Studio Editor Overview
Learn how Pixscape Studio provides visual scene authoring for 2D and 2.5D LibGDX games, from assets and layers to Runtime export.
Pixscape Studio is an open-source visual editor for authoring 2D and 2.5D game scenes for LibGDX. It exports project and scene data that Java game code loads and controls through Pixscape Runtime.
- Toolbar
Common Studio actions and scene-editing tools.
- Editing mode
Shows whether the Canvas is currently editing normal entities, Tiled content, Physics, or Spatial structures.
- Project Assets
Resources imported and available to the project, including images, animations, particles, prefabs, tiles, and tilesets.
- Runtime Availability
Extra resources the current scene must prepare because gameplay may create or use them later. Resources already used directly by the scene are discovered automatically.
- Items
The editable scene hierarchy. Selection here participates in the same workflow as Canvas selection and can enter Tiled, Physics, or Spatial contexts automatically.
- Properties
Context-sensitive controls for the selected scene, layer, entity, body, map, asset, or other content.
- Layers
The ordered scene layers, with controls for selection, reordering, creation, deletion, visibility, and locking.
- Bottom bar
Scene selection and creation, Preview and its Settings, pan and zoom readouts, Rulers visibility, and Center camera.
Continue with the Canvas guide, Preview performance metrics, Studio menus, and Import Assets for detailed operations.
Docking panels
Studio panels can be docked into the main workspace, hidden, or opened as separate windows. The controls in a panel header let you detach the panel or hide it. An undocked panel opens in its own window.
Use the View menu to restore a hidden panel. A normal dockable panel returns to its usual workspace location; tools that only open in a separate window reopen there.
Layers and editing modes
A layer type describes what a scene layer is for.
An editing mode describes what the Canvas is currently editing.
They are related, but they are not the same thing.
Layer types
| Layer type | Available when | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | Always | General scene content such as sprites, animations, prefabs, and normal entities. |
| Light | Always | A layer dedicated to lights. |
| Physics | Physics is enabled in Scene Properties | Physics-oriented scene content and bodies. |
| Spatial | Physics is enabled and the scene does not already contain a Spatial actor layer | The scene's single actor layer participating in Spatial 2.5D ordering. |
| Tiled | The scene is Tiled-enabled | A Tiled map layer using the scene's orthogonal or isometric projection. |
Tiled layers are available in Tiled-enabled scenes: scenes created with an Orthogonal or Isometric Tiled projection, or scenes created from imported Tiled data. Scene Properties shows the resulting projection and tile size; it does not provide a separate Tiled checkbox.
Editing modes
Normal
Normal entity positioning, selection, and scene editing.
Tiled
Tile-map editing and tile interaction.
Physics
Physics-body, shape, and joint editing.
Spatial
Spatial wall, block, and 2.5D structure editing.
The top-center Canvas indicator is Studio's authoritative current context. It displays
Mode: Normal, Mode: Tiled, Mode: Physics, or
Mode: Spatial. In Tiled mode it also shows the current tile coordinates, so you
always know which editing context is active.
Automatic mode switching
Selection in the Canvas and in the Items panel is one editor-selection workflow. Selecting a Tiled map context enters Tiled editing; focusing a physics body or child enters Physics; selecting a Spatial volumes context or block enters Spatial; selecting a normal entity returns to normal entity editing. You normally do not need to keep choosing modes manually from a toolbar.
The specialized guides cover Tiled maps, Physics, Spatial, and Animations in detail.
Where is the atlas manager?
Pixscape manages runtime resource preparation and atlases automatically, so there is no separate atlas-management workflow in Studio. You work with logical assets; Pixscape prepares the resources and atlas data needed by each scene for Runtime use.
Resources used by the scene
Resources already used by scene content are discovered automatically. You do not manually place sprites, animations, particles, Tiled assets, or supported dependencies into an atlas.
Resources used later from code
A prefab spawned later, a gameplay particle effect, a dynamic sprite or animation, or another supported resource may never be placed in the authored scene. Declare those extra needs in Runtime Availability.
Project Assets contains everything imported and available to the project. Runtime Availability contains extra resources this particular scene must have ready because game code may use them later. Resources already present in scene content normally do not need to be added again. Runtime Availability is scene-relative.
See Runtime Availability for the authoritative preparation and scene-loading rules.
Studio Free
Pixscape Studio Free is licensed under Apache 2.0. Download the current version from the Studio Free release page, or browse the source code.
Version compatibility
Projects created with Studio 0.2.0 or earlier require their tiled and Spatial data to be reimported or recreated for 0.2.2. There is no automatic migration; follow the TMX migration checklist before saving an older project.
Recommended first steps
- Create or open a project.
- Import assets.
- Create a scene.
- Drag assets from the Assets panel to the Canvas.
- Adjust objects using the Properties panel.
- Export the project.
- Run it from a LibGDX application using the Pixscape Runtime.
Next, read Getting Started and Runtime Setup to connect an exported project to your game.