Create Custom Meshes From Scratch

How to Create a Mesh from Scratch

Each and every shape in Babylon.js is built from a mesh of triangles or facets as shown below:

Every facet is made up of three vertices each of which is assigned data that not only affects the position of the facet but also its colour, texture and how it is lit. The complex process of applying a shader to turn this data into a viewable mesh is all carried out byBabylon.js.

Positions and Indices

Creating a mesh with two facets, one with vertices at (-5, 2, -3), (-7, -2, -3), (-3, -2, -3) and the other with vertices at (5, 2, 3), (7, -2, 3), (3, -2, 3), requires each vertex to have a unique index. Indices should start at 0 and increase consecutively.

Note that order does not matter when assigning indices.

The positions data is stored in an array of numbers. The vertex with index 0 is placed with x coordinate in array[0], y at array[1] and z at array[2]. In general, the vertex with index i has x coordinate at array[3i], y at array[3i + 1] and z at array[3i +2].

Indices forming a facet are placed together in triples, as in the above example with (0, 1, 2) and (3, 4, 5). The indices data is also stored in an array of numbers with each triple being kept together.

In the above example the positions array is [-5, 2, -3, -7, -2, -3, -3, -2, -3, 5, 2, 3, 7, -2, 3, 3, -2, 3] and the indices array is [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

var customMesh = new BABYLON.Mesh("custom", scene);

var positions = [-5, 2, -3, -7, -2, -3, -3, -2, -3, 5, 2, 3, 7, -2, 3, 3, -2, 3];
var indices = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
	
var vertexData = new BABYLON.VertexData();

vertexData.positions = positions;
vertexData.indices = indices;	

vertexData.applyToMesh(customMesh);

Normals

Usually a normal to a plane is a vector that is at right angles to a plane and for this example this is true. BabylonJS will calculate normals for a facet and for free standing facets not sharing any vertices with another facet the normals will be mathematical normals. For more on how normals affect lighting see Normals.

Calculating

Normals are calculated on the vertexData object using the ComputeNormal method which takes arrays for positions, indices and normals as parameters.

Additions to code:

var customMesh = new BABYLON.Mesh("custom", scene);
	
var positions = [-5, 2, -3, -7, -2, -3, -3, -2, -3, 5, 2, 3, 7, -2, 3, 3, -2, 3];
var indices = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];	
	
//Empty array to contain calculated values or normals added
var normals = [];

//Calculations of normals added
BABYLON.VertexData.ComputeNormals(positions, indices, normals);
	
var vertexData = new BABYLON.VertexData();

vertexData.positions = positions;
vertexData.indices = indices;
vertexData.normals = normals; //Assignment of normal to vertexData added

vertexData.applyToMesh(customMesh);

Note: To make your custom mesh updatable you need add a second parameter with value true when applying the mesh to the vertex data.

vertexData.applyToMesh(customMesh, true);

give the array normals = [ 0, 0, -1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 0, -1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1].

Normals are stored in an array of numbers such that index i refers to the vector (normals[3i], normals[3i + 1], normals[3i + 2]) and so:

Direction

Clearly the normals for each facet are pointing in opposite directions. They all point away from the origin.

Looking from the origin towards facet 3, 4, 5 then the order in the indices array 3, 4, 5 around the facet is clockwise.

Looking from the origin towards facet 0, 1, 2 then the order in the indices array 0, 1, 2 around the facet is also clockwise.

Reversing the order of one or both sets of facet indices in the playground will show how the normals change direction.

Lighting

The closest facet to the camera in now coloured white and the farthest from the camera is black. This is because the addition of the normals affects the use of light on the facet.

The light in the scene is travelling in the direction of the positive z axis.

var light = new BABYLON.DirectionalLight("direct", new BABYLON.Vector3(0, 0, 1), scene);

White light travelling in the opposite direction to that of the normal is reflected back and the facet is seen as white, while white light travelling in the same direction as the normal is absorbed and the facet is seen as black.

Visibility

Removing the wireframe effect then:

1. Camera looking in positive z direction

Black facet cannot be seen.

2. Camera looking in negative z direction

White facet not seen.

Why is this? There are two faces to each facet; the face that the normal is pointing away from is the front face, the other is the backface. By defaultBabylon.js does not render the back face.

Due to this, many meshes that draw solids will not have a visible back face for its facet.

To draw the back face of a mesh turn backFaceCulling to false for the material being applied to the mesh.

mat.backFaceCulling = false;

Comment line 41 out in the following to see back face culling happening.

Color

The simplest way to assign a color to the custom mesh is by applying a standard material to the mesh and let Babylon.js do all the work. However color can be set for a facet within the vertex data. For information on how the arrangement of facets used in constructing a mesh can affect how colors are displayed see Applying Materials to Facets.

Colors for each vertex are placed in an array as groups of four in the order red, green, blue and alpha for transparency. For the facet 0, 1, 2 to be colored red and the facet 3, 4, 5 to be colored green, each vertex on each facet is given the same color.

and the array is [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1].

Adding to the code:

var customMesh = new BABYLON.Mesh("custom", scene);
	
var positions = [-5, 2, -3, -7, -2, -3, -3, -2, -3, 5, 2, 3, 7, -2, 3, 3, -2, 3];
var indices = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
var colors = [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0,  0, 1, 0, 1]; //color array added
	
var normals = [];
	
var vertexData = new BABYLON.VertexData();
BABYLON.VertexData.ComputeNormals(positions, indices, normals);

vertexData.positions = positions;
vertexData.indices = indices;
vertexData.colors = colors; //Assignment of colors to vertexData
vertexData.normals = normals; //Assignment of normal to vertexData added

vertexData.applyToMesh(customMesh);

In the playground below see what happens when you make the vertices on the red facet different colors.

Notes on the Playground

Since a material is no longer being used, backFaceCulling cannot be set and so the camera will have to be rotated for the far facet to be seen. The far facet will remain black despite whatever color is applied as all light is still being absorbed by this facet.

When the scene starts the camera is very nearly full face on to the facet and pointing in the direction the light is travelling. With the camera in this position most of the white light is reflected back into the camera as a highlight and the facet is seen as almost white.

As the camera is rotated around the facet will change from appearing as white to red as the highlight effect dissipates.

For a more controlled lighting effects use a material as well as, or instead of, setting vertex colors.

Adding a light with direction the reverse of the current one will light both sides.

Texture

The simplest method is to just use materials and let Babylon.js apply the given image as a texture. However should you wish to have more control on how a texture is applied to a facet then you need to create and set the uv array.

Think of any image to be applied as a texture as having a pair of axes set at the bottom and left-hand side of the image; the u axis and the v axis respectively. (u, v as x and y are used for position axes). The origin being the left-hand bottom corner of the image, the top being at v = 1 and the right hand edge at u = 1 as in the diagram below.

For simplication the following only uses the facet 0, 1, 2.

Each vertex of the facet is assigned a uv coordinate pair from the image.

forming the uv array [0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0];.

Using the following code:

var customMesh = new BABYLON.Mesh("custom", scene);
	
var positions = [-5, 2, -3, -7, -2, -3, -3, -2, -3];
var indices = [0, 1, 2];
var uvs = [0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0];
	
var normals = [];
BABYLON.VertexData.ComputeNormals(positions, indices, normals);

var vertexData = new BABYLON.VertexData();

vertexData.positions = positions;
vertexData.indices = indices;
vertexData.normals = normals;
vertexData.uvs = uvs;

vertexData.applyToMesh(customMesh);

results in:

Note that the image is skewed since the shape of the triangular facet and that on the image do not match.

Adding in these lines at the appropiate points:

var colors = [1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1];

var vertexData.colors = colors;

gives:

In the playground below clicking on next will cycle you through a variety of values for the uv coordinates.

Notes about Playground above: The camera has been disabled for the above playground. The uv values are shown and the relative index are shown on the texture image. One day this playground might improve. You will get some idea of how to achieve reflections and rotations of textures on a facet. However for a mesh the arrangement of facets must be considered when trying to achieve a particular texture mapping on the mesh.

Calculating UVs

Calculating the uvs for a custom mesh obviously depends on the shape of the mesh and which parts of the texture you want projected onto the mesh at which position. Here is an example with a relatively simple mesh which is basically a flat surface with a couple of protudences.

The above playground takes the bottom left corner as matching the bottom left corner of the texture image and from the x, z position of each vertex calculates the uv value as the fractional distance of (x, z) from the bottom left corner.

In general, if the bottom left corner is at (a, b) and the bounding width and height of the mesh are w and h respectively then for each (x, z):

u = (x - a) / w and v = (z - b) / h

Further reading

Updating Vertices

Learn how to update vertices of a mesh in Babylon.js.

Vertex Normals

Learn all about vertex normals in Babylon.js.