Roblox Studio currently at the moment is at a crossroads. Up till the release of Meshparts, Studio was the only way to make assets or maps for your game. Now with the advent of Meshparts, Studio is now being used as a game creation tool than a modeling tool.
Now here is where many devs butt head’s on their style of Asset creation. Some are purist/traditionalist, only advocating using studio built models with CSG and parts. Others joining in the exterior modeling software bandwagon.
The purpose of this post is to serve as a somewhat impartial (I’m biased towards mesh parts and I will state this now) post on how to blend Meshparts and regular parts together.
Meshes can be useful in a variety of ways. Depending on the skill of the modeler, it’s appearance can give the desired aesthetical requirement. From a gameplay optimization point of view: They are superior in every form of Roblox part in terms of face count and trisonemetric count: again this depends on the skilly of the modeler.
Now, where it is unavoidable is that the two must be used in Unison. Regular parts are best suited to being used as a form of collision meshing (Unless you really want to take the time to make a custom collision mesh to overlay onto the existing mesh or even more so ensure the inserted mesh has such proper collision).
On the subject of an asset that is part mesh and part “part” (this depends again on the chosen aesthetic you want), I would recommend on having a non-textured mesh and use Roblox base materials and colors. With this, it will really blend well. Now on a textures mesh, have fun texturing the parts as well, it would be easier to make the asset whole in your choice of modeling software.
Now onto some pros and cons of Meshes and Parts.
Meshes:
Pros
- Trisonometric value is far superior
- Superior shape and appearance (Depends on modeler skill)
- Proper UV Texturing
Cons
- Added loading time to your game
- Collisions are an Issue if not handled prior to importing.
- Lighting may be an issue in spots
Parts:
Pros
- Collision fidelity is superior
- Proper Roblox lighting/material reflectance and appearance properties
Cons
- Poor Trisonometric value (worse so with CSG)
- Heavy on the rendering due to poor tris value.
Now I urge you who read this to go out and experiment with Meshes and combination of parts as well. I hope this serves as a basic entry level guide into this current world of mesh importing in Roblox, which has opened many doors in game building, but we can not forget the inevitable need and use for regular parts.