Why There Is No Transform Section in the Details Panel
An FBX Mesh Actor is spawned at runtime by the FBX Import Manager, so it exists only in the running game or PIE world and never in your saved level. That is why the Details panel shows no Transform section for it, and why nudging it with the editor gizmo does not stick.
The actor is not locked. Its root is a Movable scene component and every transform node works on it normally — it simply has to be moved at runtime rather than from the Details panel.
Dragging with the Pivot Gizmo
The gizmo does not appear on its own. You have to tell the manager which actor is selected, usually from a click trace:
- Line trace by channel (Visibility) from the cursor into the world.
- Cast the hit actor to FBX Mesh Actor.
- Call Select Actor on the FBX Import Manager, passing the cast result and the hit component.
The gizmos then spawn at the actor and follow it. On the translate gizmo, drag an arrow for a single axis, a flat handle for two axes, or the centre sphere to move in the camera plane. The rotation gizmo's three rings turn the actor about each axis, and the scale gizmo's axis handles resize it along one axis while its centre handle scales uniformly. Call Reset Actor Selection to clear the selection and remove the gizmos.
This requires Show Pivot to be enabled and Pivot Translation Class to be assigned on the manager. Both are already set on the supplied BP_FBXImportManager.
Moving from Blueprint
Because the root component is Movable, the standard transform nodes work directly on an FBX Mesh Actor reference:
| Node | Use |
|---|---|
| Set Actor Location | Place the actor at an absolute world position. |
| Set Actor Transform | Set location, rotation and scale in one call. |
| Add Actor World Offset | Nudge the actor by a delta, useful for drag or snap logic of your own. |
| Set Actor Rotation / Set Actor Scale 3D | Rotate or resize the imported object. |
There are two ways to get the actor reference, both from inside your BP_FBXImportManager subclass:
- On FBX Actor Created — a Blueprint event that fires the moment the actor is spawned, before geometry finishes importing. Override it and store the reference.
- Import Actor Map — a map of Import ID to FBX Mesh Actor. It is read-only and protected, so it is reachable from a manager subclass rather than from an unrelated Blueprint.
If a gizmo is currently attached to the actor it will follow along, so driving the transform from Blueprint and dragging the gizmo can be mixed freely.
Placing the Actor at Import Time
Import FBX File takes a Location argument that becomes the spawn position of the FBX Mesh Actor. This is the simplest option when you already know where the model should appear and do not need the user to move it afterwards.
Driving the Transform Yourself
If you are writing your own manipulator and want the built-in gizmo out of the way, call Set Show Pivot with false. It applies immediately, destroying any gizmo that is currently visible.
Writing the Show Pivot property directly instead only takes effect at the next selection change, so prefer the node when you want an instant result. Destroy Pivot Actors removes the current gizmo once without changing the setting, and Update Pivot Actors rebuilds it for a given actor.
Making Transforms Persist
Runtime transforms live only as long as the session. To keep them, use Save Mesh Actors and Load Mesh Actors on the manager — the save data records each actor transform alongside its mesh and material information, and restores the actor in place on load.