Advanced Rendering in Decentraland

Authoring split

Billboard, TextShape, Material, MeshRenderer, GltfContainer, VisibilityComponent, and GltfNodeModifiers are all supported in main-entities.ts — declare the visual entity (sign, label, billboard, glowing prop, model with per-node overrides) fully there with its visual components. Examples below that show engine.addEntity() followed by Transform.create + MeshRenderer / Billboard / TextShape are pre-main-entities.ts patterns — translate them by moving the entity declaration into main-entities.ts and keeping only runtime modifications (e.g., VisibilityComponent.getMutable(entity).visible = false) in src/index.ts.

// Example: floating label
// main-entities.ts
shop_label: {
  components: {
    Transform: { position: { x: 8, y: 3, z: 8 } },
    TextShape: { text: 'OPEN', fontSize: 4, textColor: { r: 1, g: 1, b: 1, a: 1 } },
    Billboard: { billboardMode: 7 }  // BM_ALL
  }
}

When to Use Which Rendering Feature

Decision flow:

1. Need text on screen? → Use build-ui (React-ECS Label) instead
2. Need text in 3D space? → TextShape (+ Billboard to face camera)
3. Need glowing/transparent materials? → Material.setPbrMaterial with emissive/transparency
4. Need to override material on a model node? → GltfNodeModifiers with modifiers array

Billboard (Face the Camera)

Make entities always rotate to face the player's camera:

import { engine, Transform, Billboard, BillboardMode, MeshRenderer } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { Vector3 } from '@dcl/sdk/math'

const sign = engine.addEntity()
Transform.create(sign, { position: Vector3.create(8, 2, 8) })
MeshRenderer.setPlane(sign)

// Rotate only on Y axis (most common — stays upright)
Billboard.create(sign, {
  billboardMode: BillboardMode.BM_Y
})

Billboard Modes

BillboardMode.BM_Y      // Rotate on Y axis only (stays upright) — most common
BillboardMode.BM_ALL    // Rotate on all axes (fully faces camera)
BillboardMode.BM_X      // Rotate on X axis only
BillboardMode.BM_Z      // Rotate on Z axis only
BillboardMode.BM_NONE   // No billboard rotation

• Prefer BMY over BMALL for most use cases — it looks more natural and is cheaper to render.
• BM_ALL is useful for particles or effects that should always directly face the camera.

TextShape (3D Text)

Render text directly in 3D space:

import { engine, Transform, TextShape, TextAlignMode } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { Vector3, Color4 } from '@dcl/sdk/math'

const label = engine.addEntity()
Transform.create(label, { position: Vector3.create(8, 3, 8) })

TextShape.create(label, {
  text: 'Hello World!',
  fontSize: 24,
  textColor: Color4.White(),
  outlineColor: Color4.Black(),
  outlineWidth: 0.1,
  textAlign: TextAlignMode.TAM_MIDDLE_CENTER
})

Text Alignment Options

TextAlignMode.TAM_TOP_LEFT
TextAlignMode.TAM_TOP_CENTER
TextAlignMode.TAM_TOP_RIGHT
TextAlignMode.TAM_MIDDLE_LEFT
TextAlignMode.TAM_MIDDLE_CENTER
TextAlignMode.TAM_MIDDLE_RIGHT
TextAlignMode.TAM_BOTTOM_LEFT
TextAlignMode.TAM_BOTTOM_CENTER
TextAlignMode.TAM_BOTTOM_RIGHT

Floating Label (Billboard + TextShape)

Combine Billboard and TextShape to create labels that always face the player:

const floatingLabel = engine.addEntity()
Transform.create(floatingLabel, { position: Vector3.create(8, 4, 8) })

TextShape.create(floatingLabel, {
  text: 'NPC Name',
  fontSize: 16,
  textColor: Color4.White(),
  outlineColor: Color4.Black(),
  outlineWidth: 0.08,
  textAlign: TextAlignMode.TAM_BOTTOM_CENTER
})

Billboard.create(floatingLabel, {
  billboardMode: BillboardMode.BM_Y
})

Advanced PBR Materials

Metallic and Roughness

import { engine, Transform, MeshRenderer, Material, MaterialTransparencyMode } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { Color4, Color3 } from '@dcl/sdk/math'

// Shiny metal
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  albedoColor: Color4.create(0.8, 0.8, 0.9, 1),
  metallic: 1.0,
  roughness: 0.1
})

// Rough stone
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  albedoColor: Color4.create(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1),
  metallic: 0.0,
  roughness: 0.9
})

Transparency

// Alpha blend — smooth transparency
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  albedoColor: Color4.create(1, 0, 0, 0.5), // 50% transparent red
  transparencyMode: MaterialTransparencyMode.MTM_ALPHA_BLEND
})

// Alpha test — cutout (binary visible/invisible based on threshold)
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  texture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/cutout.png' }),
  transparencyMode: MaterialTransparencyMode.MTM_ALPHA_TEST,
  alphaTest: 0.5
})

Emissive (Glow Effects)

// Glowing material (emissiveColor uses Color3, not Color4)
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  albedoColor: Color4.create(0, 0, 0, 1),
  emissiveColor: Color3.create(0, 1, 0),  // Green glow
  emissiveIntensity: 2.0
})

// Emissive with texture
Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  texture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/diffuse.png' }),
  emissiveTexture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/emissive.png' }),
  emissiveIntensity: 1.0,
  emissiveColor: Color3.White()
})

Texture Maps

Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  texture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/diffuse.png' }),
  bumpTexture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/normal.png' }),
  emissiveTexture: Material.Texture.Common({ src: 'assets/emissive.png' })
})

GltfContainer Visibility Masks

Control visibility and collision of specific mesh layers within a GLTF model using collision masks:

import { engine, Transform, GltfContainer, ColliderLayer } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { Vector3 } from '@dcl/sdk/math'

const model = engine.addEntity()
Transform.create(model, { position: Vector3.create(4, 0, 4) })

GltfContainer.create(model, {
  src: 'models/myModel.glb',
  visibleMeshesCollisionMask: ColliderLayer.CL_PHYSICS | ColliderLayer.CL_POINTER,
  invisibleMeshesCollisionMask: ColliderLayer.CL_PHYSICS
})

VisibilityComponent

Show or hide entities without removing them:

import { engine, VisibilityComponent } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'

// Hide an entity
VisibilityComponent.create(entity, { visible: false })

// Toggle visibility
const visibility = VisibilityComponent.getMutable(entity)
visibility.visible = !visibility.visible

// Useful for LOD (Level of Detail)
function lodSystem() {
  const playerPos = Transform.get(engine.PlayerEntity).position

  for (const [entity, transform] of engine.getEntitiesWith(Transform, MeshRenderer)) {
    const distance = Vector3.distance(playerPos, transform.position)

    if (distance > 30) {
      VisibilityComponent.createOrReplace(entity, { visible: false })
    } else {
      VisibilityComponent.createOrReplace(entity, { visible: true })
    }
  }
}

engine.addSystem(lodSystem)

Per-Node Modifiers (GltfNodeModifiers)

Override material or shadow casting on specific nodes within a GLTF model. Supported in main-entities.ts:

// main-entities.ts
armored_knight: {
  components: {
    Transform: { position: { x: 8, y: 0, z: 8 } },
    GltfContainer: { src: 'models/knight.glb' },
    GltfNodeModifiers: {
      modifiers: [
        {
          path: 'RootNode/Armor',     // GLTF hierarchy path
          castShadows: false           // disable shadows for this node
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Whole-model override: pass path: '' (empty string) to apply the modifier to every node in the model. Useful for re-skinning an entire model with a single material swap:

red_team_unit: {
  components: {
    Transform: { position: { x: 4, y: 0, z: 8 } },
    GltfContainer: { src: 'models/unit.glb' },
    GltfNodeModifiers: {
      modifiers: [
        {
          path: '',
          material: {
            material: {
              $case: 'pbr',
              pbr: { albedoColor: { r: 1, g: 0, b: 0, a: 1 } }
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Texture Tweens (Animate Material Textures)

Animate a material's texture offset/tiling over time — useful for water, lava, conveyor belts, scrolling backgrounds. Tween component is supported in main-entities.ts:

// main-entities.ts — continuous texture scroll
conveyor: {
  components: {
    Transform: { position: { x: 8, y: 1, z: 8 } },
    MeshRenderer: { mesh: { $case: 'plane', plane: { uvs: [] } } },
    Material: { material: { $case: 'pbr', pbr: { texture: { tex: { $case: 'texture', texture: { src: 'images/belt.png' } } } } } },
    Tween: {
      duration: 2000,
      easingFunction: 0,  // EF_LINEAR
      mode: {
        $case: 'textureMoveContinuous',
        textureMoveContinuous: { direction: { x: 1, y: 0 }, speed: 0.5 }
        // movementType defaults to 0 = TMT_OFFSET; use 1 = TMT_TILING to scale instead
      }
    }
  }
}

For a finite from-to texture move, use { $case: 'textureMove', textureMove: { start: { x: 0, y: 0 }, end: { x: 1, y: 0 }, movementType: 0 } } with a duration.

Runtime helpers (in src/index.ts): Tween.setTextureMove(entity, from, to, durationMs) and Tween.setTextureMoveContinuous(entity, direction, speed).

Avatar Texture

Generate a texture from a player's avatar:

Material.setPbrMaterial(portraitFrame, {
  texture: Material.Texture.Avatar({ userId: '0x...' })
})

Texture Modes

Control how textures are filtered and wrapped:

import { TextureFilterMode, TextureWrapMode } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'

Material.setPbrMaterial(entity, {
  texture: Material.Texture.Common({
    src: 'images/pixel-art.png',
    filterMode: TextureFilterMode.TFM_POINT,    // crisp pixels (no smoothing)
    wrapMode: TextureWrapMode.TWM_REPEAT        // tile the texture
  })
})

Filter modes: TFMPOINT (pixelated), TFMBILINEAR (smooth), TFMTRILINEAR (smoothest). Wrap modes: TWMREPEAT (tile), TWMCLAMP (stretch edges), TWMMIRROR (mirror tile).

Best Practices

• Use BillboardMode.BMY instead of BMALL — looks more natural and renders faster
• Keep fontSize readable (16-32 for in-world text)
• Add outlineColor and outlineWidth to TextShape for legibility against any background
• Use emissiveColor with a dark albedoColor for maximum glow visibility
• MTMALPHATEST is cheaper than MTMALPHABLEND — use cutout when smooth transparency isn't needed
• Combine Billboard + TextShape for floating name labels above NPCs or objects
• Use VisibilityComponent for LOD systems instead of removing/re-adding entities