Renda logoRenda

#Entity Editor

The entity editor is where all the magic happens. Naturally, it is also the most visually interesting window inside Renda Studio. The entity editor is what allows you to move around entities, or make adjustments to properties while instantly seeing the updated changes.

You can drag the viewport by holding down your middle mouse button in the entity editor. When you are using a touchpad that supports two-finger scrolling, you can also use that to control the viewport camera.

By default, these gestures orbit the camera, but there are a few modifier keys that you can use to control the behavior of the gesture:

  • Shift allows you to pan the camera, i.e. move the camera in a straight line without rotating it.
  • Ctrl or ⌘ allows you to move the camera backward and forward.

#Moving Entities

In the top left of the entity editor are three buttons that allow you to switch between different transformation modes. These buttons allow you to Translate, Rotate, and Scale entities respectively.

Once you have picked your transformation mode, the gizmo of your selected entity should change accordingly. You can drag this gizmo around the scene to move the selected entity.

You can also use the G, R, and S keys to switch transformation modes. However, this will immediately initiate the dragging action. To stop dragging, click the entity editor.

Alternatively, you can keep holding these keys down and move your mouse without clicking. This will keep dragging the entity as long as you hold the key.

#Controlling the Space and Pivot of Your Gizmos

Next to the transformation mode buttons are two extra buttons. These control the transformation space and transformation pivot.

You can think of the first button as controlling the orientation of your gizmo. When a gizmo is oriented differently, it affects the direction of movement when you move only a single axis.

There are two modes for this button:

  • Global causes the gizmo to be aligned with the axis of your world. It will always be oriented the same, regardless of how your entity is oriented.
  • Local causes the gizmo to have the same orientation as your entity.

The second button has no effect when only a single entity is selected, but when you have multiple selected entities, it controls the position(s) of your gizmo(s), and subsequently the pivot around which objects will rotate.

This button has three modes:

  • Center places a single gizmo at the average location of all your selected entities.
  • Multiple places an individual gizmo at every selected entity.
  • Last places a single gizmo at the location of your last selected entity.