> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.echo3d.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.echo3d.com/web-console/manage-pages/editor.md). # Editor
## Selecting an asset to Edit The field at the top left of the page indicates which of your echo3D assets you are currently editing. You can select a different one of your 3D assets by clicking on this field. Note that only assets that are GLB's or have a GLB conversion can be selected.
## Scene Explorer The left hand sidebar is the Scene Explorer. It includes the entirety of the scene's hierarchy, as well as a range of buttons at the top for manipulating and adding new 3D models and entities. The scene will include your echo3D asset, its associated materials and textures, as well as cameras, lights, and the scene's rendering pipeline. Any of these entities can be edited.

Scene Explorer example

### Adding extra entities to the Scene To add a new entity to the scene, click the button in the top right of the sidebar.
You will have the options to: 1. **Add echo3D asset**: here you can select any of your collection's assets that is or has a GLB. 2. **Add local file**: here you can select any GLTF or GLB asset from your local computer. 3. Materials 1. **Add standard material** 2. **Add PBR material** 4. Lighting 1. **Add point light** 2. **Add directional light** To **delete** an entity, first select it in the scene explorer. Then in the right sidebar's "Properties" tab, go to the "GENERAL" section and click "Dispose". ### Transforming 3D Models & other Scene Entities To translate, rotate, scale, or use bounding box manipulation on scene entities, use the transform buttons at the top of the sidebar. Once one of the transform buttons is on, a gizmo will show in the scene for whichever scene entity is currently selected.
## Toolbar The toolbar at the top of the scene includes a range of tool options. These tool options affect the echo3D asset that is currently being edited.
1. **Recenter Model**: moves the camera to face the scene's origin. 2. **Play animation**: hidden if there are no animations. Plays/pauses animations for the echo3D asset. 3. **Show Annotations**: off by default. When on, allows viewing, editing, and adding annotations to the echo3D asset. 4. **Show ground shadows**: off by default. Turns on IBL (image-based lighting) shadows for the scene. 5. **Take snapshot**: takes a PNG picture of the current scene and downloads it to your computer. 6. **Snapshot and set as thumbnail**: takes a PNG picture of the current scene and sets it as the thumbnail of the echo3D asset. 7. **Save**: dropdown menu with a range of options. Covered in the **Exporting Models** section below. ### Exporting Models The button opens a dropdown menu that allows exporting specific scene entities, or your entire scene. Keep in mind that non-visible scene entities will not be included in the export. These are the options: * **Save as new asset**: Exports the current scene and uploads it as a new asset in your echo3D collection. * **Save edits as new version**: Exports the current scene and uploads it as a new version for the current echo3D asset being edited. * **Download selected node**: Exports the currently selected mesh in the scene explorer (including all of its descendants) and downloads it to your local computer. ## Inspector The left hand sidebar is the Inspector. It has four separate tabs explained below.
### Properties This tab gives information on the currently selected entity in the scene explorer. Each type of scene entity (mesh, material, texture, etc.) will have some of its own distinct sections. **Sections for Scene** * **Rendering Mode**: controls how the whole scene is drawn, either as a normal solid view, wireframe, or solely points. * **Environment**: sets the scene’s lighting environment (often from a sky or HDR image), which affects how light and reflections appear on all objects. * **Animations: l**ists and controls animations that run at the scene level, including playback and timing. * **Material Image Processing**: adjusts the overall look of the rendered image, such as exposure, contrast, saturation, and color grading. * **Collisions**: allows editing the force of gravity for the scene's physics. * **Shadows**: allows normalizing shadows in the scene. * **Metadata**: shows extra custom data attached to the scene (often imported from the original 3D file). **Sections for Meshes** * **General**: basic information about the mesh, including its name, linked material, skeleton (if any), and parent object. * **Transforms**: controls where the mesh sits in 3D space: position, rotation, and scale. * **Display:** controls whether the mesh is visible and how it is shown (ex. which sides render, layer mask). * **Animations**: lists animations tied to this mesh and lets you play, pause, or inspect them. * **Advanced:** toggle for setting collisions on the mesh, as well as information on normals and UV's. * **Occlusions:** performance settings that control whether parts hidden behind other objects are skipped when drawing. * **Edge Rendering:** draws visible edges or outlines along the mesh’s geometry. * **Outline & Overlay:** adds a colored outline or overlay on top of the mesh to highlight or emphasize it. * **Debug:** diagnostic toggles for troubleshooting, such as surface normals, wireframe overlay, or bone-weight visualization. * **Metadata:** Shows extra custom data stored on this mesh. **Sections for Materials** * **General**: basic material identity and core settings, such as name and material type. * **Transparency:** controls see-through effects, including opacity and how transparent areas blend with objects behind them. * **Stencil**: advanced masking rules used to clip or layer parts of a material. * **Channels:** shows which textures are assigned to each channel of the material (color, normal, metalness, roughness, etc.) and lets you inspect or swap them. * **Lighting & Colors**: sets base surface color, glow (emissive), and other color-related lighting inputs. * **Metallic Workflow:** controls physically based surface qualities: how metallic vs. non-metallic the surface looks and how smooth or rough it is. * **Clear Coat**: adds a separate glossy clear layer on top, similar to car paint or varnish. * **Iridescence**: adds a rainbow or oil-slick color shift that changes with viewing angle. * **Anisotropic**: adds directional shine, like brushed metal, hair, or fabric with a visible grain. * **Sheen**: adds a soft, fuzzy highlight typical of fabrics such as velvet or cloth. * **Subsurface**: simulates light passing through or scattering inside translucent materials (for example skin, wax, or thin plastic). * **Levels**: adjusts intensities and strengths of lighting contributions, such as environment reflections and specular response. * **Rendering**: technical draw settings for the material, such as which faces are visible and depth-related behavior. * **Normal Map**: controls the orientation of the normal/bump map. * **Advanced**: detailed shader and rendering options. * **Debug**: isolates one part of the material (for example only normals, only metalness, or only the color map) to inspect how it contributes to the final look. * **Metadata**: shows extra custom data stored on this material. **Sections for Textures** * **Preview**: shows an image thumbnail of the texture, its R/G/B/A channels, and an option to swap out the image file. * **General**: basic texture details such as name, dimensions, format, and how the image is sampled when applied to a surface. * **Animations**: settings for animated textures, such as video playback or frame-based animation. * **Transform**: controls how the image is mapped onto a surface: scale, offset, and rotation (UV placement). * **Metadata**: shows extra custom data stored on this texture. ### Debug This tab allows you toggle different texture channels and features of your scene. There are two sections: * **Core Texture Channels**: this includes toggles for displaying diffuse and ambient lighting, refraction, decals, etc. * **Features**: this includes toggles for displaying animations, physics, shadows, etc. Note that all of the toggles are purely for debugging, and changes made to them will **not** be used for exported scenes or meshes. ### Statistics This tab gives you information about scene statistics. This includes the scene's overall frames per second, as well as the following sections: * **Performance Viewer**: allows you to visually see and export statistics charted over time instead of just the latest number at any one moment. This debug tool lets you easily identify performance issues in your scene: the data is normalized on the displayed range, meaning the smallest value corresponds to the bottom y-position on the graph, while the highest value corresponds to the top y-position.
* **Count**: provides total counts of meshes, faces, lights, materials, and other types of entities in the scene. * **Frame Steps Duration:** provides a breakdown of what contributes to the frame time in the scene. * **System Info**: provides information about your system, including the hardware scaling and graphics engine your browser uses. ### Tools This tab allows you to capture videos and images of your scene, as well as create readable diffs of changes you've made in your scene. It includes the following sections: * **Capture**: allows you to capture images and videos of your scene. * **Replay**: when you start recording here, all changes you make to your scene (e.g. changing lighting visibility, textures, etc.) will be recorded and put into a json file that will be downloaded to your computer once you stop recording. These json diffs can also be uploaded via this section, which will apply those changes to your current scene. * **Scene Import**: allows you to upload animations to your scene. * **GLTF Loader**: allows you to toggle different options for how GLTF and GLB files are loaded into your scene. * **GLTF Extensions**: allows you to toggle different options for which GLTF extensions are used in your scene. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.echo3d.com/web-console/manage-pages/editor.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.