Display entities

Lightweight, non-interactive entities that render a block, an item, or text with fully controllable geometry and client-side interpolation for smooth animation.

Overview

Display entities were added in Java Edition 1.19.4 1.19.4+ (snapshot 23w06a, pack_format 12) for the express purpose of rendering a block, an item, or text with fully controllable geometry (position, rotation, scale) and rendering options, plus client-side interpolation for smooth animation. There are three entity IDs:

• minecraft:block_display — renders a block state.
• minecraft:item_display — renders an item stack in a chosen model transform.
• minecraft:text_display — renders a text component (the modern "hologram").

They have no AI, no collision, no gravity, and are not saved as mobs. They are the modern replacement for armor-stand / falling-block / invisible-marker hacks.

Shared NBT (all three types)

Every field below is common to block_display, item_display, and text_display. Fields marked interpolated are tweened smoothly on the client when changed (see Interpolation and animation).

The transformation field — two forms

transformation accepts either a decomposed compound or a flat affine matrix.

Decomposed form. Applied in this order: right_rotation → scale → left_rotation → translation.

transformation:{
  translation:[0f,0f,0f],          # list of 3 floats
  left_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],     # quaternion [x,y,z,w]  (angle-axis also accepted)
  right_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],    # quaternion [x,y,z,w]
  scale:[1f,1f,1f]                 # list of 3 floats
}

• left_rotation and right_rotation correspond to the left- and right-singular-vector matrices of the transform's SVD. Most datapacks only ever set left_rotation (a normal rotation) and leave right_rotation at identity [0f,0f,0f,1f].
• Rotations accept either a quaternion [x,y,z,w] or angle-axis form {angle:<deg>,axis:[x,y,z]}.

Matrix form. A single list of 16 floats describing a row-major affine transformation matrix:

transformation:[
  1f,0f,0f,0f,
  0f,1f,0f,0f,
  0f,0f,1f,0f,
  0f,0f,0f,1f
]

The two forms are interchangeable. The game stores the decomposed form internally, so reading transformation back via /data get returns the decomposed compound even if you set a matrix.

block_display specifics

A rotated, half-scale oak log floating in place

summon block_display ~ ~1 ~ {block_state:{Name:"minecraft:oak_log",Properties:{axis:"y"}},transformation:{translation:[0f,0f,0f],left_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],right_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],scale:[0.5f,0.5f,0.5f]}}

item_display specifics

A diamond sword shown in the "gui" transform (flat, upright icon look), 2x scale

summon item_display ~ ~1 ~ {item:{id:"minecraft:diamond_sword",count:1},item_display:"gui",transformation:{translation:[0f,0f,0f],left_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],right_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],scale:[2f,2f,2f]},billboard:"vertical"}

text_display specifics

A left-aligned yellow hologram with a shadow, no culling

summon text_display ~ ~2 ~ {text:'{"text":"Welcome!","color":"yellow"}',alignment:"left",shadow:true,billboard:"center",text_opacity:255b}

The display flags — named fields, not a bitmask

Some references describe a "bitmask" (has_shadow, is_see_through, use_default_background, alignment bits). That refers to how the game stores these flags internally / on the network as a single metadata byte. The datapack-facing NBT interface does not expose a bitmask — you set the named boolean/string fields instead, and the game maps them to the internal flag names:

Glowing text. To make a text_display glow (unshaded bright text with an outline), make the entity glowing — Glowing:1b on summon, or apply the Glowing effect — and optionally set glow_color_override for the outline/text tint. billboard is unrelated to glow.

Glowing bold red text, billboarded to face the viewer

summon text_display ~ ~2 ~ {text:'{"text":"GLOWING","bold":true}',Glowing:1b,glow_color_override:16711680,billboard:"center"}

Interpolation and animation

Interpolation smoothly tweens the interpolated fields (transformation, shadow_radius, shadow_strength, and for text_display also background and text_opacity) from their current value to a newly set value, over interpolation_duration ticks, starting after start_interpolation ticks.

The correct sequence — all on one server tick, in this order:

1. Set start_interpolation to 0 (begin immediately).
2. Set interpolation_duration to N (tween length in ticks).
3. Set the new transformation (or other interpolated field).

If you change interpolation_duration/start_interpolation and the target value on the same tick, the client tweens from the old rendered value to the new one over N ticks. If you forget to (re)set start_interpolation/interpolation_duration before each change, the entity snaps instead of tweening.

Worked animated example — spin + grow over 20 ticks. Assumes the text_display was summoned with tag spinner.

data/example/function/spin_start.mcfunction

execute as @e[type=text_display,tag=spinner] run data merge entity @s {start_interpolation:0,interpolation_duration:20,transformation:{translation:[0f,0f,0f],left_rotation:{angle:180f,axis:[0f,1f,0f]},right_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],scale:[2f,2f,2f]}}

Twenty ticks (1 s) later, issue the next keyframe (e.g. from a repeating loop with a schedule/scoreboard timer):

data/example/function/spin_next.mcfunction

execute as @e[type=text_display,tag=spinner] run data merge entity @s {start_interpolation:0,interpolation_duration:20,transformation:{translation:[0f,1f,0f],left_rotation:{angle:360f,axis:[0f,1f,0f]},right_rotation:[0f,0f,0f,1f],scale:[1f,1f,1f]}}

Tricks and best practices

Mannequin — the player-avatar entity

minecraft:mannequin 1.21.9+ is a summon-only "technical" entity added in snapshot 25w36a (1.21.9): a player avatar with no connected player — it renders a full player skin/model and, unlike display entities, it is a living entity (it has Health, attributes, effects, wears equipment, and takes damage). It has no AI and no pathfinding — it never moves on its own, which makes it a clean base for command-driven NPCs and custom boss models.

It can only be created with /summon (there is no item or spawn egg):

/summon minecraft:mannequin ~ ~ ~ {
  profile: {name: "Steve"},
  pose: "standing",
  main_hand: "right",
  immovable: false,
  hidden_layers: [],
  Health: 20f,
  description: {"text":"Nebkheperre","color":"gold"}
}

The floating label above the entity is the description text component — not CustomName. (Set CustomName too, with CustomNameVisible:0b, only if you want the death message to name the boss — see the JAR note below.)

Mannequin-specific fields

Because it is a living entity it also accepts the standard fields — Health, attribute modifiers, equipment slots (armor, main/off hand) and ActiveEffects. Per minecraft.wiki it does not support several mob-only tags, notably NoAI, PersistenceRequired, CanPickUpLoot, DeathLootTable, LeftHanded, or leash.

Sources

• Mannequin entity — minecraft.wiki
• Java Edition 25w36a (mannequin introduced) — minecraft.wiki
• Display entity overview and history — minecraft.wiki
• Shared display NBT template — minecraft.wiki
• Block Display — minecraft.wiki
• Text Display — minecraft.wiki
• Data component format: custom_name — minecraft.wiki