Roblox studio billboard gui scaling is one of those things that seems super simple until you actually try to make it work across different distances. If you've ever built a cool floating shop icon only to realize it looks like a giant billboard from a mile away and a tiny speck when you're standing right next to it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's frustrating, but honestly, it's a rite of passage for every developer. Once you get the hang of how the scaling logic works, you'll be able to create crisp, professional UIs that look great no matter where the player is standing.
In this guide, we're going to dive deep into how to fix those wonky sizes and make your Billboard GUIs behave. We aren't just looking at the buttons to click; we're looking at why things happen the way they do so you don't have to Google this every time you start a new project.
Offset vs. Scale: The Eternal Struggle
To understand how to fix your scaling, you have to understand the two numbers inside a UDim2. When you look at the Size property of a Billboard GUI, you'll see something like {0, 200}, {0, 50}. Those four numbers represent {Scale X, Offset X}, {Scale Y, Offset Y}.
Most beginners gravitate toward Offset. It's intuitive because it uses pixels. If you want a box that's 200 pixels wide, you put 200 in the Offset slot. The problem? Pixels are static. When you move away from a Billboard GUI that uses Offset, Roblox tries to keep that UI at exactly 200 pixels on your screen. Because the object it's attached to is getting smaller in the distance, but the UI stays the same pixel size, the UI eventually covers the entire screen. It's a mess.
Scale, on the other hand, is relative. In the context of a Billboard GUI, Scale is actually measured in studs. If you set the Scale X to 4, that GUI will always be exactly 4 studs wide in the 3D world. As you walk away, it gets smaller just like the parts around it. This is almost always what you want for name tags, overhead icons, or floating health bars.
How to Set Up Perfect Scaling
If you're staring at a UI that's currently taking up half the sky, here's how you fix it. Go into the properties of your BillboardGui. Look for the Size property. You probably have numbers in the second and fourth slots (the Offsets).
Change those to zero. Now, your UI will probably disappear or look like a tiny dot. Don't panic! Now, start messing with the first and third slots (the Scales). Try setting Scale X to 5 and Scale Y to 2. You'll notice that as you fly your camera around, the UI now shrinks and grows naturally with the environment. It feels like it's actually in the world rather than just plastered on top of your monitor.
Why Stud-Based Scaling Wins
When you use Scale (studs), you're ensuring consistency. Imagine you're making a tycoon game. You want a "Buy" icon over a button. If you use Offset, the icon might look perfect on your 1080p monitor but look massive on a tiny phone screen or way too small on a 4K display. By using Scale, you're telling Roblox: "I want this UI to be exactly this big relative to the part it's attached to." It makes your game feel much more polished.
Dealing with Text Scaling
Setting the BillboardGui size is only half the battle. If you have a TextLabel inside that GUI, you've probably noticed the text doesn't always play nice. Sometimes the box scales, but the text stays tiny or gets cut off.
The "magic button" here is the TextScaled property inside your TextLabel. When you check this box, Roblox will automatically stretch the font to fill up the entire space of the Label. If you combine a BillboardGui using Scale with a TextLabel that has TextScaled turned on, you've basically solved 90% of your UI problems. The whole thing will now grow and shrink as a single unit.
The "Always On Top" Dilemma
While we're talking about roblox studio billboard gui scaling, we should probably mention the AlwaysOnTop property. Sometimes you want your UI to be visible even if there's a wall in the way—like a player's name tag or a quest marker.
If you turn on AlwaysOnTop, just keep in mind that the scaling can feel a bit different. Because the UI is being rendered on a layer above the 3D world, it can sometimes "pop" more than you expect. If your scaling is set to Offset while AlwaysOnTop is on, it's going to look very intrusive. Always stick to Scale when you're letting UIs render through walls; it keeps them grounded.
Using MaxDistance to Keep Things Clean
Even with perfect scaling, you don't necessarily want a player to see a "Shop" icon from the other side of the map. It clutters the screen and can be distracting. This is where MaxDistance comes in.
In the BillboardGui properties, you'll find MaxDistance. By default, it's usually set to 0, which weirdly enough means infinite distance. If you change this to something like 50 or 100, the UI will simply vanish once the player walks far enough away. This is a great way to keep your game looking clean and performance-friendly. It also helps prevent that weird "tiny speck" issue where a scaled UI becomes a single pixel in the distance.
DistanceLowerLimit and DistanceUpperLimit
For those who want to get really fancy, Roblox added properties called DistanceLowerLimit and DistanceUpperLimit. These are great for when you want the UI to scale normally, but you don't want it to get too small or too big.
Think of it like a safety net. You can set a limit so that even if the player stands right inside the UI, it won't grow to cover their whole face. It's a bit more advanced, but if you're finding that your Scale-based UI is getting unreadable at extreme distances, these settings are your best friends.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
We've all been there. You've spent twenty minutes tweaking numbers and it still looks wrong. Here are a few things that usually trip people up:
- Forgetting the Parent: If your BillboardGui is parented to a part, it uses that part as its center. If it's in
StarterGui, you must set theAdorneeproperty to the part you want it to follow. If you don't, it just won't show up. - Mixing Offset and Scale: While you can mix them (like
{4, 10}, {1, 5}), it's usually a recipe for confusion. Unless you have a very specific reason to add a few pixels of padding, try to stick to one or the other. - Ignoring the AnchorPoint: If your UI seems to be shifting to the side as it scales, check your
AnchorPoint. Setting it to0.5, 0.5ensures the GUI scales from the center rather than from the top-left corner.
Making It Look "Aesthetic"
Let's be real—scaling is a technical hurdle, but once it's done, you want it to look good. Try adding a UICorner to your frames or labels inside the BillboardGui. Even with proper scaling, sharp square corners can look a bit dated. A little bit of rounding goes a long way.
Also, consider the ExtentsOffset. If your UI is clipping into the head of a character or the top of a part, don't move the part! Just change the ExtentsOffset Y-value to something like 2 or 3. This "lifts" the GUI up in the air without messily changing the 3D geometry of your game.
Wrapping It Up
Mastering roblox studio billboard gui scaling isn't about memorizing math; it's about shifting your mindset from pixels to studs. Once you embrace Scale over Offset, your life as a developer gets so much easier. Your UIs will look consistent across all devices, they'll feel like they belong in your world, and you'll spend a lot less time squinting at your screen wondering why a name tag is the size of a mountain.
Next time you drop a BillboardGui into your workspace, just remember: zero out those offsets, dial in your scale studs, and toggle TextScaled. It's a simple workflow, but it's the difference between a game that looks like a hobby project and one that looks like a professional production. Happy building!