BlockyRenderer:Blocky Editor

The Blocky Editor (3D) is a second editor for the same .blockymodel file. It shows the same 3D view as the preview, but you can change nodes there. Every change becomes a small edit in the JSON text.

Opening the editor

• The pencil icon Edit in 3D Editor in the title bar of the text editor, the preview or the Blocky Preview.
• Right-click a model in the Explorer or in the model browser and choose Edit in 3D Editor.
• The pencil icon in the title bar of the Nodes view.
• The command Blocky: Edit in 3D Editor.
• Open With… on a .blockymodel file and then Blocky Editor (3D).

If the preview shows the same model, the editor takes the place of the preview. If you open it from a Blocky Preview tab, it replaces that tab. Otherwise it opens beside the active editor.

How changes are saved

• Each change is written into the text document at exactly the affected spot. The rest of the file stays byte for byte as it was, including fields the extension does not know.
• Saving, the unsaved dot and undo and redo (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y) come from VS Code. One command is one undo step.
• Numbers are rounded to 6 decimal places, as in vanilla files.
• New text uses the indentation and line endings of the file. Without indentation in the file, it uses two spaces and LF.
• If the 3D view does not match the text at the moment, for example while the JSON is broken, a command is discarded. The view then loads the current state of the file.

Selecting

Click a node in the 3D view to select it. The selection is shared: the text, the Nodes view and every other 3D view of the same model show the same node.

Keys in the 3D view

The editor shows a short key list in the lower right corner.

Key	Action
Delete	Delete the selected node with its children
Ctrl+D	Duplicate the selected node with its children
H	Show or hide the shape of the selected node
F2	Rename the selected node
Esc	Clear the selection

On macOS, Cmd+D also duplicates. The keys do nothing while the focus is in a text field or list.

Properties panel

On the right side of the editor, the Properties panel shows the selected node.

Row	Shown for	Field in the file
Name	all	name
Type	all	shape.type, read only (Box, Quad or Group)
Position	all	position
Rotation °	all	orientation. Shown as angles around X, Y and Z in degrees, stored as a quaternion.
Offset	all	shape.offset
Size	box, quad	shape.settings.size. A quad has only X and Y.
Stretch	all	shape.stretch
Normal	quad	shape.settings.normal: +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z
Visible	box, quad	shape.visible
Double-sided	box, quad	shape.doubleSided
Shading	box, quad	shape.shadingMode: flat, standard, fullbright, reflective

Changing values

• Type a value and press Enter or leave the field. A comma is accepted as decimal point.
• Arrow keys ↑ and ↓ in a number field change the value by one step. The value is written to the file shortly after the last key press.
• Drag the axis letter (X, Y, Z) left or right. The 3D view moves along, the value is written when you release the mouse.
• Hold Shift for steps a tenth of the size.

Value	Arrow key step	Drag step per pixel
Position, Offset, Size	1	0.25
Stretch	0.1	0.01
Rotation	15°	1°

An empty name is not accepted, the old name comes back.

New nodes

New nodes are added from the Nodes view. See Blocky Renderer Tab. A new node gets the next free id (highest id plus one) and a free name (Box, Box2, Box3 and so on). A duplicate gets new ids for its whole subtree and a free name.

Limits

• The editor has no animation list and plays no animations. Use the preview for that.
• Texture layouts are not edited in the editor. Change them in the text.