have. With this feature it will be possible to preview your 2D assets directly over WM project and do awesome screenshots - to see 2D forests, rocks, castles, dragons, space ships, ships, palms, Kraken, skulls, etc Inspired by idea from Forum: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/feature-request-add-text-tool-to-the-shapes-device/7996

Restore function to walk, drive car, fly plane in Explorer View

2025-10-14T22:11:55Z

For understanding of Player perspective, it is important to use camera to walk over landscape, to see size of village, city, roads and etc which you create. I do it quite often But in old versions it was even more comfortable, because you did have ability to directly walk, drive and fly over heightfield geometry. You may check video showcase here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB_WufWvPg0 I would love to see that function restored, with maybe some additions, like: control character camera height over ground, jumps height, walk speed, or FOV control

Blade mode for cursor to cut wires

2025-10-14T15:49:57Z

Short cut that make your cursor behave as "blade" that cut all wires that you hover Such feature exists in Blender nodes editor and is pretty comfortable on practice

Create Water Lakes improvements

2025-10-14T15:31:32Z

Currently you can control minimal size of lakes with "ignore shallow lakes" But in practice you also need controller for maximum size of lakes. So i want to suggest to add setting to set not only minimal size border, but also maximum size border

Add "enter precise value" for Shape Node individual shapes settings - Scale, Rotation, Translation

2025-10-14T15:25:17Z

Here is no way to enter precised values for Scale, Translate, Rotate for each individual shape of Shape Node It is important when you work with cities, villages, or other locations that have strict requirements of Scale, Rotation and Translation Without shape node the only way is to use Radial Grade shapes that have option to set radious scale, translate position and set angle of rotation, but it less comfortable than Shape Node Currently only "Path" shape have option to enter some precised values

Voxel style conversion of heightfield in viewport

2025-10-14T15:08:38Z

Add option to view map data in voxel style. Useful for preview of projects related to voxel/cubic/blocky style games and environments Conversation about request on forum: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/option-to-turn-off-pixels-height-value-transition/8293

Device that place Instance directly on set of pixels

2025-07-03T20:45:06Z

Original idea: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/how-to-put-instance-directly-on-dot-pixel/7820/2?u=tomatiy Device that will put intance directly on dot. Why is that needed? For long time i use WM to put in-game assets inside the biomes in game It would be cool if i will have ability to use heightmap of object, to preview it directly on dots which i create each time as mask for assets placement in game engines we may discuss it in separate forum thread to make it clear what i speak about

Shape Vector export

2025-06-11T19:19:12Z

Ability to export the points and handle vectors from a path (or other shapes for that matter) in the shape node. It is being stored somewhere for the precise values and I want to use them for export to a game engine where I am drawing a path for NPCs to follow. I see there is an export shapes to file (not implemented) under File I/0. Where can I access and export that path data? This would be a huge time saver for my import pipeline, currently I need manually draw a path in the game engine (godot) for npc path finding.

Add Text shape

2025-04-09T19:33:48Z

Add a text tool to the Shapes device, for adding labels and such to maps. https://forum.world-machine.com/t/feature-request-add-text-tool-to-the-shapes-device/7996

Allowing packaging external assets into TMD file

2025-04-07T19:35:56Z

Package a world or macro for use by including all necessary assets within the file itself. https://forum.world-machine.com/t/feature-request-allow-external-files-to-be-packaged-into-the-project/7997/2

Add support for PBR image-based viewport lighting

2025-04-07T19:35:09Z

Support easy image based lighting for the viewports. https://forum.world-machine.com/t/image-base-lighting/7999

Provide way to sign or lock a project file

2025-03-17T21:04:23Z

From the forums: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/request-to-provide-some-way-to-digitally-sign-the-tmd-project-file-or-already-have-it/7950 "I publicly released some of my TMDs as sample files for others to learn from. But I have recently discovered that these projects are being packaged and sold for profit. It’s annoying that I can’t prove at all that these TMDs were made by me. This may just be my personal issue, but I sincerely hope that WM has a way to provide encrypted signatures for project files. I envision a mechanism where users can add license encrypted signature information (similar to macros) to files, and each successor who uses/modifies the document can only add their own signature at the end of the creator list, and cannot change/delete existing signatures. At the same time, each project will generate a complete borrowing list, displaying the authors of the macros/blueprints referenced in the project."

Add search field to Macro/blurint/example library

2025-01-31T00:32:36Z

Search for keywords among the library items and show only those that match, helping you find the items you need.

Add way to customize keyboard shortcut keys

2025-01-05T01:18:11Z

You should be able to customize the various shortcut keys used throughout World Machine in Program Settings, according to the users individual preferences.

Snow device: Spatial parameters

2024-12-17T20:21:25Z

"The snow device lends itself perfectly to the spatial parameters. Both Snowfall and Stickiness depend heavily on altitude / temperature"

Integer Generator Improvements

2023-11-10T15:08:26Z

Add option to configure min and max int value that will be generated inside Integer Generator device

Scalar Generator improvements

2023-11-10T15:07:31Z

Add button to "Scalar Generator" device, that outomatically generate random scalar value.

Library input/output improvements

2023-11-10T15:05:03Z

1. Add option to "Library Input" device that allow to automaticaly update it on every build. (Like "File Input" device have) 2. Add option to "Library Out" device that allow to automatically output file on every build. (Like "Height Output" device have)

Rotate device

2023-11-10T15:00:23Z

Add device into filter tab, that will rotate heightmap/bitmap/etc. on configured angle

template substitution for exported files in output devices

2023-10-06T17:26:12Z

This suggestion is for an additional template substitution for file exporting. (I first asked about this here: https://forum.world-machine.com/t/output-with-timestamp-as-filename/7176) What should do is insert the current time when the file is exported. This would help differentiate exports at different times so they do not overwrite each other. (If you want a single exported file, don't use .) Of course, there's additional questions when implementing this, like "What date-time format should it take?" and other considerations.

Paint Masks / Modify elevation by brushes

2023-09-04T11:27:42Z

Hello, it would be a very useful feature to enable painting masks and modifying terrain elevation with radial gradient alpha mask or different custom imported brushes, would be also nice to export whole mask as 8/16/32bit files

Add `Any Placement` valid Parameter to Utilities/Macros

2023-08-05T11:53:23Z

For devices that have a device origin that defines the center of their effect in the world. Devices that expose a placement panel typically also have a placement input. The documentation claims we can provide a common placement so that a number of devices are all affected the same amount, for example. This is supported by the `Any Placement` prompt on mouse-hovering over the Parameter port. AFIK, however, there isn't actual support for a shared origin in the current builds. It would be nice to have this option when creating macros, or just to add a level of responsive design to graphs where groups of devices could have coordinated placement that is not the all-or-nothing of extents.

Include Group Boxes in Blueprints

2023-08-05T11:32:02Z

This has always been an itch for me, so I thought I'd scratch at it. I basically stopped using Groups because they would not save with Blueprints, but they are still useful and worth implementing again on a regular basis. It would also be nice to see a little padding around the text, or maybe a demi-bold instead of bold font for the body of the note. With a UI background, I just hate not seeing these little touches at a minimum.

select shape node

2023-08-02T21:54:19Z

I keep running into the following problem: I some disconnected shapes as input and a mask as input. I want the output to be only the shapes that are partially or completely on the mask input. I currently do this by first using a "smooth min" to get the original shape and then chaining a bunch of expanders (not the clamp) with the original shape as mask. this will make it effectively flood fill only where the original shape is. the problem is that 1. adding a lot of expanders is a lot of wiring, 2. that to get it accurate I have to expand with a tiny amount so shapes that are close together but not touching are not accidentally selected. therefore i need a lot of expanders. and 3. a lot of expanders are really slow. so my suggestion is a "select shapes" device (see image) that effectively does this flood filling to select a shape. (on the technical side I recommend a flood fill that can only flood fill downwards)

Additional Curve Types

2023-02-15T23:51:33Z

While some waveforms would have extremely niche (if any) use, I think it could be helpful to have more options for curves than the current sinusoidal/cnoid/perlin options. Sawtooth and triangle waves would both be extremely useful in a lot of scenarios, while square/pulse (along with half and quarter square/pulse) would definitely be extremely niche, but I can think of a couple uses. Alternatively, giving the Curves filter node a curve output could serve the same purpose, allowing users to hand draw custom curves.

Switch Toolbar Tabs During Click+Drag

2023-02-13T08:48:05Z

Clicking and dragging across tabs within a toolbar switches to each tab as your mouse reaches it so long as the mouse is held down. Once the mouse is released the active tab remains selected. Example: 1 Click on Tools tab of the toolbar 2 With mouse held down, continue to drag across other tabs, such as Generator or Output --- Result: Generator or Output become selected, and the related tools become visible 3 Release mouse once you have reached the tab which contains the tool you are looking for. --- Bonus: If mouse is released over a tool, activate that tool immediately.

Visually Distinguish Currently Selected Node’s Properties Panel

2023-02-13T08:43:19Z

Whichever device is currently selected in the node editor should have its properites panel / window shaded differently than all other currently-open properties windows to make it easier to distinguish. This could be a customizable preference / color.

Wind Simulation

2023-02-13T08:38:16Z

The ability to simulate directional wind as a form of erosion. This could, for example, be used to create sand dunes in a more realistic and direct way than is currently possible.

Local space width and height in km instead of a ratio

2022-07-03T10:31:29Z

Currently, the local space's width and height are represented as a float, with 1.0 being the default, meaning the space's width and height are analogous to the world's width and height. When someone wants to create a 3 by 7 km local space area, they now must calculate what the ratio of 8:3 and 7:8 is. Instead, I think it'd be better if the user can directly set the width and height in km.

Copying with wires attached when pressing down Shift and draggin the device

2022-05-04T18:41:38Z

When pressing down the Shift key, and dragging the target device, a copy of said device will be created and it will have its wires connected just like the target device (except for the outgoing wires of course). This is very useful if you want a copy of, for example, a Material device. Right now, you must rewire the copy, which takes quite some time.

Copying and pasting waypoints and allowing for bypassing default copy/paste behaviour.

2022-05-04T17:54:18Z

It would be great if waypoints would be copied and pasted as well, when copying and pasting a selection of nodes. However, I can think of situations this behaviour is not wanted, so I want to propose the following. a) Make it a user preference to set a default behaviour, that is, copying with or without waypoints when doing Ctrl + C. b) Then, when pressing Ctrl + Shift + C, the default behaviour is bypassed, and the non-default behaviour is applied. So, for example, if someone's default is to copy without waypoints, they can use the combination of Ctrl + Shift + C to do a copy with waypoints.

Zoom Availability in 2D View

2022-03-29T19:14:15Z

Being able to zoom in and out on 2D views of a project could be useful, especially when inspecting masks or working on textures.

Direct control of instance scale, rotation, etc

2022-03-28T20:37:33Z

Artist Point added "variation" controls to the Scatter device, that lets you randomize orientations, scale, etc of the instances. Sometimes you don't want randomization, but instead to specifically control the orientation or size of the instances in certain areas. There should be additional inputs to control this.

Background builds

2022-03-28T18:31:22Z

Allow builds to proceed in the background for a particular history state of the world; this would allow you to build a high res version while still iterating on a particular world design. UI-visible changes would include: 1) Making the build status dialog non-modal 2) Marking the history state that has a build in-progress, and adding some method of easily jumping to it 3) Adding a background build indicator icon to the statusbar.

support for keeping geotiff header from being removed

2022-02-22T17:58:36Z

If you make professional level video games and want to use industry standard pipelines to populate your map, geotiff with projection header is one way to do it. Going straight from world machine to your game engine is a great thing.

Layout View customisable grid overlay

2022-02-19T12:44:29Z

In previous versions of WM we had a grid system to our availability in the Layout View. In WM 4, this sadly has been removed (except for the area outside of the extent), so I wondered, instead of just "re-enabling" this feature, why not improve it? Being able to change the dimension/spacing of the grid a) Arbitrary spacing b) A multiple (or factor) of the extents width/height (f.e. each grid tile being width/n) Have the grid have the same aspect ratio as the extent. Support for orders of grid lines (f.e. 4 Km, 2 Km, and 500m spaced) with customisable varying thickness, opacity, colour and being dashed or not (see image for a quick example). It would be sweet if the origin of the grid could be a) Snapped to the origin of the extent. b) Snapped to any of the corners of the extent. c) Be freely placed wherever we like.