Transforms and coordinates

Updated: Sep 30, 2025

Overview

An object’s transform describes its placement in your scene. A transform is made up of three elements:

The translation of an object in the scene. The coordinates displayed in the properties panel relate to the object’s local coordinates.

The scale of the object compared to its original size (1, 1, 1).

The rotation of the object compared to its original orientation (0, 0, 0).

The values shown for these properties in the Inspector are the local properties. If an object is parented under another object, it will inherit changes in scale, position, or rotation from the parent object, but the local transform values will stay the same.

Coordinates and your Spatial SDK app

The user’s initial location within your composition is set using Spatial SDK’s scene.setViewOrigin() API.

The glXF files with your compositions can be inflated at a specific transform offset. This means that coordinates between Spatial Editor and your Spatial SDK application may not be a 1:1 match unless the glXF is inflated at (0,0,0), which is the default.

Empty nodes

In Spatial Editor, an empty node can be used to group other objects. Objects grouped under a null object are known as its children. The children take on the properties of the null object. For example, if you make a null object bigger, any children will get bigger too.

Empty nodes are added to your composition from the composition panel:

Adding an empty node to a composition or object.

Any object parented under the empty node will use that node’s local coordinate system. This means that the location of the empty node is used as the 0,0,0 origin point for child objects.

Transforms and coordinates

Overview

Coordinates and your Spatial SDK app

Empty nodes

Gizmo settings

Design guidelines