Persona

Use Add to Scene to import or reuse models and assets. The Inventory keeps registered files available across scenes.

Adding LayersCopy Anchor Link

Clicking the Add to Scene… button at the bottom of the layer list opens the Inventory — the central hub for browsing, searching, and adding assets to the scene. This action is also available from the system tray menu; if the Control Panel is currently closed, selecting it will open the panel first.

The sidebar on the left filters by asset category:

Assets are organized into Bundled and Recent groups, with real-time search available via the top search bar. Search matches displayed names, local file names, and the English names of built-in effects and bundled assets in any language. If an asset includes creator metadata, author attribution is displayed alongside an optional homepage link. While browsing, scene effects appear only in their dedicated category tab to prevent built-in effects from cluttering the All tab; when searching, the All tab matches and displays relevant effects as well. Click any asset row to add it to the scene. If a registered file has been moved or deleted from local storage, it is marked as Missing and cannot be added.

The + button beside the search bar opens the native file picker dialog — labeled Open Model… under Live2D and VRM, and Open File… under all other categories. Selected assets load immediately into the scene and are permanently indexed in the Inventory.

Entries in the Recent group feature a dedicated context menu: Show in Finder (Show in Explorer on Windows) locates the file on disk, while Remove from Inventory deregisters the entry from the index. Media assets include an additional Delete… option to delete the underlying local file.

Remove from Inventory only removes the asset from Persona's index without deleting the file on disk (images pasted from the clipboard follow this same rule). The Delete… action requires confirmation and moves the local file to the Trash (the Recycle Bin on Windows) for safe recovery. Missing files cannot be deleted through this menu. Model entries do not offer a Delete… option: because models typically consist of complex folder hierarchies or loose .vrm files sharing directories with other assets, Persona avoids destructive file deletions.

If an asset is actively referenced by any scene or automation rule, removal is blocked with an explanatory notification. For model assets, validation also covers Swap Model actions and Model Loaded triggers in automations. If a removed model is re-imported later, it receives a new unique instance ID, so existing references must remain resolvable.

The same model file can be instantiated multiple times in a single scene. Each layer row represents an independent instance with its own spatial transform, allowing duplicate models to appear at different scales and positions on opposite sides of the stage.

Dragging and PastingCopy Anchor Link

Files can be imported directly without opening the Inventory: simply drag and drop files onto the application window. Persona accepts all extensions listed under Inventory Formats, and 2D objects land at the cursor drop coordinates. To paste an image from the clipboard, press ⌘/Ctrl+V — supporting bitmaps copied from web browsers or screenshot tools. In addition to images, pressing ⌘/Ctrl+V anywhere on the window pastes plain text as a new text layer (when a text input is focused, the shortcut retains native text editing; in Stream Mode, plain text paste is blocked to prevent accidental leaks of clipboard credentials).

The Control Panel window also supports file drag-and-drop and clipboard pasting, which is convenient when the stage window is minimized or placed on a secondary display. Because the Control Panel lacks stage coordinates, dropped files are centered on the stage rather than placed under the cursor. On macOS, you can also drop supported files directly onto the Dock icon to add them to the active scene.

Pasted images are named by their content hash and saved to ~/.laplace/persona/assets, ensuring identical images share a single physical file on disk. The asset is then managed like any other: listed under Recent and rendered as a standard image layer on stage. Copying a disk file rather than a raw bitmap behaves identically to drag-and-drop — registered in place at its existing path without creating duplicate files.

Scene AssetsCopy Anchor Link

Animations, Environment Maps, and LUTs are global scene properties rather than layer entities — scenes reference them as configuration fields. Clicking one of these entries applies it directly to the active scene rather than appending it to the layer list:

Corresponding Choose… buttons across the interface link directly to the Inventory: Choose Image… for the stage background, Choose Model… and Choose Map… for the environment, Choose LUT…, and Choose Clip… for VRM idle animations. When opened from these buttons, the Inventory sidebar locks to the accepted asset category, and clicking an item applies it and closes the dialog.

Because animation clips must be retargeted onto humanoid skeletons, the Animations category is disabled with an explanatory tooltip if no VRM avatar is loaded in the scene.

Audio AssetsCopy Anchor Link

The Audio category indexes imported audio files. Like scene assets, clicking an audio row does not add an object to the layer list; instead, it auditions the file once at 50% default volume. During playback, the row displays real-time progress alongside Pause Audio and Stop Audio buttons, affecting all active instances of that audio source (including playback triggered by automations). Audio routes through the configured Audio Output Device.

To configure playback volume, fade curves, looping modes, or lip-sync drivers, use the automation system's Play Audio action. An audio file referenced by any automation cannot be removed from the Inventory, even if that automation rule is disabled.

Inventory FormatsCopy Anchor Link

The Inventory organizes assets by category. Clicking the + button opens a system file dialog filtered to extensions supported by the active category:

Three formats determine their category based on internal file structure rather than file extensions alone:

• .glb files serve as both character models and props — A .glb file without VRM extensions is not rejected when opened via Open Model…; it is automatically indexed as a 3D object. Asset classification depends entirely on internal data, regardless of the active tab.
• .vmd files contain either dance animations or camera motions — Both data types share the same extension. Persona inspects the model name field in the header to register the file as an Animation or a Camera Motion.
• .fbx is a multi-purpose container format — Because .fbx files can store props, scenes, or rigged characters, Persona accepts only files containing standard Mixamo humanoid skeletons. Selecting incompatible .fbx files prompts an Unsupported Animation notification.

Under Environment Maps, only .hdr files supply true physical radiance data. Standard bitmap images can be loaded as low dynamic range ambient fill lighting.

Under VRM and 3D Objects, geometry compressed with Draco or Meshopt is supported out of the box. KTX2 compressed textures are currently unsupported.