The main areas of the Twinmotion user interface are as follows:
The Top bar
The Header
The Viewport
The Panels
The Docks
The Footer
1- Top Bar
The top bar contains the menu bar, displays the Twinmotion version and file name, and provides a link to open Twinmotion in Full screen mode.
The menu bar, located in the top-left corner, contains the File, Edit, and Help menus.
Full screen mode expands the Twinmotion window so that it fills your entire computer screen, giving you a larger workspace.
2- Header
The header contains a shortcut to the Home panel, the toolbar, and a shortcut to access your Epic Account and Twinmotion Cloud.
The Home panel icon, located in the top-left corner, provides a quick way to go back to the Home panel. For more information about the Home panel, see The Home Panel.
From the toolbar you can enable or disable the Path tracer and access a variety of tools to manipulate assets in the viewport, such as the Material picker and the Translate tool. If you click the Open icon, you can expand the toolbar and access the Rotate, Scale, Move with collision, Gravity, Toggle Local / Word Axis, and Pivot edit tools. For more information about the toolbar, see The Toolbar.
When you sign-in to your Epic Account, you can download and use the cloud assets in the Library, use Twinmotion Cloud, and access the Twinmotion Support Community. For more information about Twinmotion Cloud and the Twinmotion Support Community, see Twinmotion Cloud and Twinmotion Community.
3 - Viewport
The viewport is the area where the 3D scene you import or open appears. By default, the viewport contains a Starting ground, Starting landscape, and Starting base. It also contains the Navigation panel, and provides links to use Twinmotion in Presenter mode and to open the View menu.
You can display the contents of the viewport using various technical visualization modes. Depending on the viewport mode you select, you can view different aspects of the scene, such as the underlying wireframe structure of 3D models, Lumen mesh conflicts, and Nanite triangles.
For more information about the viewport, see The Viewport.
For information about how to navigate in the viewport, see Navigating in the Viewport.
4 - The Panels
The user interface contains several panels located on the right and left sides of the viewport.
Library Panel
The Library panel gives you access to a large collection of 3D assets you can add to your scenes. These include Twinmotion native assets, Quixel Megascans and Sketchfab assets, and Adobe Substance 3D materials.
It also contains a variety of Tools you can use to enhance your scenes such as Section cubes, Reflection probes, Cycloramas, a LED wall for virtual production, and Animators.
In the library you can save custom and imported assets to the User library and share them with other Twinmotion users.
For more information about the library, see The Library.
Statistics Panel
You can use the Statistics panel to monitor your machine’s performance and view statistics about various aspects of the scene, such as the frame rate, GPU and CPU usage, and more. For more information about statistics, see Statistics.
Scene Panel
The Scene panel contains the Scene graph, which is a visual hierarchy of all the elements in the scene such as objects, lights, and scene tools. You can use it to view, manage, sort, and organize the contents of your scene, and to access commands you can perform on each element.
From the Scene panel, you can also open the Ambience panel.
For more information about the Scene panel, see The Scene Panel.
Modeling Panel
Use the modeling tools to optimize and edit the shape and structure of the 3D models you import into Twinmotion. For more information about the tools in the Modeling panel, see Modeling Tools.
XYZ Panel
You can use the XYZ panel to view and transform the position, rotation, scale, and size of objects in the scene, and the position and rotation of the camera in the viewport. For more information, see The XYZ Panel.
View Sets Panel
With the View sets panel, you can quickly create multiple versions of the same scene using different settings and assets, or create a video that shows the phases of a construction project sequentially from start to finish. For more information about View sets, see Working with View Sets.
Properties Panel
The Properties panel contains context-sensitive information, settings, and tools. The contents of the panel vary depending on what tool you are using, or which media asset or object you select in Twinmotion. It can display the Ambience, Populate, or Export panels, or a variety of other tools and settings, such as the modeling tools or the settings for materials.
The Properties panel is organized into categories you can expand or minimize. The main settings are situated at the top of the category for easy access. To view more settings, click Details.
You can move the Properties panel to the left of the other panels in two-column mode. This can help to minimize scrolling when a panel has several options and suboptions, such as the Ambience panel.
For more information about the Properties panel, see The Properties Panel.
Ambience Panel
In the Ambience panel, you can view and modify the ambience settings of the scene in the following tabs:
Env (Environment): Set up the lighting and design the natural environment of the scene, or use ready-made presets.
Camera: Apply real-world camera effects, add blooms and flares, use the photo matching tools, and design with composition overlays.
Render (Renderer): Select the rendering mode for the viewport and the media you create: real-time (Standard or Lumen), or Path tracer.
FX (Effects): Use the refinement tools, add a clay render effect, use preset Look-up tables (LUTs) or import your own, and apply advanced post-process effects.
For more information about the ambience settings in Twinmotion, see Ambience Settings.
Populate Panel
In the Populate panel, you can find the Place, Paths, and Urban tabs:
In the Place tab, use the Paint and Scatter tools to paint and scatter vegetation on surfaces, and use the Spacing and Area tools to distribute Twinmotion Library assets, and assets you import into Twinmotion, along paths or inside areas you create.
For more information about the Spacing and Area tools, see Spacing and Area Tools.
In the Paths tab, create animated Character, Bicycle, and Vehicle paths that automatically populate with moving assets, or Custom paths using static or animated assets you select from the library or import into Twinmotion.
For more information about animated paths and Custom paths, see the Animated Paths documentation.
In the Urban tab, add real-world context and urban environments to your scenes by downloading geographical data—such as roads, buildings, and trees— from areas you select on a map.
For more information about the Populate panel, see The Populate Panel.
Export Panel
The Export panel is where you export images, videos, sequences, panoramas, Panorama Sets, and Presentations either locally on your computer or to Twinmotion Cloud. You can also view and modify the global export parameters for each type of media. For information about exporting media, see Creating and Exporting Media.
5 - The Docks
The user interface contains three docks that are situated below the viewport.
Import Dock
In the Import dock you create Datasmith Direct Links and import 3D geometry, animated files, landscapes, and point cloud files. For more information about the Import dock, see Import Dock.
For information about importing content into Twinmotion, see Getting Your Content Into Twinmotion.
Materials Dock
In the Materials dock you create new materials and manage all the materials in the scene. For more information about the Materials dock, see Materials Dock.
For information about the materials in Twinmotion, see Working with Materials.
Media Dock
The Media dock is where you create and manage images, videos, sequences, panoramas, Panorama Sets, Presentations, Phasing groups, and Configurations. For more information about the Media dock, see Media Dock.
For information about creating media in Twinmotion, see Creating and Exporting Media.
6 - Footer
You can show or hide the panels and docks in the user interface by clicking the items in the footer.
If you hover your mouse pointer over most items in the user interface, such as a menu item or an icon, a tooltip appears. The tooltip shows the name of the item and, if applicable, provides the shortcut to open it.
Some tooltips also contain a shortcut that you can use to automatically open a video about the item on the Twinmotion YouTube channel.
