Add ability to transform parent nodes without affecting global transform of its children

[ryevdokimov]

Partially addresses: godotengine/godot-proposals#9930 (for 3D)

2025-08-16.23-28-02.mp4

TODO:

• Make it work with transforms via the inspector dock.
• Find/Make a better icon?

[Calinou]

This makes sense to have when working with certain setups that rely on a certain parent-child structure, e.g. CSG nodes. I've wanted this multiple times when prototyping with CSG.

Closes: godotengine/godot-proposals#6511

Note that the discussion requested the feature in the 2D editor, but this proposal only implements it in 3D currently.

[ryevdokimov]

Note that the discussion requested the feature in the 2D editor, but this proposal only implements it in 3D currently.

Good point out, updated the post.

[Calinou]

Good point out, updated the post.

Note that "Partially closes #xxxx" would still close the issue when the PR is merged, as GitHub sees "closes #xxxx" only, so you have to use another word like "addresses" instead. I went ahead and edited OP for this.

[ryevdokimov]

This works with inspector now.

2026-03-03.21-12-10.mp4

[fire]

I haven’t had time to test or review but the design proposal is something I’ve always wanted

[Calinou]

Tested locally (rebased on top of master c53c5a1), it mostly works as expected. This will be a nice usability boost for CSG in particular 🙂

csg_relative_root_node.mp4

Some feedback:

• When using relative positioning, CSG gizmos don't update until you move your mouse over one of the handles:

csg_relative_root_node_gizmos.mp4

[ryevdokimov]

Should be fixed:

2026-03-04.20-14-05.mp4

[ryevdokimov]

Changed it to the pin icon since I think it makes slightly more sense if we had to use something existing.

[Calinou]

Works great now 🙂 Code looks good to me.

I think the Pin icon is a better choice for now. Ideally, we'll want a custom design but I am not sure what would convey the idea of "parent is transformed without affecting children" well.

PS: As an aside, modifying position/rotation/scale properties in the inspector while this mode is enabled does affect the properties in the same way as if you were using the gizmos. This is probably not a bug and can be useful for manual entry, but it can be a little surprising. Maybe it should be denoted in the tooltip.

@Jesusemora While testing this PR, I noticed CSG autosmooth is affected by non-uniform scaling:

csg_autosmooth_non_uniform_scale.mp4

Notice how the house (which is a child of the Ground node I'm editing) has its wall being autosmoothed, even though it shouldn't at the default angle of 50°.

I'm not sure if this can be fixed, but I thought I'd report it just in case. The issue doesn't seem to occur with uniform scaling. To test this, use the MRP I posted in #116749, move the ground away from the house and scale it non-uniformly with parent transforms enabled using this PR.

[Jesusemora]

Works great now 🙂 Code looks good to me.

I think the Pin icon is a better choice for now. Ideally, we'll want a custom design but I am not sure what would convey the idea of "parent is transformed without affecting children" well.

PS: As an aside, modifying position/rotation/scale properties in the inspector while this mode is enabled does affect the properties in the same way as if you were using the gizmos. This is probably not a bug and can be useful for manual entry, but it can be a little surprising. Maybe it should be denoted in the tooltip.

@Jesusemora While testing this PR, I noticed CSG autosmooth is affected by non-uniform scaling:

csg_autosmooth_non_uniform_scale.mp4
Notice how the house (which is a child of the Ground node I'm editing) has its wall being autosmoothed, even though it shouldn't at the default angle of 50°.

I'm not sure if this can be fixed, but I thought I'd report it just in case. The issue doesn't seem to occur with uniform scaling. To test this, use the MRP I posted in #116749, move the ground away from the house and scale it non-uniformly with parent transforms enabled using this PR.

My best guess is something to do with CSG operations (pack/unpack?)? It probably uses the transform of the Node when doing the operations.
People should not use scaling with CSGs in the first place, but this is a bug, altough depending on who you ask it could be seen as a feature.
Edit: line 478 CSGShape3D::_get_brush()

CSGBrush::copy_from() takes the transform of the children and uses xform on the vertices.

[ryevdokimov]

Maybe it should be denoted in the tooltip.

Done.

[passivestar]

Tested, found a bug where if you cancel transform operation by pressing right mouse button it moves the children

[ryevdokimov]

found a bug where if you cancel transform operation by pressing right mouse button it moves the children

Fixed.

2026-03-07.09-27-00.mp4

[Calinou]

@Jesusemora I've opened a separate issue to track CSG: #117190

[Repiteo]

Thanks!