Objects in Spatial Editor

Updated: May 15, 2025

Once you have imported an object, the next step is to add it to your composition. Drag the file from the Project Assets panel directly into the Composition panel or the Viewport. Alternatively, right click on the asset and select Add to composition.

Once you have added an object to a composition, it appears in both the Composition panel and the Project Assets panel:

The entry in the Project Assets panel represents the asset itself.

The node in the Composition panel represents an instance of that object. If the object is updated, all instances of it will reflect the update.

To monitor the usage of specific assets within your project, refer to the Reference list in the Properties panel.

Position and size objects

Manipulating your objects involves three fundamental concepts: Translation, Rotation, and Scale — collectively known as TRS values.

Translation: Sets the object’s position in space, with X, Y, and Z values.

Rotation: Sets the direction the object faces, in a circular movement around the object’s axes.

Scale: Sets the size of the object relative to the composition.

You can use the Viewport gizmos to change these properties by direct manipulation, or select the object to edit its Translation, Rotation, and Scale in the Properties panel:

Changing the position of an object using the **Properties** panel.

See this list of keyboard shortcuts for tips on manipulating the viewport camera and objects.

Translation gizmo

To activate the translation gizmo, select an object in your composition and click on the Translation Gizmo button at the top of the viewport or press the T key.

The translation gizmo will appear as arrows and dots. You can click and drag each arrow or dot to move the object within the 3D space:

Green Arrow: Moves the object up and down (Y translation value).

Red Arrow: Moves the object side to side (X translation value).

Blue Arrow: Moves the object forward and backward (Z translation value).

The dots allow you to maintain one value constant while simultaneously altering the other two values:

Green Dot: Maintains Y translation, altering X and Z values together.

Red Dot: Maintains X translation, altering Y and Z values together.

Blue Dot: Maintains Z translation, altering X and Y values together.

White Dot: Allows unrestricted movement in any direction (changes X, Y, and Z values).

Rotation gizmo

To activate the rotation gizmo, select an object in your composition and click on the Rotation Gizmo button at the top of the viewport or press the R key. The rotation gizmo appears as semicircles around your object.

Click and drag any semicircle to adjust the rotation value of the object:

Green: Rotates the object on the Y axis.

Red: Rotates the object on the X axis.

Blue: Rotates the object on the Z axis.

Scale gizmo

To activate the scale gizmo, select an object and click on the Scale Gizmo button at the top of the viewport or press the Y key. The scale gizmo will appear as lines with small cubes at the ends, along with additional dots.

Click and drag the white cube in the center to uniformly scale the object, maintaining its shape while adjusting its size. Alternatively, you can click and drag any of the colored lines to change individual scale values:

Green: Alters the Y scale value (stretches taller).

Red: Alters the X scale value (stretches wider).

Blue: Alters the Z scale value (stretches front to back).

Like the Translation Gizmo, the dots in the Scale Gizmo maintain one value constant while changing the other two values simultaneously.

Fix X, Y, and Z value relations

Locking the X, Y, and Z value ratios maintains an object’s dimensional proportions. This ensures consistent width, height, and depth when resizing or scaling. To fix the ratio, select fix to the left of scale.

Edit an object

While Spatial Editor is not a 3D modeling tool, you can make some edits to an object. To edit an object, double-click it in the Project tab, the Composition panel or the Project Assets panel. This will open the object in a new tab, where you can update:

The TRS values for any node, including the parent node.

Materials, including textures, colors and other PBR material values.

Use Spatial SDK components

Spatial Editor lets you add Spatial SDK components to nodes in your composition via the Properties panel. It also includes a range of component templates for common use cases. By default, each new Spatial Editor project initiates with a components.json file. This file contains definitions for the built-in Spatial SDK components.

It’s important to recognize that this file should not be manually altered. It is automatically updated by the Spatial SDK and Android Studio to reflect the latest available components, including any custom components.

Add a component to an object

To add a component to an object:

Open the composition that includes the node where you want to add a component.

Select the desired node from either the Composition panel or the viewport.

In the Properties panel, click the + button next to Components.

A list of available components will display. Select the component you wish to add. It will automatically be added to the selected object, provided it doesn’t already include that component.

Note: map attributes, tuple attributes and entity attributes are not supported. Find out more about components in Spatial SDK.