Roblox 101: How to Create Custom Meshes

Contemporary video games have grown increasingly complex in terms of graphics and mechanical designs, with their realistic textures and immersive environments. Unfortunately, Roblox's default, blocky environments prevent developers from matching those robust worlds. Well, developers can now cast those limitations aside. Roblox now has the ability to import custom mesh objects, so game makers no longer need to endure blocky parts and basic worlds. If you want to try your hand at building beautiful Roblox games, follow these steps to create custom meshes. But first, some background.

What Is a BasePart?

As you probably know, Roblox lets you build games. The BaseParts (simply known as "parts") are what you use to make objects inside your game, such as a car, backpack, or bird. The Roblox Studio creation tool includes basic parts. They are:

1. Blocks

2. Wedges

3. Cylinders

4. Spheres

You can change their sizes, colors, textures, and other properties, but not their shape. If you get creative, you can make other shapes by welding existing parts together. 

Also, you can cut shapes into other shapes by leveraging their negative properties. Still, no matter how you slice it, these shapes remain basic, and they make your game look basic, too. Fortunately, custom mesh parts improve matters.

What Is a Mesh?

Like other 3D games, Roblox's meshes represent an in-game object. That means they can be anything. Simply put, meshes are the same as BaseParts, but they have a MeshID and TextureID that lets you upload your own shapes and textures. This Roblox Studio feature has literally changed the game for all Roblox developers, as it opens up infinite graphics possibilities. You can’t create meshes inside Roblox Studio, but you can create them inside Blender 3D (and export them into your project).

Introducing Blender 3D

Blender 3D is a free program under the GNU Public License. In other words, it's free to download, install, and use for personal or commercial use. The app comes with numerous tools, but its main purpose is 3D art (modeling, texturing, movie-clip editing, and animation). Blender 3D even has its own game engine, and built-in scripting tools. Now, mastering Blender 3D is way outside the scope of this article; the program is a beast. Still, we'll walk you through how to create a custom mesh in basic fashion.

How to Create a Mesh

1. Once you have Blender 3D installed, fire it up, and open a Scene. You should see a simple box, camera, and single light source.

2. With your cursor over the box, press the Tab key until you land on a modeling frame. This is a cube with an orange outline, and a few dots on its corners.

3. Press the A key until the dots turn black. This indicates that you have unselected all the vertices (the little dots on the corners). After that, press B to use the border select tool, and drag it across the box's top so that only the top vertices are selected.

4. With just the top selected, press E to extrude a shape from those points. Left-click the mouse after you create the shape you want to finish. Note: You can do this with all vertices.

5. You can perform the following commands from the keyboard with any set of vertices selected:

   1. Press the G key to grab vertices, and move them around.

   2. Press the R key to rotate vertices.

   3. Press the S key to scale vertices.

6. You can also lock these commands to the X,Y, or Z axis. For example, pressing GY causes Blender 3D to grab the vertices on the global Y axis. If you press a dimension key a second time, it will lock it to the axis.

7. Once you have your shape/model the way you like, press Tab to go to Object mode. From here, you'll export the model. To do so:

   1. Click File, and hove the cursor over Export.

   2. A new menu will appear. Click Wavefront (.obj) or FBX (.fbx). Either will work.

   3. Name your file, and remember the folder you saved it to.

Importing the Mesh

Now that you have your mesh file, its time to bring it into Roblox Studio. Here's how:

1. Inside Roblox Studio, place a new MeshPart into the world by clicking the Plus symbol next to Workspace.

2. Type “mesh” in the search box. You should see MeshPart in the list of available objects. Select it.

3. Go to the part's Properties, and look for the MeshID. Click the little folder next to it.

4. Navigate to the folder that you placed your .FBX or .OBJ file into, and select it for import. You'll probably receive a warning about it being “very large,” and Roblox will ask if you would like to resize it. Select Yes.

Congratulations! You've built a custom Roblox mesh!

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Taking Custom Meshes to the Next Level

Now, don’t be discouraged by the simple shape we made; you can make anything that pops into your head. You just need a little practice with Blender 3D. If you wish to add textures to your meshes, check out the Roblox Corporation's tips.

In addition, there are many free, prebuilt models out there if you don't feel like putting in so much work. I recommend visiting the Unity 3D Asset store, the Unreal Engine Marketplace, and Sketchfab to find cool items. Make sure you read the license for each asset, to see if they have use restrictions. For example, you can import a sports car into Roblox Studio without spending a cent.

For more Roblox tips, check out Roblox's own walkthroughs and my books on how to script games.

What Is Roblox? Making Games, Making Money, and More