Layered accessory caging best practices

Caging is a complex process required to define the inner and outer surface of a layered accessory. Properly caged assets allow your layered accessories to stretch and layer in combination with each other. Cages that are improperly configured can lead to cosmetic issues with the look and feel of your layered accessory.

In extreme cases, improper cages may interfere with gameplay or social elements on Roblox. If your asset includes improper cages, Roblox may prevent you from uploading them to the Marketplace and may remove existing assets with improper cages from the catalog.

The following best practices and common issues are useful for avatar asset creators of all levels and can elevate the quality of your layered accessory creations and save time with troubleshooting.

Best practices

Always start any caging work with one of Roblox's provided caging templates. These templates include an inner cage and outer cage with properly set UVs.

When caging your layered accessories, use these important universal guidelines:

• Any clothing mesh positioned between the inner cage and outer cage will be deformed by the layering system. This is the typical configuration for nearly all layered accessory assets.

  

  

  

• You must follow the naming conventions for the layered accessory geometry and the cage.

• Many caging issues start from incorrect outer cage setup. See working with outer cages for specific details.

• Do not modify areas of your cage that are unrelated to the layered accessory you are caging. For example, do not modify the inner or outer cages of the lower leg areas when caging a t-shirt.

• Review any specific best practices for form-fitting clothes, bulky clothes, and clothing with protrusions.

• If troubleshooting any issues, review common issues to help identify problematic layered accessories or specific validation errors.

Working with outer cages

As long as the clothing mesh properly fits over the inner cage and under the outer cage, you can edit the outer cage in various ways depending on the final visual effect you intend to achieve.

When working with the outer cage, use the following guidelines when possible:

• Move vertices outwards in the normal's direction.

  

• Keep the outer cage as close to the clothing mesh as possible.

• Work symmetrically as much as possible to save time.

• Do not alter the UVs in any way.

• Do not stack your vertices.

  

• Keep the vertex, edge, and face count exactly the same as when you started.

• Keep your cage's edge spacing as evenly as possible.

  

  

• Keep your cage's break lines between body parts lined up to the joint's position as possible. For example, try to align the elbow to where the LowerArm joint is located.

  

Caging form-fitting clothing

Form-fitting clothing, like t-shirts, yoga pants, shorts, sweaters and slim jackets, are the most common type of layered accessory.

In this case, the outer cage needs to completely envelop the layered accessory with minimal gaps between inner cage, clothing mesh, and outer cage.

• Move outer cage vertices outwards to completely cover the layered accessory, while maintaining the silhouette of the clothing mesh as much as possible.
• Do not move outer cage vertices that don't contribute to covering the layered accessory. For example, don't move outer cage vertices in the lower leg when the layered accessory is a t-shirt.
• The entire layered accessory should be located in-between the outer and inner cages.

Caging bulky clothing

Bulky clothing, like puffy jackets, sweat pants, and hoodies, require additional displacement of the outer cage vertices to envelop the bulky asset. The outer cage should still completely wrap the external surface of a bulky item.

• Pay special attention to the direction neighboring outer cage vertices are moved.
• Move along vertex normal directions as much as possible.
• Move vertices nearby each other more or less along the same directions (smooth relative displacements).
• Avoid moving vertices that are not covered by the layered accessory, such as moving vertices in the arm region if you are making pants.

Caging protrusions

Some clothing items have assets that protrude or extend past the rest of the clothing. Examples include clothing with puffy hoods, shoulder pads, and spikes.

To ensure that the protruded region stays visible independent of the number of layers:

• Leave the protruded region outside the outer cage. Alternatively, edit the outer cage to pass under the regions that are meant to be visible and undeformed.
• Avoid moving vertices that are not covered by the layered accessory.

Common issues

Improper caging can cause various rendering and deformation issues. The following common examples can help diagnose and troubleshoot any caging issues you may encounter.

Uneven caging

Unexpected outer cage shapes cause issues when other layered accessories are equipped. While the layered accessory may fit correctly on a target body, any additional layers will fail to stretch and deform appropriately.

Identical inner and outer cage

If the inner cage and outer cage are exactly the same, the layered accessory system cannot properly determine the accessory and may not deform or deform unexpectedly.

Clothing inside inner cage

Any part of the clothing mesh positioned inside the inner cage will introduce visual artifacts when the layered accessory is layered on top of other clothing. You should always avoid this type of configuration.

Clothing partially outside outer cage

Any part of the clothing mesh positioned outside the outer cage will not be deformed by the layered system. This configuration can sometimes be intentional for effect, such as when caging layered accessories that include protrusions.

Oversized outer cage

Ensure that the gap between the layered accessory and the outer cage is not too large. This can cause severe deformation issues when combined with other layered accessories.

Collapsed cage vertices

When cage vertices are collapsed into one vertex or a small region, any additional layer placed on top of your layered accessory will have weird artifacts near the collapsed region.

Cages with missing limbs

The cage is meant to match the shape of the template body used to model your layered accessory. Cages without heads or missing limbs won't work properly with the layered accessory system.

Outer cage inside the inner cage

Setting the outer cage inside the inner cage creates a layered accessory that can't properly layer with other assets.

Mesh outside of outer cage

Layered accessories placed outside their outer cages do not deform. If the layered accessory is completely outside then it will behave similar to a rigid accessory.