Asset Brush Placement Tool

This page provides information about the Asset Brush Placement Tool in Enscape.

Overview

The Asset Brush Placement Tool lets you paint assets into your scene with real-time, step-by-step placement. It is designed for large-scale distribution (for example, dense vegetation or large crowds) while staying responsive, avoiding freezes or hangs seen with older selection-based placement tools.

Its main improvement is an iterative update system that adds assets one at a time during painting and regeneration, reducing the risk of renderer stalls caused by large batch placement.

Accessing the tool

The Asset Brush Placement Tool is available in the Asset Library under Multi-Asset Placement:

UI Path: ||Asset Library|| > Multi Asset Placement

Distribution methods

The multi-asset placement workflow supports several distribution methods. Each method defines how you select the target area in which assets are placed.

Distribution methods

Rectangular Placement

Defines a rectangular area in the viewport. Assets are distributed within the boundaries of the rectangle according to the selected distribution settings. Use the Width parameter to adjust the rectangle’s horizontal span.

Rectangular Placement

Circular Placement

Defines a circular area in the viewport. Assets are distributed within the circle according to the selected distribution settings.

Circular Placement

Bucket Selection

Selects a continuous surface (based on connected geometry) and distributes assets across the selected surface area.

Brush Placement

Enables freeform painting directly on a surface. Assets are placed within the painted region, allowing iterative refinement using brush-based controls. Use the Radius parameter to increase or decrease the brush size.

Brush Placement

Distribution Tab

Use the Distribution tab to control how many assets are placed and how they are arranged within the selected area created by your current placement method. These settings define the overall “scatter” result - ranging from sparse to dense layouts - and determine whether assets follow a structured pattern (grid-based) or a more organic one (randomized).

In addition, the tab lets you decide whether the placement process should permit intersections between assets or attempt to prevent overlaps, which can affect both the final density and the mix of assets that successfully fit into the available space.

Random Distribution

Places assets with randomized positions across the selected area. This produces a natural, non-uniform look and avoids visible grid patterns.

Uniform

Places assets on a regular grid with consistent spacing. This produces an even, structured distribution (useful for orderly layouts).

Jitter

Uses a grid-based layout as a baseline (similar to Uniform), then applies small randomized offsets to each position. This reduces the “too perfect” grid appearance while keeping a generally even spacing.

Distribution Methods

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Different Distribution Methods (click to enlarge)

Asset density

Controls the number of assets per area. Increasing density places more assets within the same selection; decreasing it results in a sparser distribution.

Assets Density

Allow Asset Overlap

When enabled, assets may intersect each other and/or other scene geometry during placement.
When disabled, placement attempts to avoid intersections, which can reduce the number of assets placed in tight areas and may bias results toward smaller assets in mixed-size sets.

Allow Asset Overlap on and off

Randomisation Tab

Use the Randomization tab to introduce intentional, controlled variation across the assets placed by the selected distribution method. Instead of placing identical instances with the same orientation and size, you can apply randomized rotation, scaling, and tilt to create a result that looks less repetitive and more natural and believable - especially in large scatters such as vegetation, crowds, or any repeated props.

These settings apply per-asset variation within the placement area, while still respecting the overall placement boundaries and distribution pattern defined in the Distribution tab.

Randomise rotation

When enabled, each placed asset receives a random rotation. This is useful for breaking up visible patterns, especially when placing repeated objects.

Randomise Rotation On and Off

Scaling

Controls the amount of random size variation applied to placed assets - at 0.0% all assets keep their original scale, and increasing the value scales each asset up or down by up to the specified percentage which is 10%.

Scaling adjustment

Tilting

Controls the amount of random lean applied to placed assets - at 0° assets remain upright, and increasing the value allows each asset to tilt away from the vertical axis by up to the specified angle for a more natural look.

Tilting adjustment

Action buttons

Preview Selected Area

Replaces the proxy representation of the assets with their full meshes for an accurate visual preview.

Regenerate

Changes the placement for the current assets by reapplying the current distribution settings with a new random variation.

Confirm Placement

Finalizes the assets placed in the current session.

X (Close session)

Closes the active placement session without applying changes.

Apply Changes

Finalizes the confirmed placement and commits it to the scene so assets can be edited using standard tools (move/scale/transform).

Discard All

Removes all assets created in the current session and resets the session state.

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Action Buttons

Performance notes

The Asset Brush uses an iterative update algorithm that:

• Spawns assets incrementally (one by one)
• Prevents renderer stalls when placing many assets
• Enables high-density scenarios such as “huge forests” without application freezing

This approach is a key differentiator from previous tools that could trigger hangs during large-scale generation.

Known limitations

The following limitations were identified during the approval review and are expected to be present (or partially present) in the initial release.

Placement and distribution limitations

• Mixed-size sets may favor smaller assets
  • When painting slowly with a set containing both large and small assets (e.g., trees + flowers), smaller assets can dominate because iterative collision checks find fewer opportunities for large assets in small incremental brush updates.
• Occasional overlaps during fast painting
  • Some assets may be in flight and not included in collision checks immediately, leading to overlaps during quick strokes. Regeneration can improve results after the fact.
• Different results vs older placement tools
  • Distribution algorithms differ from older rectangular/area-selection tools, so brushing the same area may not match the results of older tools exactly.

Screen-space constraints

• Painting is screen-space constrained
  • The brush uses screen-space behavior to prevent assets from being placed behind walls. This can produce a “shadowing” effect where you cannot paint behind obstacles (pillars/walls) from the current camera view, even if the cursor is positioned there.

Single-level painting

• One level at a time
  • The algorithm currently supports painting on only one vertical level. Painting on a higher surface can overwrite canvas data beneath (same X/Y area on different heights). This is a fundamental limitation and not expected to change soon.

Visibility and platform-specific issues

• Canvas visibility under grass
  • The canvas can be difficult to see when grass rendering is enabled. A fix is considered solvable but is not planned for the immediate next release.
• macOS viewport embedding issue
  • On macOS, the brush visualization may not appear until the user clicks into the viewport—however, this click may inadvertently place an asset.
• Camera controls (X hotkey)
  • Pressing X to orbit while the brush is active does not currently hide the brush as intended (known issue).