The Twinmotion user interface contains three docks located below the viewport:
You can open and close them by clicking Import, Materials, or Media in the footer.
Although each dock has a different purpose, they all have similar controls and menus. This page provides a brief overview of each dock.
Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts
You can use the following shortcuts for items in the Import, Materials, and Media docks.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
Multi-select adjacent items | Click the first item to select it, then hold down the Shift key and click the adjacent items you want to select. |
Multi-select nonadjacent items | Click the first item to select it, then hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (macOS) and click the other items you want to select. |
Import Dock
The Import dock is where you bring your 3D models and assets into Twinmotion.
In the Import dock you can:
Import files from most major design applications.
Set up Datasmith Direct Links between your design application and Twinmotion.
Update file import settings and reimport files.
Locate all imported objects in the viewport.
Reset and reimport individual assets.
Delete files.
Import ( + ) Icon
When you click the Import ( + ) icon, the Import window opens.
From the Import window, you can:
Import geometry files, including Datasmith files created with the Datasmith Exporter plugins.
Create Datasmith Direct Links and synchronize content between your design application and Twinmotion.
Import animated files.
Import landscape files.
Import 3D laser scanned point cloud files.
When you import a file or create a Datasmith Direct Link, the content appears in the viewport and it also appears as a file thumbnail in the Import dock.
Menu
Each file thumbnail has its own menu where you can access commands. To open the menu, click the ellipsis (...) that appears when you hover over a thumbnail.
For more information on the Import dock and to learn how to import content into Twinmotion, refer to Getting Your Content Into Twinmotion.
Materials Dock
Twinmotion automatically adds materials to the Materials dock when you perform one of the following actions:
Drag a material from the library onto an object in the scene, or into the Materials dock.
Import content that already has materials applied to the assets.
Create materials.
Duplicate materials.
Duplicate objects in the scene by creating copies of them.
You can duplicate objects as copies or instances. Twinmotion does not automatically add materials to the Materials dock when you duplicate objects as instances.
Import Adobe Substance materials into Twinmotion.
From the Materials dock you can view, manage, create, organize, and filter the materials in the scene.
For more information about what you can do in the Materials dock and how to work with materials in Twinmotion, see the Working with Materials documentation.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
1 - Breadcrumb | Shows where you are currently located in the hierarchical structure of the Materials dock. The first level of the structure is named Root, and the following levels are composed of the folders and subfolders you create. When you select a folder in the breadcrumb, the materials in that folder are displayed in the Materials dock. You can click the folder names in the breadcrumb to navigate back in the folder structure. |
2 - Clean up | If the Materials dock contains materials that are not applied to any objects in the scene, you can click the Clean up icon to remove the unused materials from the Materials dock. The Clean up icon is enabled only when the Materials dock contains unused materials. You can improve the performance in Twinmotion by removing unused materials. If you keep unused materials in the Materials dock this can lead to an increase in file size, longer load times, and increased memory usage. |
3 - Add folder | Creates a new folder or subfolder that you can use to organize the materials in the Materials dock. You can add a material to a folder by selecting it and dragging it onto the folder, or dragging it onto the folder name in the breadcrumb. |
4 - View options | Opens the View options dialog box where you can:
|
5 - Search | Filters the materials that appear in the Materials dock by name. |
6 - Material type / Add ( + ) icon | Shows the selected material type. Click the Add ( + ) icon to create a new instance of the selected material type in the Materials dock. You can import Adobe Substance 3D materials into the Materials dock. To do this, select the Substance material type and click the Add (+) icon to open the Substance dialog box. To select another material type, click the vertical ellipsis (⋮), and in the menu select a new material type. |
7 - Vertical ellipsis | Click the vertical ellipsis (⋮) to open a menu where you can:
|
8 - Folder menu | Click the ellipsis (...) to open a menu where you can Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, and Rename the folder.  You can also right-click on the folder to open the folder menu. |
9 - Usage | Shows how many times a material is used in the scene, or whether it is used at all, as follows:
 |
10 - Material menu | Clicking the ellipsis (...) opens a menu where you can Duplicate, Cut, Copy, Delete, and Rename the material, as well as add the material to the User library. You can also right-click on the material to open the menu.  You can also access a menu to duplicate, delete, and add materials to the User library by clicking the ellipsis (...) to the right of the material in the Properties panel.  |
Media Dock
In the Media dock you can create, edit, and manage several types of media assets:
The Media dock is divided into the following tabs, one for each type of media.
Add ( + ) Icon
Each tab contains an Add ( + ) icon you can use to create new media assets. The type of asset you can create depends on the tab you are in. For example, if you click the Add ( + ) icon in the Image tab, a new image will be created.
The media assets you create appear as thumbnails in the Media dock.
Menu
When you hover over a thumbnail, an ellipsis (...) appears. Clicking the ellipsis opens a menu where you can access commands that vary depending on the type of media asset.
Refresh Icon
You can update images, video and sequence keyframes, and panoramas to match the latest status of the scene in the viewport. To do so, click the Refresh icon that appears when you hover over a thumbnail.
Media Mode
When you click the Add ( + ) icon to create a media asset, or if you select a thumbnail in the Media dock, Media mode is activated. When Twinmotion is in Media mode, a magenta outline appears around the border of the thumbnails in the Media dock, and the items in the Properties panel are highlighted in magenta.
In Media mode, any ambience settings you change in the Ambience panel are applied to the media assets (thumbnails) selected in the Media dock.
If you want to change the ambience settings of the scene instead, click the Quit media mode button.
Rendering Mode
Depending on your selection, Twinmotion can render media in Real time mode (Standard or Lumen) or Path tracer mode.
If you select the Lumen or Path tracer rendering mode, a small icon appears on the thumbnail.
| Icon | Rendering Mode |
|---|---|
 | Real time Lumen |
 | Path tracer |
To change the rendering mode of media assets:
Select a thumbnail in the Media dock.
In the Scene panel click Ambience.
In the Ambience panel click the Render tab, then select a rendering mode.
For more information about the Media dock and to learn how to work with media in Twinmotion, refer to Working with Media.