Just imagine the possibilities if one could import any mesh into Roblox Studio, and then use the Roblox Studio animation editor to add animations to that mesh.
Ideally, one would create the mesh and add an armature (bones) to it in 3D software, like Blender. And then export it as an FBX, which can then be imported into Roblox Studio. Roblox Studio would recognize the armature, and build the corresponding motors. The mesh can then be animated using the animation editor.
Secondly, it would also be important to be able to give the mesh humanoid properties, so that it has health, and can be attacked and killed by players.
Think of creating a super cool monster in your 3D software. Then importing that into Roblox and adding animations. Give it a healthbar, and some AI, and you’ll have a pretty impressive mob.
I know a lot of people are going to explain mesh deformation/manipulation, so I’ll just say that you can add a Humanoid instance to a mesh part, you just can’t animate it like you hope to. Roblox doesn’t have any pre-programmed AI so you need to script your humanoid mesh to target players, attack, and die when it runs out of health.
Because meshes can’t be reshaped in-game, you must divide it into several parts which can be rigged to the animation editor. I know it doesn’t look as good as realtime vertex deformation, but it’s the best character animating Roblox can offer.
i feel like mesh deformation wont ever become a thing because if it does then people are gonna go “hey we have mesh deformation now so why not add it into players?” and then r15 would become completely useless and would be upgraded back to R6 except with mesh deformation
R6 with vertex deformation is just a different kind of R15 – it’s not reverting to what we previously had, as characters would still be substantially different. Regardless, so what if all that effort for R15 is wasted? Yeah, it’s unfortunate that it would all be for nothing, but that’s no excuse to sabotage the platform.
I’m sure they thought about it, especially around the release of R15 and MeshParts which would’ve been an ideal time to release. If they didn’t implement it for R15 I doubt they will anytime soon.
This is what I hoped the new avatar bodies would have introduced. Instead of adding like 12 or so extra parts + animations that are a lot more complicated to make, just make the current bodies visually bend, with some attachment sort of system to joints. (Where the elbows would be, hands, shoulders, etc)
Roblox does have a Pathfinding Service / API. It’s pretty useful actually. As for the actual thread (Animating meshes) This would be amazing. What you can do right now to animate meshes is import every frame of the animation and change transparency. It’s a pain in the neck, but if you must have something, this would be the way to do it. Vertex deformation would be great in a future update, and it would go well with the new lighting system love it.
-edit: Theoretically, mesh deformation is not necessary. Even if ROBLOX splits the mesh into different mesh parts based on the bones, the mesh wouldn’t even need realtime deformation. That would be something for the future, but for now people could still import their own R15 morphs and other cool stuff like that.
I wouldn't say it's out of the question, but the staff already know of the community's desire for it, so I don't really see a benefit of talking about it still.
love it.