Scene Management

this guide outlines the core concepts of scene management in ir engine overview a scene in ir engine is a container for your 3d entities , assets , lighting , and environment settings it is the space where you import 3d models, define materials, place lights, and configure other properties scene hierarchy and panels hierarchy panel shows all objects (entities) in your scene use it to select, parent, or rearrange items assets panel holds imported files, such as models, textures, and audio properties panel displays configurable attributes for the currently selected entity (e g , transform, material settings, animations) importing assets ir engine supports several file formats for 3d models, images, volumetric data, videos, and audio you must import these assets before placing them in your scene supported file types type formats 3d models glb , gltf images png , tiff , jpeg volumetric drcs, uvol, manifest files videos mp4 , mkv , avi audio mp3 , mpeg , m4a material management materials define how objects appear in your scene ir engine uses physically based rendering (pbr) and supports vertex colors for realistic or stylized effects core material properties diffuse or base color map metalness map roughness map normal map ambient occlusion (ao) map each texture increases draw calls, so only use those you need to reduce file size, you can skip the diffuse map and use the engine’s built in color selector accessing materials all materials for an asset appear in the material library tab material library └─ asset name ├─ material name ├─ material name └─ material name material types ir engine supports several three js materials material description https //threejs org/docs/?q=meshba#api/en/materials/meshbasicmaterial not affected by lights; emits a constant color https //threejs org/docs/?q=meshstan#api/en/materials/meshstandardmaterial standard physically based material using a metallic roughness workflow https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/meshphysicalmaterial an extension of meshstandardmaterial, adding clearcoat, advanced transparency, reflectivity, and sheen https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/meshmatcapmaterial uses a matcap (lit sphere) texture for shading https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/meshlambertmaterial for non shiny surfaces, without specular highlights https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/meshphongmaterial for shiny surfaces with specular highlights https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/meshtoonmaterial implements toon (cartoon like) shading https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadermat#api/en/materials/shadermaterial for custom glsl shaders and advanced effects https //threejs org/docs/?q=shadow#api/en/materials/shadowmaterial receives shadows but is otherwise transparent saving changes to models you must save model changes (transform edits, normals, uvs, materials, or attributes) for them to persist select the model in the hierarchy in the properties panel, scroll to the bottom and click save changes (optional) to save under a new name, edit the file name at the end of the url field before clicking save changes again a new or updated file (e g , mymodel glbl ) appears in the assets panel 💡 tip tip you can convert gltf or usdz files to glb by importing them, editing the file extension in the url field to glb , and clicking save changes optimization and compression ir engine provides built in tools to optimize your models these tools help reduce file size and improve loading times accessing compression tools select your model in the hierarchy open the properties panel expand the model transform properties section to view the following options gltf compression click optimize to compress geometry and textures image format choose jpg , ktx2 , or png max texture size limit texture resolution (e g , 1024×1024) delete attributes remove unnecessary attributes list each attribute in the provided text field, separated by spaces bake to vertices bake diffuse , lightmap , or emissive information into vertex colors this eliminates the need for texture files if the model’s design is simple animations avatars turn on animations for avatar models by using the loop animation tab select the avatar model in the hierarchy open the loop animation tab in the properties panel select the animation track (e g , mixamo com ) enable is avatar to use the engine’s built in avatar animation features animated geometry for non avatar models, enable loop animations in the properties panel to continuously play the motion tracks in the file skyboxes and cubemaps skyboxes surround your scene with a distant background ir engine supports color , skybox (cubemap), and equirectangular (360° environment map) click the skybox button in the tools panel choose a background type (color, skybox, or equirectangular) load the relevant images or adjust the color settings 💡 tip use hdr images from hdri haven to achieve realistic lighting and reflections additional conversion tools if you must convert models before importing, use these tools convert gltf to glb (browser) glb packer glitch me https //glb packer glitch me/cartmagician https //cartmagician com/tools/3d to ar converter (paid) convert fbx to glb (app) facebookincubator/fbx2gltf https //github com/facebookincubator/fbx2gltf convert usd to gltf (browser) groupdocs usd to gltf https //products groupdocs app/conversion/usd to gltf 💡 tip converting gltf into glb is recommended for easier importing using standard materials use the meshstandardmaterial https //threejs org/docs/?q=meshstan#api/en/materials/meshstandardmaterial to simulate glass, plastic, glow, or metal by adjusting metalness , roughness , emissive , and transparency glass plastic glow metal high reflectivity, clearcoat, and transparency moderate roughness, minimal metallic properties emissive color and higher emissive intensity high metalness, low roughness tips for basic materials it is not necessary to have a texture map for every object use standard materials frequently to reduce complexity name materials appropriately before exporting from your dcc or game engine ir engine inherits these names indicate which assets use standard materials before importing glb files into ir engine saving your scene you can save scene or save as from the file menu to store your scene file some scenes require extra time to finish saving 💡 thumbnail tip position your viewport camera before clicking save the engine will prompt you to create a thumbnail, which uses a screenshot of your current view