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Unity Engine


Mesh.MeshData

A struct containing Mesh data for C# Job System access.
Read time 6 minutesLast updated 6 days ago

Definition

  • Type: Struct
  • Namespace: UnityEngine
  • Assembly: UnityEngine.CoreModule
public struct Mesh.MeshData

Remarks

Use a
MeshData
struct to access, process and create Meshes in the C# Job System. There are two types of
MeshData
struct: read-only
MeshData
structs that allow read-only access to Mesh data from the C# Job System, and writeable
MeshData
structs that allow you to create Meshes from the C# Job System.
Read-only MeshData
When you pass one or more Meshes to Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData, Unity returns a Mesh.MeshDataArray of read-only
MeshData
structs. You can access the resulting
MeshDataArray
and
MeshData
structs from any thread. Creating a
MeshDataArray
has some overhead for memory tracking and safety reasons, so it is more efficient to make a single call to Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData and request multiple
MeshData
structs in the same
MeshDataArray
than it is to make multiple calls to Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData.
Each
MeshData
struct contains a read-only snapshot of data for a given Mesh. You can use GetIndexData and GetVertexData to access the raw read-only Mesh data without any memory allocations, data copies or format conversions. You need to know the exact Mesh data layout to do this: for instance, the presence and formats of all the mesh vertex attributes. You can use GetColors, GetIndices, GetNormals, GetTangents, GetUVs, and GetVertices to copy the read-only Mesh data into pre-existing arrays. These methods also perform data format conversions if needed. For example, if the read-only
MeshData
struct uses VertexAttributeFormat.Float16 normals and you call GetNormals, the normals will be converted into Vector3 normals in the destination array.
You must dispose of the
MeshDataArray
once you have finished working with it. Calling Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData does not cause any memory allocations or data copies by default, as long as you dispose of the
MeshDataArray
before modifying the Mesh. However, if you call Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData and then modify the Mesh while the
MeshDataArray
exists, Unity must copy the
MeshDataArray
into a new memory allocation. In addition to this, if you call Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData and then modify the Mesh, your modifications are not reflected in the
MeshData
structs.
Use Dispose to dispose of the
MeshDataArray
, or use the C#
using
pattern to do this automatically:
using Unity.Collections;using UnityEngine;public class ExampleScript : MonoBehaviour{ void Start() { var mesh = new Mesh(); mesh.vertices = new[] {Vector3.one, Vector3.zero}; using (var dataArray = Mesh.AcquireReadOnlyMeshData(mesh)) { var data = dataArray[0]; // prints "2" Debug.Log(data.vertexCount); var gotVertices = new NativeArray<Vector3>(mesh.vertexCount, Allocator.TempJob); data.GetVertices(gotVertices); // prints "(1.0, 1.0, 1.0)" and "(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)" foreach (var v in gotVertices) Debug.Log(v); gotVertices.Dispose(); } }}
Writeable MeshData
Use Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData to obtain a Mesh.MeshDataArray of writeable
MeshData
structs. You can access the resulting
MeshDataArray
and
MeshData
structs from any thread. Creating a
MeshDataArray
has some overhead for memory tracking and safety reasons, so it is more efficient to make a single call to Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData and request multiple
MeshData
structs in the same
MeshDataArray
than it is to make multiple calls to Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData.
You can populate writeable
MeshData
structs with data to create new Meshes. Use Mesh.MeshData.SetVertexBufferParams to set the vertex buffer size and layout, and then write to the array returned by Mesh.MeshData.GetVertexData to set the vertices. Use Mesh.MeshData.SetIndexBufferParams to set the index buffer size and format, and then write to the array returned by Mesh.MeshData.GetIndexData to set the indices. Write to Mesh.MeshData.subMeshCount to set the number of sub meshes, and then use Mesh.MeshData.SetSubMesh to set sub mesh data.
When you have populated the writeable
MeshData
struct with your data, use Mesh.ApplyAndDisposeWritableMeshData to apply the data to Mesh objects and automatically dispose of the
MeshDataArray
.
using UnityEngine;using UnityEngine.Rendering;using Unity.Collections;[RequireComponent(typeof(MeshFilter))]public class ExampleScript : MonoBehaviour{ void Start() { // Allocate mesh data for one mesh. var dataArray = Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData(1); var data = dataArray[0]; // Tetrahedron vertices with positions and normals. // 4 faces with 3 unique vertices in each -- the faces // don't share the vertices since normals have to be // different for each face. data.SetVertexBufferParams(12, new VertexAttributeDescriptor(VertexAttribute.Position), new VertexAttributeDescriptor(VertexAttribute.Normal, stream: 1)); // Four tetrahedron vertex positions: var sqrt075 = Mathf.Sqrt(0.75f); var p0 = new Vector3(0, 0, 0); var p1 = new Vector3(1, 0, 0); var p2 = new Vector3(0.5f, 0, sqrt075); var p3 = new Vector3(0.5f, sqrt075, sqrt075 / 3); // The first vertex buffer data stream is just positions; // fill them in. NativeArray<Vector3> pos = data.GetVertexData<Vector3>(); pos[0] = p0; pos[1] = p1; pos[2] = p2; pos[3] = p0; pos[4] = p2; pos[5] = p3; pos[6] = p2; pos[7] = p1; pos[8] = p3; pos[9] = p0; pos[10] = p3; pos[11] = p1; // Note: normals will be calculated later in RecalculateNormals. // Tetrahedron index buffer: 4 triangles, 3 indices per triangle. // All vertices are unique so the index buffer is just a // 0,1,2,...,11 sequence. data.SetIndexBufferParams(12, IndexFormat.UInt16); NativeArray<ushort> indexBuffer = data.GetIndexData<ushort>(); for (ushort i = 0; i < indexBuffer.Length; ++i) indexBuffer[i] = i; // One sub-mesh with all the indices. data.subMeshCount = 1; data.SetSubMesh(0, new SubMeshDescriptor(0, indexBuffer.Length)); // Create the mesh and apply data to it: var mesh = new Mesh(); mesh.name = "Tetrahedron"; Mesh.ApplyAndDisposeWritableMeshData(dataArray, mesh); mesh.RecalculateNormals(); mesh.RecalculateBounds(); GetComponent<MeshFilter>().mesh = mesh; }}

Properties

Property

Description

indexFormatGets the format of the index buffer data in the
MeshData
. (Read Only)
lodCountNumber of levels of detail in this mesh.
lodSelectionCurveA struct containing values for lodBias and lodSlope. Unity uses these values when calculating which Mesh LOD level to select.
subMeshCountThe number of sub-meshes in the
MeshData
.
vertexBufferCountGets the number of vertex buffers in the
MeshData
. (Read Only)
vertexCountGets the number of vertices in the
MeshData
. (Read Only)

Methods

Method

Description

GetColorsPopulates an array with the vertex colors from the
MeshData
.
GetIndexDataGets raw data from the index buffer of the
MeshData
.
GetIndicesPopulates an array with the indices for a given sub-mesh from the
MeshData
.
GetLodGets a Mesh LOD range (index start and index count) for a given Mesh LOD.
GetNormalsPopulates an array with the vertex normals from the
MeshData
.
GetSubMeshGets data about a given sub-mesh in the
MeshData
.
GetTangentsPopulates an array with the vertex tangents from the
MeshData
.
GetUVsPopulates an array with the UVs from the
MeshData
.
GetVertexAttributeDimensionGets the dimension of a given vertex attribute in the
MeshData
.
GetVertexAttributeFormatGets the format of a given vertex attribute in the
MeshData
.
GetVertexAttributeOffsetGets the offset within a vertex buffer stream of a given vertex data attribute on this
MeshData
.
GetVertexAttributeStreamGet the vertex buffer stream index of a specific vertex data attribute on this
MeshData
.
GetVertexBufferStrideGet the vertex buffer stream stride in bytes.
GetVertexDataGets raw data for a given vertex buffer stream format in the
MeshData
.
GetVerticesPopulates an array with the vertex positions from the
MeshData
.
HasVertexAttributeChecks if a given vertex attribute exists in the
MeshData
.
SetIndexBufferParamsSets the index buffer size and format of the Mesh that Unity creates from the
MeshData
.
SetLodSet a Mesh LOD range for a given submesh and level of detail.
SetSubMeshSets the data for a sub-mesh of the Mesh that Unity creates from the
MeshData
.
SetVertexBufferParamsSets the vertex buffer size and layout of the Mesh that Unity creates from the
MeshData
.