Block Culling

Applying Culling Rules ​

Block culling rules allow you to remove faces of a block's model based on the surrounding full, opaque blocks. This can help to improve the game's performance as resources aren't wasted on unnecessarily rendering hidden parts of your block.

Culling rules are added in your resource pack's "block_culling" folder and appear in the format shown below:

{
    "format_version": "1.21.70",
    "minecraft:block_culling_rules": {
        "description": {
            "identifier": "wiki:culling.lamp" // Identifier to be referenced in block JSON geometry component.
        },
        "rules": [ ... ] // An array that can contain multiple culling rules.
    }
}

They are then applied to block models in your block's minecraft:geometry component:

"minecraft:geometry": {
    "identifier": "geometry.lamp", // Model identifier
    "culling": "wiki:culling.lamp" // Block culling rules identifier
}

Culling Entire Bones ​

This type of rule should be used if a bone is only visible from one direction, meaning the entire bone can be culled rather than individual cube faces.

{
    "direction": "up", // This bone will be culled if there is a full, opaque block above the lamp.
    "geometry_part": {
        "bone": "lamp_bulb" // Name of the bone to be culled.
    }
}

Culling Cube Faces ​

This type of rule should be used when you want to hide specific faces of cubes that are abutting full, opaque blocks.

{
    "direction": "down", // This bone will be culled if there is a full, opaque block below the lamp.
    "geometry_part": {
        "bone": "lamp_base", // Name of the bone containing the cube to be culled.
        "cube": 0, // The zero-based index of the cube in the bone's "cubes" array.
        "face": "down" // The face of the cube to cull. This is usually the same as the rule's "direction" unless your cube is rotated.
    }
}

Culling Conditions ​

Culling rules will always cull against for full, opaque faces of adjacent blocks. However, they can also cull against other types of blocks based on the rule's condition parameter.

{
    "condition": "same_block", // Cull against a full, opaque block OR a block with the same identifier.
    "direction": "down",
    "geometry_part": {
        "bone": "lamp_bulb" // Name of the bone containing the cube to be culled.
    }
}

Default ​

When the default condition is used, the specified geometry part is only culled if the adjacent block is full and opaque. This culling also applies to all of the following conditions.

Same Block ​

When the same_block condition is used, the specified geometry part is also culled if the adjacent block has the same identifier as the block.

Same Block Permutation ​

When the same_block_permutation condition is used, the specified geometry part is also culled if the adjacent block has the same identifier and state values as the block.

Same Culling Layer ​

When the same_culling_layer condition is used, the specified geometry part is also culled if the adjacent block has the same culling_layer identifier as the block.