How to make Roblox layered clothing in Blender
Roblox has two kinds of clothing. Classic shirts and pants are flat pictures painted on a template. Layered clothing is real 3D: a mesh that stretches over any avatar body and over other clothes. This guide is about the 3D kind, and how it compares with the Second Life clothing work our courses teach.
The steps
- Model on a reference avatar. Build the garment in Blender on a Roblox R15 mannequin, so its proportions are right from the start.
- Stay inside the budget. Roblox sets strict triangle and texture limits for avatar items. Check the current Marketplace requirements before you add detail, and put the detail in the textures.
- Unwrap and texture. UV-unwrap the mesh and make its colour map - and normal, roughness and metalness maps if you want a PBR look.
- Rig it. Bind the garment to the R15 skeleton and paint the weights, so it bends with the avatar.
- Add the two cages. This is the step other worlds do not have. An inner cage tells Roblox how the garment sits on what is under it; an outer cage tells it how the next layer sits on top. Roblox supplies cage meshes to start from - you reshape them, never rebuild them.
- Export and test in Roblox Studio. Export as .fbx, import it in Roblox Studio, try it on different avatar bodies with the fitting tool, and then publish it to the Marketplace if your account qualifies.
Second Life and Roblox, side by side
| Second Life | Roblox | |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | Blender, then upload in the Second Life viewer | Blender and Roblox Studio |
| File you deliver | Collada (.dae) and textures | FBX with mesh, rig and two cages |
| Fitted to | Mesh bodies such as Maitreya, Legacy, Reborn, Kupra | Any R15 avatar, through the cages |
| Where it ends up | The buyer's inventory, sold in-world or on the SL Marketplace | The Roblox Marketplace |
What is the same craft
- Modelling a garment over a body
- Low-polygon discipline and detail carried by textures
- UV unwrapping, baking and texturing
- Rigging and weight painting
- Trying the piece on more than one body before selling
What is different
- Cages: one garment fits every avatar body, instead of a separate version per mesh body
- Much tighter triangle limits
- FBX into Roblox Studio instead of Collada into the viewer
- Publishing goes through Roblox's Marketplace rules and fees, in Robux
Where SL Designers fits in
SL Designers teaches 3D clothing design through video courses recorded for Second Life, and builds Blender addons for clothing creators. The courses do not cover Roblox's own export steps. They teach the part every world shares: making a garment that is well built, well fitted and well rigged. See the courses and the tools.
Questions people ask
Do the SL Designers courses teach Roblox clothing?
No. Our video lessons are recorded for Second Life. What they teach - building a garment, fitting it to a body, UV-mapping, texturing, rigging and weight painting - is the same craft Roblox layered clothing needs. Caging and the Roblox Studio steps are something you add on top.
What is the difference between classic and layered clothing on Roblox?
Classic clothing is a 2D picture wrapped onto the avatar: no modelling, only image editing. Layered clothing is a 3D mesh with a rig and cages, made in a 3D program such as Blender, and it keeps its shape over different bodies and over other clothes.
Can I turn my Second Life clothing into Roblox clothing?
If the mesh is your own work, yes in principle, but expect real rework: far fewer triangles, a new rig, and the two cages. Meshes you bought usually may not be moved to another platform.