Asset Placement is achieved via the Enscape Asset Library which can be accessed in one of two ways. Either from within the CAD toolbar or from within the Enscape Viewport User Interface (UI) toolbar. This is covered in more detail in this article.

This feature is available for both Enscape and Custom Assets, but the complete feature is only available when the Asset Library is opened via the Enscape Viewport UI. The Asset Library dialog that is opened via the CAD toolbar only allows for basic Single Asset Placement. But, once an asset has been placed, it then becomes available to be edited using the tools accessed via Asset Library when opened from within the Enscape Viewport UI.

This article focuses on the initial placement of assets via both methods and begins with explaining the tools available in the Enscape Viewport UI, followed by the placement methods available in Archicad.

NOTE: If you find the Asset Library window, or the Enscape Viewport is blocked by a notification stating that no seats are available on the current License Key, or that the License has expired, then please refer to this article.

With the Enscape Viewport open and in focus, open the Asset Library panel either by clicking on the Asset Library button in the Enscape Viewport UI toolbar or via the [L] key on your keyboard, as illustrated below.

The Asset Library panel in the Enscape Viewport, once opened, has the following options available:

• Search Assets function
• Category and Tag filters
• Asset Placement tools
• Enscape and Custom Assets tabs
• Offline Asset Library

Once an asset has been selected, move the mouse in the Enscape Viewport over a surface in the project you would like to place the asset on.

A low poly approximation (proxy) of the asset will provide you assistance as to where the asset will be positioned. Once you’ve decided on where the asset will be placed, click the surface to fix the asset position which will continue to be shown as a proxy asset. Multiple instances of a single asset can be placed by continuing to click on surfaces within the Enscape Viewport.

To confirm the asset positioning, click on the Apply Changes button after which the proxy will be swapped out with the complete asset geometry and its associated textures.

NOTE: to successfully place an asset in the Enscape Viewport, there needs to be a surface available in the project. A blank project will not allow for placement within the Enscape Viewport, although in that may be possible from within the Archicad UI instead.

Whilst an asset is selected multiple instances can be placed by clicking multiple times on any available surface, as illustrated above.

Once an asset has been placed, individual assets can then be selected, moved, rotated, scaled, and deleted from within the Enscape Viewport UI by using the transformation tools that are available in the Asset Library panel.

The available tools in the Asset Library are, from top to bottom:

• Select
• Translate [T]
• Rotate [R]
• Scale [G]
• Single Asset Placement
• Multi Asset Placement
• Delete [Del]

The Translate tool will allow you to reposition an asset that has already been placed. It can also be quickly accessed by pressing the [T] key on your keyboard as long as the Asset Library panel is open in Enscape, before or after the selection of an asset.

A set of control points will appear around the selected asset in the Enscape Viewport. To move the asset, click on the arrows and, drag and drop it on the desired surface. To rotate it, click and drag the green ring left or right. Additionally, you can move it freely by clicking on the orange control point located in the center of the asset. You can only drag and drop the asset to an area where a surface exists.

You can also use X,Y,Z coordinates for a more precise placement. You will find these input fields located  at the bottom left of the Enscape Viewport.

To confirm the changes, click on the Apply Changes button.

In addition to the rotation option available in the Translation tool (limited to the XY axis), the Rotation tool allows assets to be rotated around the XYZ axis.

To do so, before or after the selection of an asset, select the Rotation tool (quick access:[R] key on the keyboard).
With the asset selected, 3 control rings will surround it. To rotate the asset, simply click on a ring and drag your mouse from left to right (or up/down). Your asset will start rotating around the selected axis. Alternatively, you can more precisely rotate your asset by entering the desired degree of rotation for each axis via the input fields located at the bottom left of the screen.

To implement changes, simply click the Apply Changes button.

The Scale tool allows you to increase / decrease the size of an asset. Once an asset has been selected, 3 control handles will appear around the selected asset. By clicking and dragging your mouse from left to right (up/down), the asset will scale up/down on all axis symmetrically. Precision scaling the selected asset can be achieved via the input fields located at the bottom left of the screen.

To implement changes, click the Apply Changes button.

After assets have been placed and changes have been applied, assets can be selected individually and then deleted from the project by clicking on the Trash Can icon. This can also be achieved by pressing the [Del] key on your keyboard, or by simply right clicking on the asset and clicking Delete Selection.

To implement any changes, click the Apply Changes button.
To recover the deleted asset, simply click Discard All instead.

To speed up the asset placement process on large surfaces you can use the Multi Asset Placement tool. After clicking on the Multiple Asset Placement icon additional options will become available below the Asset Library.

The first step to placing multiple assets is to select all the assets to be placed. Single or multiple assets can be selected and selected assets will receive a check box and will also be shown under the Selected Assets area at the bottom of the Enscape Viewport UI.

Click the checkbox in the asset thumbnail either in the Asset Library panel or under the Selected Assets area to remove individual assets from the selection. To remove all assets at once click the Clear All option in the Selected Assets area.

If Confirm Placement is clicked, the current placement can be undone by clicking Discard All.

Before or after selecting the assets, you need to select one of the selection tools to scatter the assets on a surface.

There are three options available:

• Rectangular Selection
• Circular Selection
• Bucket Selection

During the asset placement process, it is not possible to change the selection tool until the Confirm Placement button has been clicked. Or, click the Clear All option or uncheck all selected assets in the Selected Assets area first.

Selecting the Rectangular Selection option provides a way to stipulate a limited area the assets will be placed in. Once selected, by moving the mouse over a surface in the Enscape Viewport the user will see a circle with a control point in the middle to assist in choosing the origin of the rectangular area to be specified. Once you have clicked on the surface to specify that origin, 2 orange control points will appear. One control point will anchor itself to the surface to act as a pivot point and the other control point will follow the mouse movement to specify the length of the rectangle. When you finally click to specify the length of the rectangular area some proxy assets will appear within that specified area. You can  increase the width of the rectangle at any point during this process by adjusting the Width slider located below the 3 selection tools.

You can continue to adjust the size of the rectangle by clicking on either of the 2 orange control points which will allow you to adjust the rectangle’s orientation and size. The assets will be recalculated and regenerated to accommodate changes made to the selection area.

You can continue to make adjustments up until you click on the Confirm Placement button. Once Confirm Placement has been clicked, you can continue to specify other selection areas using any of the 3 selection tools. Only after you click on the Apply Changes button will the full asset geometry and the associated asset textures be placed in the project.

At that point the individual assets will be available for individual editing or deletion.

If you want to start placement again, click on the Discard All button.

Similarly, to the Circular Selection tool, a allow you to specify a circular area of a surface for a selection of multiple assets to be placed on.

As with the Rectangular Selection option, the first click will specify the point that will be the center of the circular selection. Two control points will then become available. The control point at the center of the circular area specifies the pivot point or the center of the circular area. The second control point will follow the mouse movement to allow the user to specify the initial diameter of the circular area. Once specified, asset proxy models will appear within the defined circular area.
You can continue to adjust the size and position of the circular area by clicking and dragging the respective orange control points.

As with the Rectangular Selection tool click on Confirm Placement to continue creating other areas. Click Apply Changes when you are done placing assets to load the full geometry and textures and allow for individual asset editing.

If you want to start placement again, click on the Discard All button.

The Bucket Selection tool will place assets on to an available surface.
Hovering the mouse around in the Enscape Viewport when the Bucket Selection tool is selected will show a bucket symbol instead of the the mouse pointer and any surfaces that are available for asset placement will be highlighted as you hover over them. Once a surface for asset placement has been identified click on that highlighted surface and proxy models of the selected assets will be placed on that surface as a preview. That means the assets will not be fixed in place until you click on the Confirm Placement button.

If you click on another surface before clicking the Confirm Placement button, the proxy assets will be removed from the previous surface and applied to the newly selected surface.

Once you are happy with the placement of the assets, click on Confirm Placement and then Apply Changes to finalize the placement of the selected assets. If you want to start placement again, click on the Discard All button. This will then revert the tool back to a state where you can continue to place assets.

The Density tool determines how many assets will be placed in total.

For example, you may have only chosen a total of 3 assets from the Asset Library, adjusting the Density slider will increase or decrease the number of the 3 selected assets to be placed in the selected area or on the selected surface. This is particularly useful for placing vegetation, for example.

The Distribution drop down menu determines the way in which the assets are placed.

The 3 options available include:

• Random: no placement pattern is followed, and assets are placed randomly. This is better suited for large surfaces.
• Jitter: assets are placed on a grid based layout, but with a random offset. In large areas, the pattern may be more easily noticeable.
• Uniform: assets are placed on a grid layout.

The Random Rotation checkbox, when checked, will randomize the selected assets on the XY plane. This option is enabled by default
If unchecked, all placed assets in the current selection will face the same direction. This can be useful when placing a group of spectators, for example.

If Preview Selected Area is checked, the complete assets geometry and textures will be loaded and shown in the Enscape Viewport.

If the Regenerate button is clicked the selected assets will be appear in another position specified by the currently active  placement settings (Density, Distribution, and Random Rotation).

After the Regenerate button is clicked, the Preview Selected Area option will be disabled (unchecked) if it was enabled when the Regenerate button was clicked.

Once assets are placed in the desired position clicking on the Confirm Placement button will fix the assets position, although the asset will continue to be shown as the low poly proxy version by default.
Once Confirm Placement has been clicked, assets can not be edited or deleted as a group and must be dealt with individually. Additionally, the area selection guides will disappear.

Alternatively, you can simply click on Undo option in the Archicad UI.

Click the Apply Changes button to load the full asset geometry and its associated textures (if Preview Selected Area is disabled). Apply Changes will only become available after Confirm Placement has been clicked. This is also valid for Single Asset Placement.

The Discard All button will only become available once Confirm Placement has been clicked, and it will remove all that have not be applied by the Apply Changes button.

You can select all instances of an asset by right clicking on the asset while the Asset Library is open in Enscape, and clicking Select All “[asset_name]” assets.

You can delete all selected assets at once by right clicking on any of the selected assets and clicking Delete Selection.

Placing the asset in a Archicad project can be easily achieved because Archicad will indicate placement to a surface in the Archicad viewport. The asset will stick to your mouse movement until the location for the asset has been chosen and you have clicked in the Archicad viewport. This will place the asset, which will be instantly displayed in the Enscape window as long as Enscape’s Live Updates is enabled.

In the Archicad window the asset will be displayed as a Poly Model, and the Asset library will open again, allowing you to choose the next asset you want to place. To cancel any further placement of assets, exit the Asset Library.

Adjusting the asset’s rotation or position further must be done after asset placement using the native Archicad tools, or directly inside the Enscape viewport.