Paint Mode

The paint mode dropdown controls what the Pencil, Brush, and Fill tools affect. Switch modes to paint different layer types.

Tile/Wall Mode

The default mode. Select a tile type and/or wall type from the dropdowns. The ID number is shown next to each selection.

Eraser toggle — When enabled (highlighted), painting removes tiles/walls instead of placing them.

Tile Palette

The tile and wall selectors in the action bar let you pick the active tile and wall types. The Palette sidebar panel provides a larger browsable view of all tiles and walls with search and filtering.

Masks

Masks control where painting takes effect:

Mask Mode	Effect
Disable Mask	Paint anywhere
Edit Empty	Only paint over empty space
Edit Matching	Only paint over tiles/walls matching the mask type

Set the mask type in the Mask dropdown — it has the same tile/wall options as the main selector. Tile masks and wall masks can be configured independently in the Palette sidebar panel.

Coatings

You can also apply paint colors and coatings (Echo, Illuminant, Full Bright) to tiles and walls.

Negative Paint

Terraria's Negative Paint (paint ID 30) inverts the colors of tiles and walls. TEdit renders this with a dedicated GPU shader that inverts RGB values while preserving transparency — so negative-painted tiles appear correctly in the editor, matching in-game appearance.

Wire Mode

Place or remove wires. Select which wire color(s) to paint: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow. You can also place actuators in this mode.

Press Shift+W to enable wire routing for CAD-style click-to-click wire drawing with automatic 90° and 45° path routing. Use number keys 1–4 to quickly toggle wire colors.

Liquid Mode

Place or remove liquids: Water, Lava, Honey, Shimmer.

Platform Mode

Place platforms with optional stair routing. Platform mode supports wire routing (Shift+W) for CAD-style routed placement.

Action	Result
Paint normally	Place individual platforms
Shift+W	Enable wire routing for click-to-click platform placement

With 45° miter routing, platforms are placed with proper stair frames — treads (insets), risers (stringers), and landings at transitions between flat runs and staircase sections. The stair direction and frame variants are applied automatically. Platform style is selected from the action bar.

See Wire Routing — Platform Routing for details on stair frame assignment.

Track Mode

Place minecart tracks and related components:

Track Type	Description
Track	Standard minecart rail
Booster	Speed booster track
Pressure Plate	Track-mounted pressure plate
Hammer	Cycles track junctions

Track Sub-modes

Two additional sub-modes automate common track patterns:

Sub-mode	Description
Tunnel	Automatically carves out a tunnel while placing track — removes tiles above and below to create a clear path for the minecart
Smooth	Places track with gentle curves and transitions instead of hard corners, producing smoother-looking rail lines

Select the sub-mode from the track options in the action bar while Track Mode is active.

Track mode also supports wire routing (Shift+W) for CAD-style routed track placement. The 45° miter routing uses thin diagonal paths (one tile per diagonal step) matching Terraria's native track diagonal behavior. When Tunnel sub-mode is active, the tunnel clearing area is previewed in a darker overlay above the track path.

Sprite Mode

Used with the Sprite tool for placing sprites. Select sprites from the Sprites sidebar panel.

Painting Existing Sprites

The Pencil and Brush tools can apply properties to existing sprites without erasing them. With the eraser toggle off in Sprite mode, painting over an existing sprite applies:

• Tile paint color — Color the sprite's tile
• Wall paint color — Color the wall behind the sprite
• Coatings — Echo and Illuminant coatings for tiles and walls
• Actuator — Toggle the actuator flag
• Inactive — Toggle the actuated (inactive) state

This lets you quickly paint or coat large numbers of placed sprites using the brush, without having to re-place them.