Symmetry is , for me at least important for objects / models and places that obviously look man made, such as a factory , churches , homes etc, But in reality not everything is symmetrical , not every home is build exactly the same , churches even are slightly off place.
So for me , I try and build with symmetry in places that I feel need it, places that require it to look just that clean and sharp on the eyes, but sometimes if i want more detail , or want that extra bit of realism I drop symmetry and build with my eyes and heart. At the end of the day, if you are building for yourself do what you wish , if you are building for another , do what they wish. But I will always add a twist of realism to objects.
In real life, you might notice that some areas with tile roofs don’t actually have symmetrical light patterns. If you’re going for realistic, then asymmetry can be your best friend. However, for a fantasy case, symmetry is very important, as fantasy would be associated with things that are impossibly perfect.
It really depends on the project and on the specific part. For lights, floors, etc. I’ll go to the third or fourth decimal with symmetry. But it is really just how you feel about it.
To me, symmetry is important if it’s needed. For example, a semi-realistic thing shouldn’t have too much symmetry. If it does, it doesn’t feel as real, so to speak. In a city area, there should be small variations, whether its window color, or design. Even more things can be changed, such as air conditioners in random windows, neon signs, and pipes.
To sum it up: Real life isn’t perfect, and builds representing real life shouldn’t be, either.
Something that is low-poly, simplistic, or minimalist should be symmetrical. Radically different shaped buildings in a low-poly/minimalist setting looks off.
Summary: As many others have said, it just depends.
Symmetry is life for me. I often get criticized for this at times, but I always attempt to make everything equally rounded and perfectly aligned. It usually leads to some troubles in development as well and I always try not to enhance my symmetry to such a level where everything is perfectly leveled up.
I’ve been told I have OCD while building as well. As I can barely tolerate anything that isn’t properly aligned or even. It’s something I’ve been meaning to fix for a while.
For any other builders who might be reading this asking about symmetry and symmetrical designs -
Symmetry is a must have in building, any uneven builds can usually end up messing up your overall design and can take a lot of remaking to fix something that could’ve been fixed in a short amount of time.
Don’t be over excessive with symmetry, just because a block is 0.1 smaller to make it fit inside of an area you’re building doesn’t mean your build is bad. It can be fixed in the future, remember players don’t pay attention to the smallest of details. The only place where I can see this being an issue would be when doing things such as a showcase, as showcases and such are meant to test your skills so you can show people it and are usually detrimental to getting new jobs you can use to earn money with.
Remember to never build out of your comfort zone, I often see new builders attempting to do this and it usually ends up messing their build up over making everything perfectly aligned. We all at one point were worse then what you consider yourself to be now. Keep practicing on symmetrical designs and one day you’ll be able to find a proper style that comforts you.
Don’t worry about being late to the thread. Responses that add to the conversation are welcome and I’m still accepting input, since I’m a learning and inexperienced builder. Thank you for going out of your way to add a reply, despite how long it’s been since the last reply.
Update since last year. Symmetry for me is now a design choice for me, but frequently used. Whether it should be symmetrical is up to the game design itself or the entirety of the aesthetics. The current modus of mine consists of working symmetrically and proceed into distorting the symmetry and then create other symmetries, a lot goes hand to hand.
Most importantly, symmetry is often found from objects that are man-made(as previously mentioned by Craftero). Non-symmetrical builds often fall in categories that is made by nature, nature is chaos but it still wants to balance itself.
Overusing symmetry causes boringness of some kind, as in listening to a song with high amount of repetition.
In conclusion, symmetry is varying in dependency, it is optional to have it.
Personally, I am OCD. I like things to be symmetrical. It really does depend on what you’re building. I do my best as an OCD person to make everything symmetrical, but sometimes it isn’t needed.
Symmetry is incredibly important to me for unnatural things such as buildings, or objects that are man-made. Symmetry cannot be used for natural things such as trees or vines or rocks though, in my opinion.
In some cases, manmade structures are not fully symmetrical, inherent flaw. You might be familiar with wooden floors or ceiling tiles being cut short to fit the room. I’ve gradually tried to let this bother me less and just like a real constructor, get as close as I can.
Do you usually account for these kinds of things or when it comes to Roblox do you ignore these real discrepancies and try to get as symmetrical as possible, even if it means changing over measurements just so everything fits perfectly?
Symmetry depends on the build. Sometimes a build is meant to be Asymmetrical and other times its meant to be symmetrical. So, I’d say that it depends on the build itself.
