Edit frames visually

The 3D scene tab can serve as a configuration editor: you can add, move, re-parent, and reshape frames without writing JSON.

Visual editing is most useful while you are still figuring out where things go. Typing coordinates into JSON and reloading the 3D view to check them is slow; editing in the viewport and seeing the result immediately is faster. The trade-off is that the visual editor writes the same JSON fields through a smaller surface area, so it is less suited to bulk changes or cross-machine-part frames. Changes flow back to the machine configuration, and the app surfaces an unsaved-changes banner on the CONFIGURE tab where you save them with Save or ⌘/Ctrl+S.

Prerequisites

• A machine with at least one component configured.

Add a frame to a component

1. Open the 3D scene tab.
2. Click the Add frames button (axis-arrow icon) in the top-center toolbar. A floating panel opens listing components that do not yet have a frame.
3. Select a component from the dropdown.
4. Click Add frame (singular) inside the panel.

The component appears in the scene at the world frame origin with default values (zero translation, identity orientation, no geometry). You can then reposition it using the Details panel.

Edit a frame’s position and orientation

1. Select the component in the World panel on the upper-left, or by clicking it in the 3D viewport.
2. The Details panel (upper-right) shows the entity’s current values. There is no edit-mode toggle; for any configurable frame, the local position and local orientation fields are editable inputs.
3. Edit the position values (x, y, z in mm) to set the translation relative to the parent frame.
4. Edit the orientation values (x, y, z, th in degrees) to set the orientation as an orientation vector.

Changes appear immediately in the 3D viewport as you type. The values you enter here correspond directly to the translation and orientation fields in the frame JSON configuration.

The world position and world orientation fields remain read-only; they are computed from the local pose plus the parent chain.

Change a frame’s parent

1. Select the component.
2. In the Details panel, click the parent frame dropdown.
3. Select the new parent frame from the list.

The component moves in the scene to reflect its new position relative to the new parent. All children of this frame move with it.

Add or change geometry

1. Select the component.
2. In the Details panel, find the geometry row (four buttons: None, Box, Sphere, Capsule).
3. Click a geometry type.
4. Dimensions fields appear below:
   • Box: x, y, z in mm.
   • Sphere: r (radius) in mm.
   • Capsule: r (radius) and l (length) in mm.
5. Enter the dimensions. The geometry renders in the scene as you type.

To remove a geometry, click None.

Save your changes

Edits are held locally until you save. The CONFIGURE tab shows an unsaved-changes banner with a Save button; click it (or press ⌘/Ctrl+S on the CONFIGURE tab) to commit them. If you navigate away first, the edits are lost.

To delete a frame, remove it from the component’s configuration on the CONFIGURE tab (there is no Delete frame button in the embedded 3D scene tab).

When to use visual editing

Visual frame editing is most useful when:

• You are setting up a new frame system and want to see the result as you go, rather than configuring JSON and then checking the 3D scene.
• You need to make small adjustments to frame positions and want immediate visual feedback.
• You are adding geometry to components and want to see whether the shapes cover the physical objects correctly.

For bulk configuration changes, complex orientation values, or frames that reference components on different machine parts, editing the JSON configuration directly may be more efficient.