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Glossary

Here is an overview of some of the terms we use to describe the PlayCanvas Engine and Tools.

Animation​

An Animation is an Asset that contains keyframe data used to animate properties of Entities over time. Animations can control transforms (position, rotation, scale), material properties, and other animatable values. In PlayCanvas, animations are typically imported from 3D content creation tools or created using the Animation component and can be controlled via scripts using the Animation component API.

Application​

The Application class is the core container that manages all the essential systems and resources needed to run your PlayCanvas application. It serves as the central hub that coordinates:

  • The Scene which includes the scene hierarchy and scene settings
  • The ComponentSystems that handle entity behavior
  • Input devices (keyboard, mouse, touch and gamepad)
  • Asset loading and management
  • The main render loop and frame updates
  • Audio context and 3D audio systems

The Application is accessible from any script function (initialize, update and so on) as this.app and provides the main interface for interacting with the engine's functionality.

Asset​

An Asset is a unit of data that represents a resource used in your PlayCanvas application. Assets are typically imported from content creation applications (such as Blender, 3D Studio Max, or Photoshop) but can also be created directly in the editor. Common asset types include:

  • 3D models and animations
  • Textures and materials
  • Audio files and music
  • Scripts and JSON data
  • Fonts and UI elements

Assets are managed through the Asset Pipeline and can be assigned to Components to give Entities their appearance and behavior. Also see Source Assets and Target Assets.

Asset Pipeline​

The asset pipeline is a process run on the PlayCanvas servers which converts an uploaded Source Asset e.g. an FBX scene file into one or more Target Assets e.g. a model file, a material and some textures. The pipeline is designed to convert uploaded files into optimized versions ready to use in your game. To process an asset through the pipeline simply upload it to PlayCanvas from the dashboard or the PlayCanvas Editor.

Attribute​

An attribute is a property of a Component. Attributes are represented in the PlayCanvas Editor interface via user interface controls (pickers, check boxes, sliders, etc). Attributes can be tweaked via these controls and, once you have launched your game from the Editor's 'Launch' button, the updates are live-streamed to the connected game in real time.

Collision​

Collision refers to the detection and response when two or more objects intersect in 3D space. PlayCanvas provides collision detection through the Collision component, which defines the shape used for collision detection, and the Rigidbody component, which handles the physics response. Common collision shapes include boxes, spheres, capsules, and triangle meshes.

Component​

Components describe the properties and functionality of an Entity. In the PlayCanvas Engine, rather than defining game objects using a long chain of inherited classes, game objects are defined as an Entity and then a collection of Components.

Components are added to Entities via the Component menu in the PlayCanvas Editor, or they can be added at runtime via their respective ComponentSystem object.

Cubemap​

A Cubemap is a special type of Texture that consists of six square textures arranged to form a cube. Cubemaps are commonly used for skyboxes to create distant background scenery and for environment mapping to simulate reflections on shiny surfaces. In PlayCanvas, cubemaps can be generated from HDR images or created from six individual texture faces.

DOM​

The DOM (Document Object Model) is a way of representing an HTML document. Web browsers make an interface available for querying and modifying the DOM that makes up the HTML page that is displayed in the user's browser.

Entity​

An Entity is one of the building blocks of your application in the PlayCanvas Engine. Often an Entity will represent a single object in your game or application, though a single object may also be made of multiple Entities.

All Entities have a position, rotation and scale. They have a parent node from which they inherit a transform, and they may have child nodes to which they supply their transform.

Framework​

The Framework is the high-level abstraction layer built on top of the core PlayCanvas Engine that provides a game-development-focused interface. It includes:

  • The Entity-Component System for organizing game objects
  • Asset management and loading systems
  • Input handling and device abstraction
  • Audio management and 3D spatial audio
  • Graphics pipeline management
  • Integration with the PlayCanvas Editor for live-link functionality

The Framework simplifies common game development tasks and provides a structured approach to building interactive 3D applications. See the API Reference for more details.

Gizmo​

A Gizmo is a control that can be dragged around with the mouse in order to edit the attributes of an Entity. It is usually used to edit the transform matrix. A Gizmo consists of three color-coded parts, one for each axis in 3D space. Red is the X-axis, green is the Y-axis and blue is the Z-axis. Sometimes there will also be controls for manipulating more than one axis at once, e.g. the translate gizmo features clickable plane icons to allow translation in two dimensions at once, on the X and Y, Y and Z, Z and X planes.

Hierarchy​

The Hierarchy is a panel in the PlayCanvas Editor that displays the tree structure of Entities in your Scene. It shows the parent-child relationships between entities and allows you to organize, select, rename, and reorder entities. The hierarchy reflects the transform inheritance structure where child entities inherit the transformations of their parents.

High Dynamic Range​

High Dynamic Range or HDR refers to color information that is outside of the usual 0-1 range. In the standard range, 0 is black and 1 is the brightest color that the display device can show. In the real world there are no such limitations. For example, the sun can be many times brighter than the sky that surrounds it.

Inspector​

The Inspector is a panel in the PlayCanvas Editor that displays the properties and Components of the currently selected Entity or Asset. It provides an interface for editing attributes, adding or removing components, and configuring settings. The Inspector updates in real-time as you make changes, allowing for immediate feedback during development.

Light​

A Light is a Component that illuminates the Scene. PlayCanvas supports several types of lights including directional lights (like the sun), point lights (like light bulbs), and spot lights (like flashlights). Lights have properties such as color, intensity, range, and shadow casting capabilities that affect how they illuminate objects in the scene.

Material​

A Material is an Asset that defines how surfaces appear when rendered. Materials control the visual properties of 3D model surfaces through various parameters:

  • Albedo/Diffuse: Base color and texture
  • Normal/Bump: Surface detail and texture
  • Metalness: How metallic the surface appears
  • Roughness: How smooth or rough the surface is
  • Emission: Self-illuminating properties
  • Opacity: Transparency and alpha blending

Materials can reference Texture assets for detailed surface appearance and support both physically-based rendering (PBR) and traditional lighting models. In the PlayCanvas Editor, materials can be edited by selecting them in the assets panel or by clicking on a material directly on a model in the 3D view.

PlayCanvas Editor​

The PlayCanvas Editor is a visual editing tool which can be used by members of your development team to edit Scenes. The PlayCanvas Editor is used to manipulate Entities and their Components, manage Assets, and configure various aspects of your game or application. It provides an intuitive interface with panels for hierarchy management, asset organization, and real-time preview capabilities.

PlayCanvas Engine​

The PlayCanvas Engine is a JavaScript library which provides all the functionality you will need to create an interactive 3D application or game.

Programs created using the PlayCanvas Engine will run directly in a modern web browser with no need for third-party plugins.

Project​

A Project is a collection of Scenes and Assets that belongs to a single user. Usually a single Project will only contain resources for a single application, though you can export multiple applications from a single Project.

Rigidbody​

A Rigidbody is a Component that enables an Entity to participate in physics simulation. It gives the entity properties like mass, friction, and restitution, and allows it to respond to forces, gravity, and collisions. Rigidbodies can be configured as static (immovable), kinematic (movable but not affected by forces), or dynamic (fully simulated physics objects).

Scene​

A Scene is a collection of Entity data, Art data and Code data which can be loaded as a unit. A Scene may represent your entire game, or just a single level or part of your game.

Script​

A Script is an Asset. It is assigned to a Script Component on an Entity. Scripts are written in JavaScript. They have several predefined functions that can be overridden:

  • initialize - called once on instantiation
  • postInitialize - called once after all script initialize functions have been called
  • update - called every frame
  • postUpdate - called every frame after all script update functions have been called
  • swap - called when a script is 'hot reloaded' (due to a save event in the Code Editor)

Skybox​

A Skybox is a background that surrounds the entire Scene, typically used to create the illusion of distant scenery such as mountains, clouds, or stars. In PlayCanvas, skyboxes are created using Cubemaps and can be configured in the scene settings. They provide environmental lighting and serve as the backdrop when no other geometry is visible in a particular direction.

Source Asset​

A source asset is the original file that has been uploaded into PlayCanvas. Source Assets are the input for the PlayCanvas asset pipeline which creates Target Assets.

Target Asset​

A target asset is a file that can be loaded into your game at runtime. It will be in a format ready to use in the Engine. Target Assets are usually the product of a Source Asset being uploaded and imported through the asset pipeline.

Template​

A Template is an Asset that contains a piece of an Entity hierarchy. It has a root Entity and can have any number of children. A Template is a reusable Entity that you can instantiate dynamically at runtime or place multiple instances of it in your Scene. When you change the Template Asset all instances of the Template will also change.

Texture​

A Texture is an Asset. Typically, it contains image data that can be mapped onto 2D or 3D geometry. Textures can also be used to store other types of generic numeric data for processing on the GPU. PlayCanvas can load textures from standard web format images (JPG, PNG and GIF). The engine can also read super-compressed Basis textures that can be transcoded to natively supported GPU formats on load.

Transformation Matrix​

A Transformation Matrix is a mathematical matrix that represents a set of linear transforms. In particular: translation, rotation and scale. This means that a transformation matrix can be used to represent the position, orientation and size of an object in 3D space. In the PlayCanvas Engine each Entity has a transformation matrix accessible via the getLocalTransform() method.

Viewport​

The Viewport is the 3D view panel in the PlayCanvas Editor where you can visually see and interact with your Scene. It provides a real-time rendered view of your game world, allowing you to navigate, select, and manipulate Entities using various tools and Gizmos. The viewport supports multiple camera angles and rendering modes for different development needs.