What is a Rust heightmap?

A heightmap is the terrain skeleton of a Rust map. It is a grayscale image where each pixel’s brightness value sets the elevation at that geographic point: dark pixels represent low elevation (ocean floor), bright pixels represent high elevation (mountains), and mid-gray sits around sea level. When you import a heightmap into RustEdit, it becomes the 3D terrain mesh that players walk on in game.

A 16-bit grayscale Rust heightmap of an island, with bright pixels for high ground and dark pixels for the ocean floor

Why 16-bit

Rust and RustEdit use 16-bit grayscale heightmaps because of the precision needed for natural-looking terrain. 16-bit gives 65,536 possible height values instead of 8-bit’s 256, which means smooth, continuous slopes and cliffs with no visible stair-stepping or banding artifacts. When you use 8-bit (256 values), the terrain looks terraced and unnatural in game, with visible “steps” in the slope. True 16-bit is essential for professional-looking custom maps.

How RustEdit uses it

RustEdit imports the heightmap and converts it into the 3D playable terrain mesh. When you import, the only thing you need to set is the map size. The heightmap resolution must match your map size (513, 1025, 2049, or 4097), and RustEdit handles the rest. From there you can add monuments, roads, rivers, and biomes to build out your custom map. See import a heightmap into RustEdit.

RustEdit Create New Map dialog showing the Heightmap field and import workflow for applying a heightmap to a Rust map

Resolution

A heightmap’s pixel size has to match the map size. RustEdit uses 513, 1025, 2049 and 4097. See map sizes and resolutions.

Where Crucible fits

Hand-painting a 16-bit heightmap that looks natural is slow and finicky. Crucible Heightmap generates Rust-tuned terrain for you and exports the RAW that RustEdit imports.