Inheritance #


Table of contents

Node3D #

is_instantiable, Node3D, Node, core, not_builtin_classes

Most basic 3D game object, parent of all 3D-related nodes.

Most basic 3D game object, with a Transform3D and visibility settings. All other 3D game objects inherit from Node3D. Use Node3D as a parent node to move, scale, rotate and show/hide children in a 3D project.

Affine operations (rotate, scale, translate) happen in parent's local coordinate system, unless the Node3D object is set as top-level. Affine operations in this coordinate system correspond to direct affine operations on the Node3D's transform. The word local below refers to this coordinate system. The coordinate system that is attached to the Node3D object itself is referred to as object-local coordinate system.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all methods that have angle parameters must have angles specified as radians. To convert degrees to radians, use @GlobalScope.deg_to_rad.

Note: Be aware that "Spatial" nodes are now called "Node3D" starting with Godot 4. Any Godot 3.x references to "Spatial" nodes refer to "Node3D" in Godot 4.

Members #

var basis: Basis#

Basis of the transform property. Represents the rotation, scale, and shear of this node.

var global_basis: Basis#

Global basis of this node. This is equivalent to global_transform.basis.

var global_position: Vector3#

Global position of this node. This is equivalent to global_transform.origin.

var global_rotation: Vector3#

Rotation part of the global transformation in radians, specified in terms of YXZ-Euler angles in the format (X angle, Y angle, Z angle).

Note: In the mathematical sense, rotation is a matrix and not a vector. The three Euler angles, which are the three independent parameters of the Euler-angle parametrization of the rotation matrix, are stored in a Vector3 data structure not because the rotation is a vector, but only because Vector3 exists as a convenient data-structure to store 3 floating-point numbers. Therefore, applying affine operations on the rotation "vector" is not meaningful.

var global_rotation_degrees: Vector3#

Helper property to access global_rotation in degrees instead of radians.

var global_transform: Transform3D#

World3D space (global) Transform3D of this node.

var position: Vector3 = Vector3(0, 0, 0)#

Local position or translation of this node relative to the parent. This is equivalent to transform.origin.

var quaternion: Quaternion#

Access to the node rotation as a Quaternion. This property is ideal for tweening complex rotations.

var rotation: Vector3 = Vector3(0, 0, 0)#

Rotation part of the local transformation in radians, specified in terms of Euler angles. The angles construct a rotation in the order specified by the rotation_order property.

Note: In the mathematical sense, rotation is a matrix and not a vector. The three Euler angles, which are the three independent parameters of the Euler-angle parametrization of the rotation matrix, are stored in a Vector3 data structure not because the rotation is a vector, but only because Vector3 exists as a convenient data-structure to store 3 floating-point numbers. Therefore, applying affine operations on the rotation "vector" is not meaningful.

Note: This property is edited in the inspector in degrees. If you want to use degrees in a script, use rotation_degrees.

var rotation_degrees: Vector3#

Helper property to access rotation in degrees instead of radians.

var rotation_edit_mode = ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_EULER#

Specify how rotation (and scale) will be presented in the editor.

var rotation_order: int = 2#

Specify the axis rotation order of the rotation property. The final orientation is constructed by rotating the Euler angles in the order specified by this property.

var scale: Vector3 = Vector3(1, 1, 1)#

Scale part of the local transformation.

Note: Mixed negative scales in 3D are not decomposable from the transformation matrix. Due to the way scale is represented with transformation matrices in Godot, the scale values will either be all positive or all negative.

Note: Not all nodes are visually scaled by the scale property. For example, Light3Ds are not visually affected by scale.

var top_level: bool = false#

If true, the node will not inherit its transformations from its parent. Node transformations are only in global space.

var transform: Transform3D = Transform3D(1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0)#

Local space Transform3D of this node, with respect to the parent node.

var visibility_parent: NodePath = NodePath("")#

Defines the visibility range parent for this node and its subtree. The visibility parent must be a GeometryInstance3D. Any visual instance will only be visible if the visibility parent (and all of its visibility ancestors) is hidden by being closer to the camera than its own GeometryInstance3D.visibility_range_begin. Nodes hidden via the Node3D.visible property are essentially removed from the visibility dependency tree, so dependent instances will not take the hidden node or its ancestors into account.

var visible: bool = true#

If true, this node is drawn. The node is only visible if all of its ancestors are visible as well (in other words, is_visible_in_tree must return true).

Methods #

func add_gizmo(gizmo: Node3DGizmo) -> void#

Attach an editor gizmo to this Node3D.

Note: The gizmo object would typically be an instance of EditorNode3DGizmo, but the argument type is kept generic to avoid creating a dependency on editor classes in Node3D.

func clear_gizmos() -> void#

Clear all gizmos attached to this Node3D.

func clear_subgizmo_selection() -> void#

Clears subgizmo selection for this node in the editor. Useful when subgizmo IDs become invalid after a property change.

func force_update_transform() -> void#

Forces the transform to update. Transform changes in physics are not instant for performance reasons. Transforms are accumulated and then set. Use this if you need an up-to-date transform when doing physics operations.

const func get_gizmos() -> Node3DGizmo[]#

Returns all the gizmos attached to this Node3D.

func get_global_transform_interpolated() -> Transform3D#

When using physics interpolation, there will be circumstances in which you want to know the interpolated (displayed) transform of a node rather than the standard transform (which may only be accurate to the most recent physics tick).

This is particularly important for frame-based operations that take place in Node._process, rather than Node._physics_process. Examples include Camera3Ds focusing on a node, or finding where to fire lasers from on a frame rather than physics tick.

Note: This function creates an interpolation pump on the Node3D the first time it is called, which can respond to physics interpolation resets. If you get problems with "streaking" when initially following a Node3D, be sure to call get_global_transform_interpolated at least once before resetting the Node3D physics interpolation.

const func get_parent_node_3d() -> Node3D#

Returns the parent Node3D, or null if no parent exists, the parent is not of type Node3D, or top_level is true.

Note: Calling this method is not equivalent to get_parent() as Node3D, which does not take top_level into account.

const func get_world_3d() -> World3D#

Returns the current World3D resource this Node3D node is registered to.

func global_rotate(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the global (world) transformation around axis, a unit Vector3, by specified angle in radians. The rotation axis is in global coordinate system.

func global_scale(scale: Vector3) -> void#

Scales the global (world) transformation by the given Vector3 scale factors.

func global_translate(offset: Vector3) -> void#

Moves the global (world) transformation by Vector3 offset. The offset is in global coordinate system.

func hide() -> void#

Disables rendering of this node. Changes visible to false.

const func is_local_transform_notification_enabled() -> bool#

Returns whether node notifies about its local transformation changes. Node3D will not propagate this by default.

const func is_scale_disabled() -> bool#

Returns whether this node uses a scale of (1, 1, 1) or its local transformation scale.

const func is_transform_notification_enabled() -> bool#

Returns whether the node notifies about its global and local transformation changes. Node3D will not propagate this by default.

const func is_visible_in_tree() -> bool#

Returns true if the node is present in the SceneTree, its visible property is true and all its ancestors are also visible. If any ancestor is hidden, this node will not be visible in the scene tree.

Visibility is checked only in parent nodes that inherit from Node3D. If the parent is of any other type (such as Node, AnimationPlayer, or Node2D), it is assumed to be visible.

Note: This method does not take VisualInstance3D.layers into account, so even if this method returns true, the node might end up not being rendered.

func look_at(use_model_front: bool = false) -> void#

Rotates the node so that the local forward axis (-Z, Vector3.FORWARD) points toward the target position.

The local up axis (+Y) points as close to the up vector as possible while staying perpendicular to the local forward axis. The resulting transform is orthogonal, and the scale is preserved. Non-uniform scaling may not work correctly.

The target position cannot be the same as the node's position, the up vector cannot be zero.

The target and the up cannot be Vector3.ZERO, and shouldn't be colinear to avoid unintended rotation around local Z axis.

Operations take place in global space, which means that the node must be in the scene tree.

If use_model_front is true, the +Z axis (asset front) is treated as forward (implies +X is left) and points toward the target position. By default, the -Z axis (camera forward) is treated as forward (implies +X is right).

func look_at_from_position(use_model_front: bool = false) -> void#

Moves the node to the specified position, and then rotates the node to point toward the target as per look_at. Operations take place in global space.

func orthonormalize() -> void#

Resets this node's transformations (like scale, skew and taper) preserving its rotation and translation by performing Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization on this node's Transform3D.

func rotate(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the local transformation around axis, a unit Vector3, by specified angle in radians.

func rotate_object_local(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the local transformation around axis, a unit Vector3, by specified angle in radians. The rotation axis is in object-local coordinate system.

func rotate_x(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the local transformation around the X axis by angle in radians.

func rotate_y(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the local transformation around the Y axis by angle in radians.

func rotate_z(angle: float) -> void#

Rotates the local transformation around the Z axis by angle in radians.

func scale_object_local(scale: Vector3) -> void#

Scales the local transformation by given 3D scale factors in object-local coordinate system.

func set_disable_scale(disable: bool) -> void#

Sets whether the node uses a scale of (1, 1, 1) or its local transformation scale. Changes to the local transformation scale are preserved.

func set_identity() -> void#

Reset all transformations for this node (sets its Transform3D to the identity matrix).

func set_ignore_transform_notification(enabled: bool) -> void#

Sets whether the node ignores notification that its transformation (global or local) changed.

func set_notify_local_transform(enable: bool) -> void#

Sets whether the node notifies about its local transformation changes. Node3D will not propagate this by default.

func set_notify_transform(enable: bool) -> void#

Sets whether the node notifies about its global and local transformation changes. Node3D will not propagate this by default, unless it is in the editor context and it has a valid gizmo.

func set_subgizmo_selection(transform: Transform3D) -> void#

Set subgizmo selection for this node in the editor.

Note: The gizmo object would typically be an instance of EditorNode3DGizmo, but the argument type is kept generic to avoid creating a dependency on editor classes in Node3D.

func show() -> void#

Enables rendering of this node. Changes visible to true.

const func to_global(local_point: Vector3) -> Vector3#

Transforms local_point from this node's local space to world space.

const func to_local(global_point: Vector3) -> Vector3#

Transforms global_point from world space to this node's local space.

func translate(offset: Vector3) -> void#

Changes the node's position by the given offset Vector3.

Note that the translation offset is affected by the node's scale, so if scaled by e.g. (10, 1, 1), a translation by an offset of (2, 0, 0) would actually add 20 (2 * 10) to the X coordinate.

func translate_object_local(offset: Vector3) -> void#

Changes the node's position by the given offset Vector3 in local space.

func update_gizmos() -> void#

Updates all the Node3D gizmos attached to this node.

Annotations #

Constants #

const NOTIFICATION_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = 2000#

Node3D nodes receive this notification when their global transform changes. This means that either the current or a parent node changed its transform.

In order for NOTIFICATION_TRANSFORM_CHANGED to work, users first need to ask for it, with set_notify_transform. The notification is also sent if the node is in the editor context and it has at least one valid gizmo.

const NOTIFICATION_ENTER_WORLD = 41#

Node3D nodes receive this notification when they are registered to new World3D resource.

const NOTIFICATION_EXIT_WORLD = 42#

Node3D nodes receive this notification when they are unregistered from current World3D resource.

const NOTIFICATION_VISIBILITY_CHANGED = 43#

Node3D nodes receive this notification when their visibility changes.

const NOTIFICATION_LOCAL_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = 44#

Node3D nodes receive this notification when their local transform changes. This is not received when the transform of a parent node is changed.

In order for NOTIFICATION_LOCAL_TRANSFORM_CHANGED to work, users first need to ask for it, with set_notify_local_transform.

const ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_EULER = 0 enum RotationEditMode#

The rotation is edited using Vector3 Euler angles.

const ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_QUATERNION = 1 enum RotationEditMode#

The rotation is edited using a Quaternion.

const ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_BASIS = 2 enum RotationEditMode#

The rotation is edited using a Basis. In this mode, scale can't be edited separately.

Constructors #

Enums #

RotationEditMode#

enum RotationEditMode { ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_EULER = 0, ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_QUATERNION = 1, ROTATION_EDIT_MODE_BASIS = 2, }

Notifications#

GDScript

enum { NOTIFICATION_ENTER_WORLD = 41, NOTIFICATION_EXIT_WORLD = 42, NOTIFICATION_VISIBILITY_CHANGED = 43, NOTIFICATION_LOCAL_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = 44, NOTIFICATION_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = 2000, }

C++ src

enum { NOTIFICATION_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = SceneTree::NOTIFICATION_TRANSFORM_CHANGED, NOTIFICATION_ENTER_WORLD = 41, NOTIFICATION_EXIT_WORLD = 42, NOTIFICATION_VISIBILITY_CHANGED = 43, NOTIFICATION_LOCAL_TRANSFORM_CHANGED = 44, };

Operators #

Signals #

signal visibility_changed()#

Emitted when node visibility changes.

Theme Items #

Tutorials #