Model Overview

Models apply to both blocks and items. This page does not teach you how to create models in a modeling tool. If you want to learn model creation, see .

This page is a simple overview of models: where model files go, and which registration methods relate to models.

Main

Where Model Files Go

Model paths are simple:

Item models live under assets/${modid}/models/item.

Block models live under assets/${modid}/models/block.

The model filename must match the block/item id, and the file extension must be .json.

Registration Methods

For items, you can use .model(...) and pass the model path directly. For example:

StartupEvents.registry("item", (event) => {
	let MODID = "test_mod"
	event.create(`${MODID}:test_item`)
		.model(`${MODID}:item/test_item`)
})

Here let MODID = "test_mod" is your custom mod id (namespace). When specifying the model path, it must match this namespace. If you do not set your own namespace, the default is kubejs.

For blocks:

StartupEvents.registry("block", (event) => {
	let MODID = "test_mod"
	event.create("test_mod:test_block")
		.model(`${MODID}:block/test_block`)
})

Same idea: the namespace in the model path must match.

Simple Model JSON Examples

Multi-face Block

This is a simple block model JSON example that does not require Blockbench.

We'll use a furnace-like model (different textures on different faces) as the reference.

First, prepare textures for the front, side, and top.

Create a JSON file named after your block id under models/block. Start with this (do not copy the comments into a real JSON file; real JSON does not allow comments):

{
	// You can omit the "minecraft:" namespace, but we include it for clarity
	"parent": "minecraft:block/orientable"
}

This sets the parent model. Your model is based on that parent.

Next, define textures:

{
	// You can omit the "minecraft:" namespace, but we include it for clarity
	"parent": "minecraft:block/orientable",
	"textures": {
		// Front face
		"front": "test_mod:block/front",
		// Side faces
		"side": "test_mod:block/side",
		// Top face
		"top": "test_mod:block/top"
	}
}

That is enough for a basic block model. Put the textures under assets/test_mod/textures/block.

Item

Item models are even simpler:

{
	"parent": "minecraft:item/generated",
	"textures": {
		"layer0": "test_mod:item/test_item"
	}
}