Using the ArrayMesh

This tutorial will present the basics of using an ArrayMesh.

To do so, we will use the function add_surface_from_arrays(), which takes up to four parameters. The first two are required, while the second two are optional.

The first parameter is the PrimitiveType, an OpenGL concept that instructs the GPU how to arrange the primitive based on the vertices given, i.e. whether they represent triangles, lines, points, etc. See Mesh.PrimitiveType for the options available.

The second parameter, arrays, is the actual Array that stores the mesh information. The array is a normal Godot array that is constructed with empty brackets []. It stores a Pool**Array (e.g. PoolVector3Array, PoolIntArray, etc.) for each type of information that will be used to build the surface.

The possible elements of arrays are listed below, together with the position they must have within arrays. See also Mesh.ArrayType.

Index	Mesh.ArrayType Enum	Array type
0	ARRAY_VERTEX	PoolVector3Array or PoolVector2Array
1	ARRAY_NORMAL	PoolVector3Array
2	ARRAY_TANGENT	PoolRealArray of groups of 4 floats. First 3 floats determine the tangent, and the last the binormal direction as -1 or 1.
3	ARRAY_COLOR	PoolColorArray
4	ARRAY_TEX_UV	PoolVector2Array or PoolVector3Array
5	ARRAY_TEX_UV2	PoolVector2Array or PoolVector3Array
6	ARRAY_BONES	PoolRealArray of groups of 4 floats or PoolIntArray of groups of 4 ints. Each group lists indexes of 4 bones that affects a given vertex.
7	ARRAY_WEIGHTS	PoolRealArray of groups of 4 floats. Each float lists the amount of weight an determined bone on ARRAY_BONES has on a given vertex.
8	ARRAY_INDEX	PoolIntArray

The array of vertices (at index 0) is always required. The index array is optional and will only be used if included. We won't use it in this tutorial.

All the other arrays carry information about the vertices. They are also optional and will only be used if included. Some of these arrays (e.g. ARRAY_COLOR) use one entry per vertex to provide extra information about vertices. They must have the same size as the vertex array. Other arrays (e.g. ARRAY_TANGENT) use four entries to describe a single vertex. These must be exactly four times larger than the vertex array.

For normal usage, the last two parameters in add_surface_from_arrays() are typically left empty.

ArrayMesh

In the editor, create a MeshInstance and add an ArrayMesh to it in the Inspector. Normally, adding an ArrayMesh in the editor is not useful, but in this case it allows us to access the ArrayMesh from code without creating one.

Next, add a script to the MeshInstance.

Under _ready(), create a new Array.

GDScript

var surface_array = []

This will be the array that we keep our surface information in - it will hold all the arrays of data that the surface needs. Godot will expect it to be of size Mesh.ARRAY_MAX, so resize it accordingly.

GDScript

var surface_array = []
surface_array.resize(Mesh.ARRAY_MAX)

Next create the arrays for each data type you will use.

GDScript

var verts = PoolVector3Array()
var uvs = PoolVector2Array()
var normals = PoolVector3Array()
var indices = PoolIntArray()

Once you have filled your data arrays with your geometry you can create a mesh by adding each array to surface_array and then committing to the mesh.

GDScript

surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_VERTEX] = verts
surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_TEX_UV] = uvs
surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_NORMAL] = normals
surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_INDEX] = indices

mesh.add_surface_from_arrays(Mesh.PRIMITIVE_TRIANGLES, surface_array) # No blendshapes or compression used.

Note

In this example, we used Mesh.PRIMITIVE_TRIANGLES, but you can use any primitive type available from mesh.

Put together, the full code looks like:

GDScript

extends MeshInstance

func _ready():
    var surface_array= []
    surface_array.resize(Mesh.ARRAY_MAX)

    # PoolVector**Arrays for mesh construction.
    var verts = PoolVector3Array()
    var uvs = PoolVector2Array()
    var normals = PoolVector3Array()
    var indices = PoolIntArray()

    #######################################
    ## Insert code here to generate mesh ##
    #######################################

    # Assign arrays to mesh array.
    surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_VERTEX] = verts
    surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_TEX_UV] = uvs
    surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_NORMAL] = normals
    surface_array[Mesh.ARRAY_INDEX] = indices

    # Create mesh surface from mesh array.
    mesh.add_surface_from_arrays(Mesh.PRIMITIVE_TRIANGLES, surface_array) # No blendshapes or compression used.

The code that goes in the middle can be whatever you want. Below we will present some example code for generating a sphere.

Generating geometry

Here is sample code for generating a sphere. Although the code is presented in GDScript, there is nothing Godot specific about the approach to generating it. This implementation has nothing in particular to do with ArrayMeshes and is just a generic approach to generating a sphere. If you are having trouble understanding it or want to learn more about procedural geometry in general, you can use any tutorial that you find online.

GDScript

extends MeshInstance

var rings = 50
var radial_segments = 50
var height = 1
var radius = 1

func _ready():

    # Insert setting up the PoolVector**Arrays here.

    # Vertex indices.
    var thisrow = 0
    var prevrow = 0
    var point = 0

    # Loop over rings.
    for i in range(rings + 1):
        var v = float(i) / rings
        var w = sin(PI * v)
        var y = cos(PI * v)

        # Loop over segments in ring.
        for j in range(radial_segments):
            var u = float(j) / radial_segments
            var x = sin(u * PI * 2.0)
            var z = cos(u * PI * 2.0)
            var vert = Vector3(x * radius * w, y, z * radius * w)
            verts.append(vert)
            normals.append(vert.normalized())
            uvs.append(Vector2(u, v))
            point += 1

            # Create triangles in ring using indices.
            if i > 0 and j > 0:
                indices.append(prevrow + j - 1)
                indices.append(prevrow + j)
                indices.append(thisrow + j - 1)

                indices.append(prevrow + j)
                indices.append(thisrow + j)
                indices.append(thisrow + j - 1)

        if i > 0:
            indices.append(prevrow + radial_segments - 1)
            indices.append(prevrow)
            indices.append(thisrow + radial_segments - 1)

            indices.append(prevrow)
            indices.append(prevrow + radial_segments)
            indices.append(thisrow + radial_segments - 1)

        prevrow = thisrow
        thisrow = point

  # Insert committing to the ArrayMesh here.

Saving

Finally, we can use the ResourceSaver class to save the ArrayMesh. This is useful when you want to generate a mesh and then use it later without having to re-generate it.

GDScript

# Saves mesh to a .tres file with compression enabled.
ResourceSaver.save("res://sphere.tres", mesh, ResourceSaver.FLAG_COMPRESS)