Polymesh
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Polymesh is a Forge/NeoForge 1.20.1 client runtime for rendering glTF 2.0 models from mod resources.
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About
Description
Polymesh
Polymesh is a Forge/NeoForge 1.20.1 client runtime for rendering glTF 2.0 models from mod resources.
- Developer guide: docs/POLYMESH_PROJECT.md
- Releases: https://github.com/phe6/polymesh/releases
- Issues: https://github.com/phe6/polymesh/issues
Packaging
- Runtime library jar:
polymesh-1.0.0-forge.jar - Demo/test jar:
the_utah_teapot-1.0.0-forge.jar - CesiumMan proof jar:
cesium_man_demo-1.0.0-forge.jar - glTF assets are discovered under
assets/<modid>/models/gltf/*.gltfand*.glb.
Item Registration
Register the item normally, then register its glTF model during client setup:
PolymeshApi.registerItemRenderer(item, new ResourceLocation("mymod", "model_name"),
GltfRenderOptions.builder()
.scale(1.0f)
.animationClip("Walk")
.loopAnimation(true)
.build());The item still needs a custom renderer from initializeClient; return new GltfItemRenderer(theItem) there — it reads the model id and options registered above, so they live in exactly one place.
Runtime Notes
- Static non-skinned meshes are uploaded once to shared GPU buffers and reused by item instances.
- Skinned or morph-target item meshes use persistent VAO/VBO/EBO objects with dynamic vertex-buffer refreshes keyed by animation pose version. This avoids per-frame
VertexConsumertriangle emission and only recomputes deformed vertices when animation, skinning, or morph pose changes. - Normals from glTF are preserved. Missing normals are generated once at load time.
- Tangents from glTF are preserved. Missing tangents are generated when UVs are available for runtime data consumers.
- Embedded
.glbimages are registered as dynamic Minecraft textures during model load. - Resource reload clears GPU buffers and rebuilds loaded models.
- Item, entity, and block-entity renderers all share the same render backend (
PolymeshRenderer), which prefers the GPU static/animated paths and falls back to the CPU vertex-consumer path when needed (e.g. under an active shader pack). - glTF
extras, extension lists, node names, morph target names, and posed node transforms are kept available for game logic.
Supported Features
- glTF 2.0
.gltfwith relative buffers/images - binary
.glb - node hierarchy and TRS/matrix transforms
- materials with base color texture/factor and alpha modes
- skins, inverse bind matrices, morph targets, and animation channels for item rendering
- runtime node/bone lookup for attachment points, hitbox drivers, and gameplay code
- named morph target lookup and runtime morph weight overrides
- glTF
extrasmetadata on models, nodes, and materials
Demo Mods
teapotcontains the static Utah Teapot item plus a CesiumMan item.cesium-manis a minimal proof mod with only one animatedcesium_manitem backed byassets/cesium_man_demo/models/gltf/cesium_man.glb.
Shader Notes
Polymesh preserves the normals authored in the glTF asset and renders through vanilla-style entity render states. It does not claim shader-pack-side smooth-normal fixes; shader packs that derive lighting from their own geometry pipeline may still need shader-side support.
License
Polymesh — a glTF 2.0 model rendering library for Minecraft Forge/NeoForge 1.20.1 Copyright (C) 2026 Phe
This library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library (see LICENSE.LESSER and LICENSE). If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Bundled dependencies: jgltf (MIT) and Jackson (Apache-2.0) are repackaged inside the forge jar under their own licenses.
Polymesh
Polymesh is a Forge/NeoForge 1.20.1 client runtime for rendering glTF 2.0 models from mod resources.
- Developer guide: docs/POLYMESH_PROJECT.md
- Releases: https://github.com/phe6/polymesh/releases
- Issues: https://github.com/phe6/polymesh/issues
Packaging
- Runtime library jar:
polymesh-1.0.0-forge.jar - Demo/test jar:
the_utah_teapot-1.0.0-forge.jar - CesiumMan proof jar:
cesium_man_demo-1.0.0-forge.jar - glTF assets are discovered under
assets/<modid>/models/gltf/*.gltfand*.glb.
Item Registration
Register the item normally, then register its glTF model during client setup:
PolymeshApi.registerItemRenderer(item, new ResourceLocation("mymod", "model_name"),
GltfRenderOptions.builder()
.scale(1.0f)
.animationClip("Walk")
.loopAnimation(true)
.build());
The item still needs a custom renderer from initializeClient; return new GltfItemRenderer(theItem) there — it reads the model id and options registered above, so they live in exactly one place.
Runtime Notes
- Static non-skinned meshes are uploaded once to shared GPU buffers and reused by item instances.
- Skinned or morph-target item meshes use persistent VAO/VBO/EBO objects with dynamic vertex-buffer refreshes keyed by animation pose version. This avoids per-frame
VertexConsumertriangle emission and only recomputes deformed vertices when animation, skinning, or morph pose changes. - Normals from glTF are preserved. Missing normals are generated once at load time.
- Tangents from glTF are preserved. Missing tangents are generated when UVs are available for runtime data consumers.
- Embedded
.glbimages are registered as dynamic Minecraft textures during model load. - Resource reload clears GPU buffers and rebuilds loaded models.
- Item, entity, and block-entity renderers all share the same render backend (
PolymeshRenderer), which prefers the GPU static/animated paths and falls back to the CPU vertex-consumer path when needed (e.g. under an active shader pack). - glTF
extras, extension lists, node names, morph target names, and posed node transforms are kept available for game logic.
Supported Features
- glTF 2.0
.gltfwith relative buffers/images - binary
.glb - node hierarchy and TRS/matrix transforms
- materials with base color texture/factor and alpha modes
- skins, inverse bind matrices, morph targets, and animation channels for item rendering
- runtime node/bone lookup for attachment points, hitbox drivers, and gameplay code
- named morph target lookup and runtime morph weight overrides
- glTF
extrasmetadata on models, nodes, and materials
Demo Mods
teapotcontains the static Utah Teapot item plus a CesiumMan item.cesium-manis a minimal proof mod with only one animatedcesium_manitem backed byassets/cesium_man_demo/models/gltf/cesium_man.glb.
Shader Notes
Polymesh preserves the normals authored in the glTF asset and renders through vanilla-style entity render states. It does not claim shader-pack-side smooth-normal fixes; shader packs that derive lighting from their own geometry pipeline may still need shader-side support.
License
Polymesh — a glTF 2.0 model rendering library for Minecraft Forge/NeoForge 1.20.1 Copyright (C) 2026 Phe
This library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library (see LICENSE.LESSER and LICENSE). If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Bundled dependencies: jgltf (MIT) and Jackson (Apache-2.0) are repackaged inside the forge jar under their own licenses.
Screenshots
Gallery
-
Teapot - Vanilla
-
Teapot - Shaders Old screenshot. The new version support smooth normals with shaders. -
Teapot - Vanilla
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