Map builder: overview & layout

The Map builder is Studio's world tool. You compose a scene by placing library assets on a ground grid — click to drop one, scatter many with the brush, paint connected roads, organize everything into layers, light the scene, then export it as a GLB or a placement manifest. It runs in its own full-screen pane and keeps its state alive when you switch modes, so a round-trip to Character or Editor does not disturb your map.

Repeated copies of the same asset are grouped for rendering, so adding more copies is generally cheaper than adding the same number of different assets. Actual frame rate still depends on the models, textures, map size, browser, and device.

Requirements#

The Map builder runs in the browser with no install, but it needs a WebGL-capable desktop browser. You can enter with your site session or a valid license key; a key does not add cloud projects or account perks. See the Studio overview and signing in & your projects for the shell basics.

Layout#

The pane is a four-region grid. The left and right panels — and the shelf along the bottom — are drag-resizable at their seams, the same primitive the Editor uses: drag the seam to resize, double-click it to reset, or focus it and nudge with the arrow keys. The Map builder keeps its own sizes, so resizing here does not move the Character or Editor panels, and they persist between sessions.

Left — layers & minimap#

The Layers · Scene tree lists every layer and the placements inside it, with visibility, lock, and drag-to-reorganize. Below it, a minimap canvas plots one dot per visible placement (coloured by layer) and a live emerald view-cone showing where the camera is looking. Full detail in Layers & organization.

Center — viewport#

An orbit viewport over a world-sized ground plane and grid. Drag with the left mouse button to orbit, right mouse button to pan, and the wheel to zoom. Overlaid on it:

• the brush footprint ring and cursor ghost when the Brush tool is active;
• a bottom-left stats overlay — instances · draw calls · tris plus a budget bar that turns amber then red as the instance count approaches the 500-placement soft budget;
• a top-right shading cluster — Material / Wireframe / Solid view modes and a Grid toggle.

A script can drive the camera too: the map.view.camera command sets or tweens the viewport camera to a pose, which is how a capture script orbits and pushes in. See scripting & automation.

Right — inspector tabs#

A five-tab segmented control:

• Instance — edit the selected placement (name, position, rotation, scale, duplicate/delete). See Placing assets & the scatter brush.
• Brush — the active brush and scatter settings.
• Roads — choose a road family, paint or erase connected cells, apply modifiers, add stamps, and review any tiles that could not be resolved.
• Environ — time of day, ground, and atmosphere. See Environment & time of day.
• Map — map name, world size, cell size, and snap steps.

Selecting a placement auto-activates the Instance tab.

Bottom — library shelf#

A horizontal rail dedicated to the Map builder shows your owned and free assets plus local creations, with category tabs, an owned-count pill, a Browse all button that opens the full-screen asset browser, and an Import .glb button. Click a card to load it as the active brush, or use its ＋ overlay to place one instance. The shelf shows assets you can place; the Character and Editor tools use a separate shared library shelf.

Header controls#

While the Map builder is active, the Studio header shows a map project chip (<name> · <n> placed) that opens the project menu, the tool cluster (Select / Move / Rotate / Scale / Brush / Road plus the Grid and rotation-snap toggles), undo / redo, a Save button, and an Export button. These are hidden when you switch to another tool.

The document#

Everything lives in a map document autosaved to your Studio project and serialized as .mapproj.json. The file includes placements, layers, environment settings, grid settings, and the editable road network. The format contract is in Studio file formats.

What's next#

• Placing assets & the scatter brush
• Layers & organization
• Environment & time of day
• Seeding from a WorldPlan
• Exporting a map