Layered clothing accessories are 3D cosmetic items that users can equip and wear on their avatar body, such as pants, t-shirt, jackets, dresses, and more. Unlike rigid accessories that only attach to a specific point on a character, layered clothing stretches and fits over any body type and existing clothing.
To create a custom Roblox accessory for your own experience or to sell on the Marketplace, it's important to start with the following:
- An understanding of the components that make up a layered accessory.
- An understanding of the general clothing creation process.
- Review Roblox's official tutorials to create your own accessories:
- Rigid accessory creation tutorial - covers each process required for converting a 3D model to a rigid accessory and publishing it to the Marketplace.
- Clothing creation tutorial - a step-by-step process of creating your own avatar-ready clothing from scratch in Blender.
- Additional tools, resources, and guides provided by Roblox to standardize and expedite the creation process.
Roblox also supports classic clothing, 2D images that can be applied to your character's surface.
Components of a Layered Clothing Accessory
All accessory models are made up of the same base components of a mesh object, textures, and attachment. Layered clothing requires additional components, such as a poseable rig, and an inner and outer cage, to allow the asset to stretch, fit, and layer over a target character and existing clothing items.
When creating accessories, all of the components are created first in your modeling software, then converted to their appropriate Roblox Studio instance on import.
Mesh Part
Simple accessories, such as the bow, are rigid accessories do not require the rigging and caging components that allow it to stretch and fit over a target.
All accessories require a single mesh object that represents the geometry of the accessory object. In Studio, this mesh object is represented as a MeshPart nested under a single Model
Textures
Textures are image files that define the surface appearance of your accessory. You can create textures within a texture painting program or a 3D modeling software. In Studio, textures images are imported as image assets and are set to MeshPart objects by a child SurfaceAppearance object or a MeshPart.TextureID property.
Attachments
For layered clothing, the attachment point is used to associate with the correct body part when the body ragdolls or is dismembered. In Studio, attachments are represented by Attachment objects.
Attachments for clothing items are automatically generated in Studio using the Accessory Fitting Tool.
Rigging Armature
A rigging armature defines how a layered asset can move with a character model. Using rigging and skinning techniques, you can set the areas of your clothes to move naturally with a character model's joints, such as ensuring a shirt sleeve correctly follows the movement of the elbow and shoulder. In Studio, this rigging and skinning data is saved to the mesh geometry.
Inner and Outer Cages
Cage meshes indicate the inner and outer surfaces of a layered accessory. The inside cage of a t-shirt defines how the t-shirt stretches and fits over a character body. The outer cage of a t-shirt defines how additional layered clothing fit over the t-shirt. In Studio, these cages are represented by WrapLayer objects.
Creation Process
Custom accessories are first created in 3D modeling programs, such as Blender or Maya, before importing the .fbx or .gltf model into Studio. To get started creating your first avatar asset, see Avatar Tutorials.
Depending on the type of asset you are creating, the creation process follows these high-level workflows:
Since 3D creation isn't a linear process and always requires reiteration and testing, the process of creating an accessory can differ between individuals and various creation workflows.
Resources
There are a variety of resources available for creators of all backgrounds to get started with accessory creation.
If you are interested in specific avatar creation topics, use the following table to find guides and resources that best match your needs:
| Topic | Resources |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | Rigid Accessory Creation Basic Clothing Creation |
| Reference Files | Accessory and Clothing Reference Files |
| Technical Specs | .FBX Export Settings General Mesh Specifications Accessory Specifications Marketplace Policy |
| Cosmetic Creation | Accessories Overview Layered Clothing Overview Creating Face Accessories Accessory Fitting Tool Accessory Specifications Marketplace Requirements |
| Texturing | Texturing Requirements PBR Textures |
| Rigging and Skinning | Rigging and Skinning Overview Humanoid Rig Requirements Rigging Facial Bones Auto Skin Transfer Skinning Facial Bones |
| Testing and Validation | Calisthenics Tool Clothing Validation Tool |
| Publishing and Marketplace | Uploading to Marketplace Marketplace Policy Fees and Commissions |
Classic Clothing
Classic clothing assets are 2D images that you can apply to the surface of an avatar body as t-shirts, shirts, or pants. You can design these assets in any image processing software, test the textures in Studio, and then upload the designs to the Marketplace to sell. See Classic Clothing for more information on creating, uploading, and selling these assets.
