Editor

The Editor turns imported geometry into an asset that moves. A STEP or JT file arrives as a tree of CAD parts without behaviour. The editor adds axes, drives, materials and signals, then saves the result as a GLB. Any realvirtual document and the Layout Planner can reuse it.

Unlike the other workspaces, the editor works on one document at a time — a single machine or component — rather than a whole plant or layout. Every change is an undoable step, so you can try a change, inspect it and undo it if needed.

Importing

Geometry arrives through one dialog with a tab per source — GLB, STEP, JT, USD, FBX, the Asset Manager and Onshape. Local files are read in the browser, and assemblies too large for a browser tab are converted by realvirtual CONNECT on the same machine. See importing CAD for the settings each source takes, the free-tier size limits, and how a CADLink node picks up a newer CAD revision.

The fastest way in is a link. ?doc=new&mode=editor creates a new asset in the open project (or in My Workspace when that project is read-only, such as the demo), opens it in the Editor and shows the import dialog straight away:

https://<your-deploy>/?doc=new&mode=editor

The document header shows what you are editing, whether it has unsaved changes, and the undo, redo and Save controls:

The Quick Edit panel

This panel contains the tools for working on a selection. Every tool stays visible and is greyed out when it does not apply to the current selection.

Group	What it does
Kinematics	The axes of this asset as a foldable tree, each with the number of parts assigned. Add Kinematic creates an empty axis; Add to Kinematic (K) puts the selected parts into an axis; Auto Assign collects parts by clicking them in 3D
Groups	Named sets of parts for hiding, isolating and materials — nothing moves
Transform	Zero position, to ground, pivot to bottom, align Y up, pivot to object, pivot to circle, and rotation around X, Y or Z
Create	Empty child, empty at root, group into empty — the structure a raw CAD tree usually lacks
Components	Drive, Kinematic, Transport Surface, Sensor, Source, Sink, Grip, Box Collider, Physics Zone
Drive Behaviors	Simple, Cylinder, Destination Motor, Speed, Follow Position, Gear, Position Switch and more — fifteen in total, including the profiles of real devices
Signals	Bool, Int and Float in both directions, plus conversions between them
Logic Steps	Sequences that drive the asset without a controller
Mechanism (Rigid-Body)	Closed-loop mechanisms — a four-bar coupler, a scissor lift, a Delta platform — whose joints solve together: see rigid-body mechanisms
Drive Test	Jogs the selected drive while you edit

Every function is described in the Quick Edit Reference.

In the example above, the imported Festo station already carries five axes — AxisLeft_Y, AxisLeft_Z, AxisRight_Y, AxisRight_Z and Feeder_X.

Pivot to Circle

A rotary axis turns around the centre of a bore, a bearing seat or a shaft. This point is almost never the origin from the CAD system. Pivot to Circle places the pivot at that centre. You select the round feature instead of typing coordinates.

1. Select the part whose pivot you want to move and click Pivot to Circle.
2. Click the mesh that carries the round feature. The rest of the model dims and the camera frames the selected mesh to help you focus on the feature.
3. Move the cursor over the feature. The corner nearest the cursor lights up. If that corner lies on a circle, the circle appears together with the axis that clicking it would set.

4. Click the circle to move the pivot there.

Escape steps back one stage so you can correct the most common mistake: selecting the wrong part. Press Escape again, or right-click, to cancel. Leaving the tool always restores the normal view, including the dimming and camera framing.

Notes on a node

Any node can carry a written note describing the assembly, its commissioning procedure or information for maintainers. Notes are stored inside the document, so they accompany the machine without a separate file. The property Inspector displays formatted text with a short header showing when, by whom and with what confidence. The note box grows with the window. Long notes scroll inside it instead of stretching the panel.

Testing the asset

The ▶ button sits top-left next to the workspace dropdown, in the same place every other mode puts the control that starts time. It runs the asset you are authoring — drives, signals and logic steps — without leaving the editor and without saving first.

The button exports the current editing state through the same code path as Save, then loads the result back. Any difference between test-run behaviour and behaviour after saving would indicate a save bug rather than a test artefact.

Drive Test previews motion within Editing. A test run locks editing until you click Stop, even while simulation time is paused.

During a run, the group shows the same controls as the other workspaces. These are Stop, Pause, Reset, a speed selector and the simulation clock. Stop and Pause have different effects:

• Stop ends the session: the test scene is dropped, the authoring state is restored exactly as it was, and the editing tools come back.
• Pause only holds time inside the running session. The tools stay locked.

This is how you check an axis before committing to it. A wrong axis direction shows up as parts sliding instead of turning; a wrong pivot as an orbit instead of a spin.

Saving is refused while a test run holds the document; stop the run first. Leaving the editor waits until the editing state is fully restored.

Saving

The document header carries the name, the unsaved marker and Save. A document is written back to where it came from, in the open project; Untitled is a name like any other, and only a document with no name at all is refused. A save that fails leaves no half-created document behind, and the card preview of a saved asset refreshes so the dashboard shows what you actually saved.

Save is refused while a test run holds the document — stop the run first. The full rules, including what happens when somebody else wrote the same file first, are under mesh and structure.

What you can do

• Import — STEP, JT, USD, FBX and GLB, or geometry from Onshape, plus re-import of a newer CAD revision.
• Structure — browse and rename the node tree, split and merge meshes, group parts, and work on nested assets.
• Kinematics — group parts into an axis, add its drive, and place the rotation point. Rotary axes are defined in degrees, linear axes in millimetres.
• Verification — run the asset in place and watch it move before saving (see Testing the asset).
• Materials — assign from an industrial preset library (steel, RAL paints, rubber, glass) or set physical properties directly.
• Signals and logic — add PLC input and output signals to nodes and connect simple sequences, so the asset reacts to live data or to a standalone simulation.
• Forces — the toolbar’s Forces button opens the force and torque analysis for a rigid-body mechanism: actuator loads, bearing loads and the peak and RMS figures a drive has to be sized against. It is described in full under rigid-body mechanisms.

Quick Start

1. Switch the workspace to Editor — or open ?doc=new&mode=editor, which lands on the import dialog with a new asset already created.
2. Import a CAD file, or open an existing asset from the library.
3. Work out what the machine does — focus the camera on a part, select its identical copies, name what you see.
4. Group the parts of one movement into a kinematic axis and give it a drive.
5. Verify the axis by driving it through its range.
6. Assign materials.
7. Save. The asset lands in the library and can be placed, driven and connected like any other.

Where the result goes

A saved asset is an ordinary GLB with realvirtual metadata, in the format the viewer reads. Its references identify parts by identity rather than name. Renaming or moving a part therefore preserves the drives, signals and settings that use it. You can place a browser-authored asset in a layout or connect it to live signals through CONNECT. You can also publish it as a document or share it as a file. A GLB saved in the browser cannot be imported into Unity. Unity exports still open in the browser as before. Keep the Unity scene as the source for work in Unity.

The asset is saved in the current project, which is the first library the Layout Planner offers. You can place it without publishing, registering or copying it into a separate catalogue. See documents for how libraries are attached.

See also

• Importing CAD — the seven sources, their settings and the free-tier limits
• Materials — presets, PBR editing and material health
• Mesh and structure — separate, merge, group, nested assets and saving
• Layout Planner — arrange authored assets into a layout
• Rigid-body mechanisms — closed-loop kinematics, force analysis and jerk-limited motion
• CAD conversion in CONNECT — importing assemblies too large for a browser tab
• Signals and alarms — how the signals you add behave at runtime