DataModelMesh
The DataModelMesh is an abstract class from which mesh classes descend.
Mesh classes are objects that, when parented to BaseParts alter the appearance of the part to that of a predefined mesh. Note, they only alter the appearance of the part and not the physics/collision boundaries of the part. Developers looking to apply a mesh to a part that alters the part's collision should use MeshParts.
Note the MeshPart and CharacterMesh classes do not descend from DataModelMesh.
Summary
Properties
The Offset of a mesh determines the relative position from the BasePart.Position of a BasePart that the mesh will be displayed at.
The Scale of a mesh determines the size of the mesh relative to its original dimensions.
Changes the hue of a mesh's texture, used with FileMesh.TextureId.
Properties
Offset
The Offset of a mesh determines the distance from the BasePart.Position of a BasePart that the mesh will be displayed.
How to use mesh offset
The Offset property changes the relative position the mesh will be rendered at. For example, an offset of 0, 5, 0 will cause the mesh to be displayed 5 studs above the position of the BasePart.
The position of the BasePart remains unchanged, meaning the physics collision box of the part will remain in the same location. This is demonstrated in the image below where the green outline (a SelectionBox) shows the extents of the BasePart.
Other uses for mesh offset
There are a number of interesting uses for the mesh offset property.
- Offset and DataModelMesh.Scale can be animated using TweenService relatively inexpensively as the engine does not need to make any physics/collision calculations as the BasePart is not moved.
- Changing the relationship between the mesh and its collision extents (determined by the BasePart)
Code Samples
local TweenService = game:GetService("TweenService")
-- instance a part and a mesh
local part = Instance.new("Part")
part.Size = Vector3.new(4, 8, 4)
part.Position = Vector3.new(0, 4, 0)
part.Anchored = true
part.CanCollide = false
local mesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh")
mesh.MeshType = Enum.MeshType.FileMesh
mesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://1086413449"
mesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://1461576423"
mesh.Offset = Vector3.new(0, 0, 0)
mesh.Scale = Vector3.new(4, 4, 4)
mesh.Parent = part
-- selection box to show part extents
local box = Instance.new("SelectionBox")
box.Adornee = part
box.Parent = part
-- parent part to workspace
part.Parent = workspace
-- animate offset and scale with a tween
local tween = TweenService:Create(
mesh,
TweenInfo.new(1, Enum.EasingStyle.Linear, Enum.EasingDirection.Out, -1, true, 0),
{ Scale = Vector3.new(1, 1, 1), Offset = Vector3.new(0, 3, 0) }
)
tween:Play()Scale
The Scale of a mesh determines the size of the mesh relative to its original dimensions.
How to use mesh scale
The scale property works slightly differently depending on the type of mesh being used. Note the size of the BasePart remains unchanged, meaning the physics collision box of the part will remain the same.
- SpecialMesh objects with SpecialMesh.FileType set to 'FileMesh' scale relative to the original dimensions of the mesh when it was uploaded to Roblox
- BlockMesh objects or SpecialMesh objects with SpecialMesh.FileType set to 'Brick', 'Wedge' or 'Sphere' scale uniformly relative to the BasePart.Size of their parent
- CylinderMesh objects or SpecialMesh objects with SpecialMesh.FileType set to 'Cylinder' scale relative to the BasePart.Size of their parent. Uniformly for the cylinders height axis and maintaining a 1:1 ratio for the length and width of the cylinder, using the lowest value.
- SpecialMesh objects with SpecialMesh.FileType set to 'Head' currently scale in a non standard manner. Developers should not rely on this as their are plans to change this behavior
- SpecialMesh objects with SpecialMesh.FileType set to 'Torso' scale in a non standard manner. Developers should not rely on this as their are plans to deprecate this mesh type.
Mesh scale demonstration
The above behavior can be seen in the following demonstration images.
Linear scaling relative to part size for 'Brick', 'Wedge' and 'Sphere' meshes.
Linear scaling relative to original uploaded mesh for 'FileMesh' meshes
Non-uniform constrained scaling for 'Cylinder' meshes
Other uses for mesh scale
There are a number of interesting uses for the mesh offset property.
- DataModelMesh.Offset and Scale can be animated using TweenService relatively inexpensively as the engine does not need to make any physics/collision calculations as the BasePart is not changed.
- Changing the relationship between the mesh and its collision extents (determined by the BasePart)
Code Samples
local TweenService = game:GetService("TweenService")
-- instance a part and a mesh
local part = Instance.new("Part")
part.Size = Vector3.new(4, 8, 4)
part.Position = Vector3.new(0, 4, 0)
part.Anchored = true
part.CanCollide = false
local mesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh")
mesh.MeshType = Enum.MeshType.FileMesh
mesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://1086413449"
mesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://1461576423"
mesh.Offset = Vector3.new(0, 0, 0)
mesh.Scale = Vector3.new(4, 4, 4)
mesh.Parent = part
-- selection box to show part extents
local box = Instance.new("SelectionBox")
box.Adornee = part
box.Parent = part
-- parent part to workspace
part.Parent = workspace
-- animate offset and scale with a tween
local tween = TweenService:Create(
mesh,
TweenInfo.new(1, Enum.EasingStyle.Linear, Enum.EasingDirection.Out, -1, true, 0),
{ Scale = Vector3.new(1, 1, 1), Offset = Vector3.new(0, 3, 0) }
)
tween:Play()VertexColor
VertexColor determines the hue change of the Texture of a FileMesh. Note that this property is a Vector3 rather than a Color3; to convert, use the Color3.R, Color3.G, and Color3.B properties.
Although this property allows basic modification of a texture, changing a texture entirely provides more control. See MeshPart for more details.