Tutorial:Beginners Guide to Building

Welcome! This is a tutorial for those who would like to learn to build and make models in Roblox. To do this tutorial, you need to have Roblox Studio open. To create a place, go to Create > Baseplate.

Creating/Manipulating a Part
If you look at the top of the screen, there is a menu of tabs. Go to the Home tab and click on the Create Part option. A rectangular box will appear. To pick a different shape, click the arrow underneath the block icon and select one of the shapes available.

The Select Tool
The select tool will allow you to select a part and drag it around. Just click on the part and you can drag it around to move.

The Move Tool
The move tool allows you to move the part along one axis. To do this, click on the part and drag one of the arrows to move it.

The Scale Tool
The scale tool allows you to change the size of the part. To do this, click on the part and drag one of the orbs that appear.

The Rotate Tool
The rotate tool allows you to rotate a part along an axis. To do this, click on the part and drag an arc to rotate the part.

Color and Material
To the right of the part icon is a molecule icon. That changes the material of the part (the texture). To do this, open the dropdown menu and select a material.

The color icon allows you to change the color of the part. To do this, open the dropdown menu and click on one of the colors in the palette.

The Properties Window
The properties window allows you to change other attributes of the part. The basic properties are:


 * Transparency: the amount of light that passes through the object. This is a number value, where 0 means completely opaque and 1 is completely invisible.
 * BrickColor: the color of the brick.
 * Color3: an alternative to BrickColor, only it takes 3 number values.
 * Name: the name that is attributed to the brick.
 * CanCollide: whether or not other objects will pass through the object; if the checkbox is flicked off, objects could pass through it uninterrupted.
 * Anchored: whether or not the object is subject to change position. If the checkbox is turned on, the object will not be affected by gravity.

To change these properties, go to the View Tab and select the Properties to open it. Here you will see a table of properties. You can change the values of the properties.

Positioning
Roblox is a 3-dimensional world. As such, there are three coordinates in the game: x, y, and z. If you select a part and use a move tool, you will see that the arrows are different colors. These are the three dimensions that you can move it along.

The Explorer Window
The explorer window controls all the objects in the game. To do this, go to the View Tab and open the Explorer Window on the left of the tab.

You will see a window with several options. These are services: objects that manage everything below it. All physical objects are in the Workspace. So, open the arrow next to Workspace and you will see a list of parts in the game.

Fire and Smoke
To set a part on fire, go to the Explorer window, hover over the part in the Workspace, and click the plus sign. There is a search bar in the window, so search for fire and click it. You will see that the part will be set on fire.

You can do the same with smoke.

Folders and Models
You will notice that if you are making large builds, your Workspace will be more and more disorganized. You can organise these by placing them into folders. Insert a folder object into the Workspace. Then, you can drag the part in the Workspace onto the Folder. This will store the part in the Folder. This will have no function in a live server, but it is solely an organisational tool.

Models are similar to folders. To use a model, select multiple parts while holding down the Ctrl key. Then, go to the Home tab and click "Group". This will place them all into one model.

Decals
A decal is an image you can stick onto a part. Go to the Home tab and open toolbox. This will open the window. Then, click on the dropdown menu and select Images. Find an image you like, then drag it from the toolbox window onto the face of a part. You will notice that there will be an image on the surface of the part.

Negate and Union Operations
A negative part is basically a part you can use to make holes into another part. To do this, scale your part to the desired size, then go to the Model Tab > Negate. The part will turn translucent and red. Now, move it into another larger part. You cannot use the Select Tool, you must use the Move Tool. Then, select both parts by holding Ctrl and clicking "Union" in the Model Tab. You will see that there is a hole in the part now.

Light Objects
When you get into building, you will notice that some structures will be dark, giving it a depressing mood. To provide light sources, select a part and insert one of the three light objects into the Explorer.


 * A PointLight radiates light in all directions from one point.
 * A SurfaceLight radiates light in one direction from one surface of the part.
 * A SpotLight radiates light in one direction from one point.

You can alter certain features in the Properties Window:


 * Range alters how far the light travels.
 * Brightness alters how strong the light is.
 * Color alters the colour of the emitted light.
 * Angle alters how large the light gets when distance is increased. (SpotLight only)
 * Surface: alters which face of the part the light is radiated from. (SurfaceLight and SpotLight only)