Asset Manager

All items within the Asset Manager are externally-referenced files from preset libraries. These items are called assets. A geometry asset contains geometry; material, sceneplate, metadata, and environment assets contain their type of content.

When loading assets from the Asset Manager, a geometry asset appears in the Scenegraph, as a node or a substructure, a material asset appears in the Material Editor as a material node, and so on. When an object is referenced from the Asset Manager, its icon switches to an inverted green shape icon . The material and environment representation for referenced assets gets an additional green indication in the lower left corner .

Preferences for these assets are locked after creation. However, for a material or environment asset, pressing the Modify Asset button in the Material Editor unlocks its properties, making them editable. Clicking Save Asset applies the new settings to the reference within the Asset Manager and the icon in the Material Editor changes from to .

Material and Environment Assets

A material asset saves the information of its applied environment. If this material asset is added to a scene and if the applied environment is available in the scene, the environment will be applied to this material. If not, the default Environment switch will be used, instead.

Geometry Assets

When a geometry asset is applied to the Scenegraph, the node and all its children are initially locked (). The “Asset Root”, the node marked with the green icon, is editable after the geometry asset has been transformed or you have right-clicked on the asset and selected Asset > Modify. This root node is a node that has a reference to the Asset Manager and draws its children from the Asset Manager. The asset root’s children are locked and it is not possible to add, delete, or move them, as long as the asset is not unlocked from modifications. Once the asset can be modified (), its children can be modified.

If one geometry asset is added multiple times, it will be treated as a clone. The child nodes of the asset root will be shared. The asset roots will be synchronized with each other. Nevertheless, it can be renamed or transformed individually.

Any external change on a referenced asset will be adapted to the scene, after reloading the affected asset. The context menu within the Scenegraph provides features to reload such references.

If one geometry asset is added multiple times and one is reloaded, only this one will be reloaded. The asset root node will not be changed. It will remain in position and name. Only its children will be updated/replaced by the ones loaded from the Asset Manager.

Sceneplate Assets

When a sceneplate asset is dragged into the Sceneplate Editor, a node is created. This node is a reference to the Asset Manager. The type of sceneplate created is indicated by its icon.

is a frontplate asset, like for an HTML5 sceneplates.

is a backplate asset.

The asset is editable once it is selected and you right-clicked on the asset and selected Asset > Modify. Once modified, its icon changes to or .

Metadata Assets

When a metqadata asset is dragged into the Metadata Editor, a node is created. This node () is a reference to the Asset Manager.

The asset is editable once it is selected and you right-clicked on the asset and selected Asset > Modify. Once modified, its icon changes to .

Along the top of the Asset Manager, there are tabs for easily switching between managing assets for geometry, materials, environments, sceneplates, and metadata. All tabs have the same structure - tab name, file search, library folder tree, list of components, and a zoom slider.

Metadata sets from the Metadata Editor can be dragged onto any entry in a tab. This changes the tag into an asset metadata tag . To change an asset's metadata, see Editing Metadata.

A live search considers only the current tab. Once a folder is selected within the library folder tree, it is searched. An entered search string hides all assets not containing the string. The results appear in the table below. Click the X to clear the search and return to the Library.

Use Selected Hierarchy to restrict a search to a selected hierarchy. It searches the selected branch for nodes containing the search string. You can also use the shortcut, Ctrl + F (Find) to set the search bar in focus, where you can enter a string, and click Enter, enabling and searching the selected branch only for content matching the string.

Use the right-click context menu for the following editing options: Undo, Redo, Cut (Ctrl + X), Copy (Ctrl + C), Paste (Ctrl + V), Delete, and Select All (Ctrl + A).

All asset paths, as configured in the Preferences, appear here. Select a folder to either import or store an asset from there.

Context Menu

Right-click the folder structure in the upper part of the module to open a context menu. This menu is not the same for every tab.

• Create Folder - Adds a new folder or subfolder into the selected library. This is a tab-specific functionality. The new folder is created automatically in the Materials, Scenes, or Environments subfolder of the selected library. If the subfolder does not exist, it is created.

• Rename (Ctrl + R) - Changes the name of the selected subfolder.

• Delete (Del) - Removes the selected folder and all contained files.

• Apply Material To Scene by Name (folder context menu) - Only available when the Materials tab is selected. Replaces materials in the scene with material assets of the same name from the selected folder in the Asset Manager.

  If there are no matching material names, nothing happens.

  For example, there is a material named Red Plastic in the scene, and a Red Plastic also inside the selected material assets folder. The material Red Plastic in the scene will be replaced by the Red Plastic material from the Asset Manager.

• Update Assets in Scene - Updates all assets (geometry, materials, and environments) contained within the scene.

• Update Automotive Material Files - Only available when the Materials tab is selected. Reloads the automotive materials, to ensure you are working with the latest versions.

• Reload Directory - Reloads the content or structure of the selected subfolder.

• Reload All Directories - Reloads content from all Asset Manager paths.

• Import - Imports external files into the selected folder. One of the shortcut icons at the bottom of the module makes the same feature quickly accessible.

• Open in Explorer - Opens the selected folder within Windows Explorer.

Contains thumbnails and detail information about the modify date, name, tags, and so on.

Click to select an asset and right-click to open the context menu.

List Context Menu

Right-clicking one of the listed items at the lower part of the Asset Manager module opens a context menu, which is slightly different per tab.

• Add to Scene - Only available when the Environments or Geometries tab is selected. Adds the selected asset as a node, directly below the current scene root. Drag to add it to a custom location within the Scenegraph.

• Add to Sceneplate Editor - Only available when the Sceneplates tab is selected. Adds the selected asset as an asset backplate or frontplate node in the Sceneplate Editor.

• Add to Metadata Editor - Only available when the Metadata tab is selected. Adds the selected asset as an asset set node in the Metadata Editor. Find it in the Sets list or enter its name the basic search to find it in other lists.

• Rename (Ctrl + R) - Enables you to change the name of a subfolder.

  Add to Scene and Rename can only be found in the context menu for Scenes or Environments.

• Apply to Selected Nodes (Ctrl + M) - Only available when the Materials tab is selected. Uses the selected material on the previously marked nodes in the Scenegraph.

• Apply to Scene by Name - Only available when the Materials tab is selected. Replaces materials in the scene with the same name with the selected material assets.

  Only the materials tab provides the features Apply to Selected Node and Apply to Scene by Name.

• Delete (Del) - Removes the selected item directly from library.

  Note:

  Undo is not available for this action.

• Select Directory - Selects the corresponding folder of the asset's location in the upper folder tree.

• Open in Explorer - Opens the selected folder within Windows Explorer.

Icons for commonly used commands in the Asset Manager are easily accessible in the QuickActions Bar.

Import - Opens the file browse dialog to import a new asset.

Reload Directory - Adapts any changes to the external asset library, once you have clicked.

Update Assets in Scene - Updates all assets contained within the scene.

Drag the slider or click its buttons to increase or decrease the size of the asset previews.