---
title: "Operations with Objects"
canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/LAV/125305739/Operations%20with%20Objects"
format: markdown
---
This page provides a quick starting point for operating with objects in Chaos Vantage. Overview This guide covers essential operations with objects such as importing and merging, selecting, positioning, scaling, rotating, hiding and unhiding, assigning materials, and adjusting pivot points. Want to follow along but don’t have a license?   Operations Here are some of the operations you can perform with objects in Chaos Vantage: Load objects You can drag-n-drop any supported file (. vrscene, .vrmesh, .ply, .abc, .obj, .fbx, .3ds, .stl, .ter, .dae, .gltf ) directly into Chaos Vantage and choose  Open  to load it. When loading a scene, if the assets (textures, proxies) are missing from their original paths or the scene folder, Chaos Vantage looks for them next to where the .vrscene file is in a folder that has one of the following names: assets, maps, proxy, textures, vray_proxy Merge / Place objects You can drag-n-drop a . vrmesh  or . vrscene  file, choose to  Place  (adds the asset at the position and orientation of the indicator) or  Merge  (adds the asset at world position 0,0,0) the new asset in the currently opened scene. This example places a  .vrscene  file and adds a . vrmesh  file. Select objects Any object in a scene can be selected with the help of the  Select  ( ) tool (hotkey:  Q ). Move, Rotate, and Scale objects You can rotate, scale, and move each object around. Select the object and press  W  for moving,  E  for rotation, and  R  for scale. Press the  Q  key to go back to selection. Use the  Esc  key to deselect all objects in the scene. Alternatively, use the top toolbar buttons for  Move  ( ),  Rotate  ( ), and  Scale  ( ). Hide / Unhide objects You can also set object's visibility from the Objects tab or use the default shortcut keys, after selection,  V  to hide and  Shift+V  to unhide . Assign materials to objects The Materials tab can be used to assign any material to the selected object using the  Assign this material to the selection ( ) button or by simple drag-and-drop. The right-click dropdown menu offers a variety of options for material assignment. To show the options, simply  right-click  on any material thumbnail in the Materials tab. To use the dropdown menu options, first select an object(s) in the viewport. To assign a material with drag-and-drop you don't need to select the object in advanced. When drag-and-dropping a new material onto an object that has another material already, press  Alt  and hold to assign the new material on all objects in the scene that have that object's original material. Holding  Ctrl  when drag-and-dropping a material onto an object assigns the material to the object and its children. Locate all objects with a specific material in the scene via the  Select objects with this material  dropdown option.   When in use, the  Rotate ,  Move , and  Scale  tools are equipped with a  gizmo  designed to facilitate their respective operations. The gizmo has three axes - X, Y, and Z which enable the scaling, movement, or rotation of an object along their corresponding axes. To perform an operation across all axes simultaneously, use the pivot point (the circle in the middle of the gizmo). When moving an object using the pivot, the object orients itself based on the normal. Hold  Shift  and start moving the object to lock the object's current orientation. Release Shift and continue moving the object to change the current orientation, then hold Shift again while moving to lock the object's new orientation. Transforms dialog menus  Right-click  on the  Rotate ,  Move , or  Scale  toolbar buttons to open a   Transforms dialog menus  that allows finer control over the position, rotation, and scale of the selected object. Move pivot point Click  on the  Move Pivot  ( ) button in the top toolbar to edit the position of the pivot point of the selected object.  Right-click  to open a   Translate Pivot menu  that allows finer control over the position of the pivot point.