Translating actors in the world

Actor Translation Modes

Mode can be switched using

1. Buttons on the top right of the viewport.

2. Using keyboard shortcuts. Hovering over buttons reveals keyboard shortcut in popup bubble. Key shortcuts are quite easy to remember as they are first letters on QWERTY keyboard. Autodesk Maya uses the same layout.

Mode	Shortcut Key	Preview
Select	Q
Move	W
Rotate	E
Scale	R

Using gizmo

Clicking on any actor is going to show manipulator - gizmo, allowing user to move, rotate or scale the actor.

All actions are applied from the actor’s pivot point (set in blueprint editor or in other DCC software for static meshes)

Gizmo can be moved without moving the actor to make translation adjustments easier. See Actor pivot offset (Move 3D gizmo)

Move and scale

Clicking and dragging on single axis will manipulate actor in single axis.

Clicking and dragging on section in between two axis will lock manipulations to these two axis

Clicking and dragging on white ball in the center will manipulate actor in all axis.

For scale transforming exclusively, holding CTRL and dragging any single axis will scale actor in all axis.

Rotate

By default Unreal Engine allows only explicit axis rotation using gizmo.

Free rotation gizmo (Arcball Rotate) can be enabled in Edit ‣ Editor Preferences. Search for arcball or go to Level Editor ‣ Viewports ‣ Look And Feel

Arcball Rotate in action

Using Details Panel

It’s also possible to manipulate selected actor’s translation using Details Panel, explicitly setting values or clickning and dragging.

Note

There is no value snapping to fractions while dragging (0.1, 1, 10, …) in Unreal Engine

Details panel also allows locking of scale axis - actor will always be scaled uniformly, in all axis.

Scaling using details panel

Note

This only works when typing in values or dragging any scale axis in details panel. Scaling using gizmo ignores this lock. To scale uniformly using gizmo, hold CTRL while dragging any single gizmo axis.

Scaling using gizmo and then details panel with lock

Moving actor using WASD keys

To move actor using WASD keys, use Pilot option from context menu. or press CTRL+SHIFT+P

Note

Gizmo position (pivot point) won’t move while using this feature. reselect actor to put it into correct position.

To stop press eject button in the left upper corner of the viewport.

If the actor that is used in Pilot function has a camera component, this feature toggles between automatic camera and the camera component.

If actor has multiple cameras, the lowest camera in components view will be used.

FollowCamera1 will be used for this feature.

Actor Transform Context Menu

Delta Transform

Adds or subtracts position values to/from current position.

Information

Unit is centimeters

Mirror X/Y/Z

Multiply X/Y/Z scale value by (-1)

Lock actor movement

Blocks all actor instance movements, scaling and rotation.

This can be quite useful while tweaking camera actor settings, keeping it in place.

Note

Actors can still be scaled inside of blueprint (this is editor viewport only setting)

Note

Title is slightly confusing, this locks all transforms including rotation and scaling.

Warning

3D Gizmo might not be visible while this option is enabled.

Local and Global coordinate system

You can switch between local and world coordinate system for 3D Gizmo using button located in viewport toolbar.

This comes quite handy for objects that are rotated.