Ember
Loading...
Searching...
No Matches
Interface Guide

Where to find things and what each part of the Ember window does.

What Ember Is For

Ember is a visual editor for behavior trees. You use it to:

  • Create behavior trees by adding and connecting nodes
  • Edit existing XML behavior tree files
  • Visualize tree structure and navigate between trees
  • Manage multi-file projects with shared blackboards

No coding required for basic use—everything is done through the graphical interface.

Main Window Layout

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ File Edit View Project Tools Help │
├────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┤
│ │ │ │
│ Explorer │ │ Properties │
│ Hierarchy │ Behavior Tree Canvas │ │
│ │ (visual tree editor) │ Edit selected │
│ (tabs) │ │ node here │
│ │ │ │
├────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┤
│ Logs │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Area What it does
Menu bar File, Edit, View, Project, Tools, Help
Left panel File Explorer (browse files) and Scene Hierarchy (tree structure)
Center Canvas where you see and edit the behavior tree
Right panel Properties—edit the selected node
Bottom panel Logs—messages and errors

Menu Bar

File

Item Action
New Create a new empty tree
Open Open an XML file
Save Save current file
Save As Save to a new file
New Project Create a multi-file project
Open Project Open a project file
Recent Files Quick access to recently opened files
Exit Close the application

Edit

Item Action
Undo Undo last change
Redo Redo undone change
Preferences Open settings (theme, editor, parser)
Cut / Copy / Paste Standard editing (when applicable)
Delete Remove selected node

View

Item Action
Fit to Window Zoom so the whole tree fits
Zoom In / Out Change zoom level
Reset Zoom Back to 100%
Show Grid Toggle background grid on canvas
Toolbars Show or hide toolbars

Project

Item Action
Add File Add an XML file to the project
Remove File Remove a file from the project
Set Main Tree Choose which tree is the entry point
Validate Check for errors in the project

Tools

Item Action
Parser Configuration Configure how XML is read (for different formats)

Help

Item Action
Documentation Open this documentation
About Application version and credits

Left Panel Tabs

File Explorer

  • Browse your project folder
  • Double-click an XML file to open it
  • Drag and drop files onto the canvas to open
  • Shows the folder structure of your project

Scene Hierarchy

  • Tree view of the current behavior tree
  • Click a node to select it (same as clicking on the canvas)
  • Expand/collapse branches
  • Navigate the tree structure when it gets large

Canvas (Center)

The canvas is where you see and edit the behavior tree.

Mouse Actions

Action What to do
Pan Middle-click and drag, or hold Space and left-click drag
Zoom Scroll wheel
Select node Left-click on a node
Multi-select Ctrl + Left-click
Context menu Right-click on canvas or node

Context Menu (Right-Click)

Option What it does
Add Child Add a new node as child of the selected node
Insert Parent Insert a new node between selected node and its parent
Delete Remove the selected node
Collapse / Expand Hide or show children (for cleaner view)

Node Types (from submenu)

  • Sequence — Runs children in order until one fails
  • Selector — Runs children until one succeeds
  • Parallel — Runs all children at once
  • Decorators — Inverter, Repeat, Timeout, etc.
  • Action — Leaf node that does something
  • Condition — Leaf node that checks something
  • SubTree — Reference to another tree

Right Panel (Properties)

When you select a node, the Properties panel shows:

Field Purpose
ID Unique identifier for the node
Name Display name (optional)
Type Node type (Sequence, Action, etc.)
Attributes Extra parameters (e.g. num_cycles for Repeat)
Ports Blackboard connections—use {variable_name} to link to shared data

Edit any field and the tree updates. Changes are saved when you save the file.

Bottom Panel (Logs)

  • Shows messages from the application
  • Errors and warnings when loading or validating
  • Use filters to show only errors or only certain types of messages

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+O Open file
Ctrl+S Save
Ctrl+Shift+S Save As
Ctrl+N New tree
Ctrl+Z Undo
Ctrl+Y Redo
Delete Delete selected node
F Fit tree to window
Ctrl++ Zoom in
Ctrl+- Zoom out
Ctrl+0 Reset zoom

See Also