Crater Generator — Documentation

GPU-accelerated procedural craters for Blender. Physically realistic for both kinetic impact and explosion craters, with real hydraulic erosion.

Installation

Blender 4.2+ Drag and drop crater_generator-1.0.0.zip directly onto Blender's window. Confirm the install dialog.

Blender 3.6 – 4.1 Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Install... → select the zip → enable the checkbox.

After install, open the 3D Viewport, press N, and look for the Crater Generator tab on the right sidebar.

Quick Start

1. Add a subdivided plane to your scene Add > Mesh > Plane, then in Edit Mode subdivide it (recommended: 200+ cuts for clean craters).
2. Select the plane and place the 3D cursor where you want the impact Shift + Right-click in the viewport.
3. Open the sidebar (N) → Crater Generator tab.
4. Adjust mass, velocity and angle of incidence as needed.
5. Click Generate Crater.

The crater forms exactly under the 3D cursor. Repeat to stack multiple impacts on the same terrain.

Key Parameters

Multi-Impact Presets

The sidebar includes one-click presets for common scenarios:

• Cluster — tight group of small craters
• Shower — wide-spread meteor field
• Storm — chaotic mix of sizes

Presets spawn at the 3D cursor. Set Meteors count and Spread before clicking Simulate.

Tips

• Higher subdivision = better detail. A 1024×1024 subdivided plane handles 4K displacement; 2048+ for production renders.
• Use Cycles for final renders (full geometry deformation, raytraced shadows in the crater).
• EEVEE works for previz/animation but lacks the deep shadow detail.
• The deformed mesh is standard Blender geometry — UV-unwrap, sculpt, paint, or export as FBX/GLB/OBJ.
• For animation, use Animate Impact instead of Simulate — it bakes the deformation as shape keys.

Troubleshooting

Crater doesn't appear → make sure the plane is subdivided (Edit Mode → Subdivide). A flat 4-vert plane has no geometry to deform.

Crater is in the wrong position → check the 3D cursor position. Snap it to a vertex with Shift+S > Cursor to Selected.

GPU error on register → your GPU may not support the required compute shader version. Tested on NVIDIA (CUDA/OptiX), AMD (OpenCL), Apple (Metal). Update your graphics drivers.

Warning "Extension was not detected" on Blender 3.6–4.1 → ignore it. The legacy installer doesn't read the manifest, but the addon works fine.

Physics Models Used

• Schmidt-Holsapple Pi-group scaling (impact + explosion craters)
• McGetchin ejecta thickness power law
• Verlet integration (atmospheric trajectory)
• Stream Power Law (drainage-based erosion)
• Beyer 2015 particle hydraulics
• Musgrave 1989 thermal/talus erosion

Support

Issues, feature requests, contact: c[email protected]

Crater Generator v1.0.0 — Alternative Pack © 2026 — GPL-3.0-or-later