Scatter grass, rocks and trees in Godot 4 exactly where you paint them
Fernscatter scatters grass, flowers, rocks, trees or any mesh over your terrain and lets you control where they go: combine a vertex-colour channel, a mask texture, slope and height ranges and Path3D include/exclude areas. Everything bakes into chunked MultiMeshes, so off-screen chunks are culled and nothing is computed at runtime. Same seed and settings give the same layout every time.
What is in fernscatter-1.1.0.zip
| Part | Files | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| addons/fernscatter/ (Fernscatter3D node + FernscatterVariant resource) | 11 | pure GDScript; main script 17.8 KB |
| fernscatter_demo/ (example island scene) | 5 | 4 layers: grass, flowers, rocks, trees |
| README, LICENSE | 2 | every setting explained |
| Whole download | 18 files | 0.40 MB zip |
| Demo island after Bake | 55,610 instances | 211 MultiMesh chunks |
Source: File list of the Fernscatter 1.1.0 download, counted 10 Oct 2026; instance and chunk counts from the bundled demo island.
Fernscatter vs the alternatives
Published prices, each checked on the date shown; prices change, so confirm on each site.
| Product | Price | Free | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernscatter | free / pay what you want; Nature Pack $14.99; Studio $59 | the full addon | live |
| ProtonScatter (Godot Asset Library) | Free (MIT) | listed for Godot 4.1 | 2026-10-10 |
| Spatial Gardener (Godot Asset Library) | Free (MIT) | listed for Godot 4.4 | 2026-10-10 |
| Ultimate Asset Placer, Godot 4.5+ (Choco Ted, itch.io) | $9.99 USD (sale, 67% off $30.30) | 2026-10-10 | |
| Godot NatureBlocks (Bukkbeek, itch.io) | $21.24 USD (sale, 15% off $24.99) | 2026-10-10 |
Why teams pick Fernscatter
- Mask-first: vertex colour, mask texture (UV or UV2), slope, height and Path3D include/exclude areas, combined.
- Light at runtime: the demo island's 55,610 instances bake into 211 MultiMesh chunks instead of 55,610 scene nodes.
- Deterministic: same seed and settings give the same layout; re-seed with one click.
- Pure GDScript, no native binaries, so it works on every platform Godot exports to; tested on Godot 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7.
How it works
- Unzip into your project and enable Fernscatter in Project Settings, Plugins.
- Add a Fernscatter3D under your terrain and add a Variant with a mesh.
- Set masks (vertex colour, texture, slope, height, paths) and press Bake.
FAQ
Is Fernscatter really free?
Yes. The addon is a free download under the Fernscatter Free License; paying what you want (suggested $12.99) gets the same zip through checkout with 1.x updates in your customer portal. $0 is fine too.
Why not ProtonScatter?
ProtonScatter is free, MIT-licensed and feature-rich, and the Asset Library lists it for Godot 4.1. Fernscatter is also free, focuses on combining masks (vertex colour, texture, slope, height, paths) with deterministic chunked bakes, and is tested on Godot 4.5 to 4.7. Try both; they are free.
Why not Ultimate Asset Placer?
It is a hand-placement tool (free, grid, surface, vertex and spline modes) at $9.99 on sale. Fernscatter fills whole areas by mask instead of placing assets one by one.
What does the licence allow?
From LICENSE.txt: "Use Fernscatter in any number of your own projects, commercial or not, including games and applications you sell", modify it, and ship it inside an exported game. You may not "Redistribute, resell or give away Fernscatter or a modified version of it as a standalone tool, plugin, addon or asset".
What are the limits?
No brush painting in the viewport (use vertex colours, a mask texture or Path3D areas); Terrain3D and other non-MeshInstance3D heightmap terrains are not supported; placement runs on the CPU at bake time.