Placement

Placed items are those that have become fixed parts of the world, requiring a Tool in order to free and pick up. This is in contrast to inventory items or dropped items. Items can be "naturally placed" by the game, which most commonly occurs when a world is first generated. Items can also be placed by the player: When a player builds structures, they are placing items such as Blocks and Furniture.

Foreground vs background placement



 * Placed foreground objects: A foreground object is something that collides with the character and inhibits movement. Blocks almost entirely comprise the game's foreground objects (Boulders, Teleporters, and closed Doors are some others). Foreground objects can be turned into background ones (and back again) with Actuators.
 * Placed background objects: A background object is something that doesn't collide with characters. Characters can move through them freely. These include trees, vines, walls, and furniture. Many background objects are for visual appeal only, though several, such as crafting stations, also have functions.

Some objects possess qualities of both. Doors are foreground objects when closed and background ones when open. Objects like Bars, Platforms, and Tables are mainly background objects, but can still affect character movement as it's possible to stand on them (pressing the 'Down'-button causes the character to "jump down" by falling through). The Active/Inactive Stone Block has the ability to shift between foreground and background state. Liquids, though not exactly objects, will also affect movement when the character is swimming.

How to place
There are two ways to place items:


 * If Autopause is off and your Inventory is open, pick an item from the inventory and hit the attack/use button (left-click on PC) at the point where you wish to place the item.
 * Whether or not autopause is on, if an item is in your Inventory's Hotbar, select it as you would a Weapon or Tool, then hit attack/use at the point where you wish to place the item.

In either case, this must be done while the mouse cursor is in an appropriate spot for Placement of the particular item, and while your character is within a few tiles of the placement location.

For example, most Furniture items, like the Work Bench, must be placed on a flat surface of at least 3 Blocks in length. With the Work Bench item selected in your Hotbar, move the mouse cursor to just above a relatively long, flat surface, clear of any other items (grass included), and click the attack button (left mouse button by default). The Work Bench item will fall with a "thump" sound effect, and you'll be able to move your character over it without picking it up again. Congratulations -- You have now placed your Work Bench!

To free an item and pick it up again, you must use a Pickaxe.

For items with left/right orientation such as beds and chairs, the direction the character is facing at the time of placement determines which way the item is placed.

Requirements for placement

 * An item must be "placeable": While not all items are placeable, many are. In fact, the most abundant items -- Blocks -- are placeable, and you have probably placed them already. Whenever you stack blocks on top of, or beside, other blocks, you are indeed placing them. Whether or not an item is placeable is indicated on its wiki page via the 'Placeable' label in its upper-right information box (infobox), or within the game via its tooltip; items that say 'Can be placed' when you hover you mouse cursor over them are placeable.


 * The placement area must fit the particular item: While Blocks can be placed in any empty space adjacent to any other Blocks, Furniture items generally have more stringent placement requirements. Most require a solid, flat surface, while some are more versatile (like Torches), or more demanding (like Doors or Candles).

Function of placed furniture items

 * See also: Guide:Getting started.


 * Placed Crafting Stations, like the Work Bench and Anvil, expand the player's crafting menu when your character stands near them: They allow you to craft more items. See the current crafting options by opening the inventory (default: ESC key) and looking at the bottom-left corner of your screen. Scroll through the craftable items with your mouse wheel, and notice that more options appear while standing near a placed Work Bench. Different crafting options will appear depending on which crafting station your character is near at the time.


 * Placed Storage items allow you to store and retrieve items by right-clicking on them. Right-click on a placed Chest, for instance, to see its contents.
 * Placed background Walls will allow NPCs to move into your structure, and in many cases, will prevent Enemies from spawning in a structure. See NPC and House for more details on this.
 * A placed Bed allows a player to set a new spawn point.