Troubleshooting import
Common Smart Import problems and how to fix each one. Models in the ground, models the size of a building, wrong orientation.
The Smart Import editing environment exists to catch the most common import problems before they reach your scene. The patterns below cover what surfaces in support.
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The model is in the ground
Symptom: the imported model lands with half of it below the ground plane.
Cause: the model was authored with its origin offset from where Intangible expects (typically the bottom-center).
Fix: click Center in the Smart Import editing environment. The model lands on the ground plane, origin at the bottom-center. If the model still looks wrong after centering, the origin in the source file is non-standard; re-export from your modeling tool with the origin at the bottom-center. See Smart Import.
The model is the size of a building
Symptom: a chair imports at 100 meters tall, or a car imports at 0.1 meters.
Cause: unit mismatch. The source file was authored in centimeters or millimeters; Intangible interprets the values as meters.
Fix: in the Smart Import editing environment, type the actual size into the size field. Reference the human silhouette and the 1-meter grid lines on the floor; if the model looks roughly the size you'd expect against the human, the scale is right.
For specific values: a chair is around 0.9 meters tall, a car is around 1.5 meters tall, a house is around 8 meters tall. Use these as sanity checks.
The orientation is wrong
Symptom: the imported model faces the wrong direction. A car's "front" is what Intangible thinks of as the right side.
Cause: the source file's orientation conventions differ from Intangible's. Maya, Blender, and Unreal each have different "forward" axes.
Fix: in the Smart Import editing environment, use the front/back/right/left rotation buttons to spin the model into the right orientation. The visualizer reads orientation when generating prompt context, so getting this right matters.
Materials look wrong or are missing
Symptom: the model imports but looks default-gray or has lost its textures.
Cause: all imported models are stripped of their materials on import. This applies regardless of the source format or shader type – standard PBR, V-Ray, Principled, anything. The mesh arrives as a gray asset.
Fix: use image reference. Attach a hero photograph of the asset in Object Details; the visualizer uses that image to constrain surface treatment at render time. This is the canonical approach for brand-accurate hero assets and is how the agency examples in the webinar handle imported CAD.
The import fails or hangs
Symptom: the file uploads, but the editing environment never opens, or it opens then crashes.
Causes (in rough order of likelihood):
The file is too dense. Multi-gig FBX with millions of triangles overwhelms the browser-based system. There's a ceiling on vertex count too – for example, models above ~280,000 vertices can fail. Decimate below that before importing.
The format isn't fully standard. A custom variant of FBX (e.g. Maya FBX with embedded animation) sometimes fails to parse. OBJ and FBX can also carry hidden nodes and cruft that trip the importer. Re-export with vanilla FBX options, or convert to GLB (see below).
The file is corrupted. Re-export from the source.
The browser has run out of memory. Close tabs and retry.
The most reliable fix for a stubborn OBJ or FBX is to open it in Blender and re-export as GLB. GLB is the cleanest interchange format for Smart Import, and a Blender → GLB pass almost always succeeds where the original file failed.
DXF imports as wireframe, not solid
Symptom: a DXF file imports but shows only as line geometry, not as solid mass.
Cause: DXF is a wireframe / line format by design. Solid mass requires a different interchange.
Fix: re-export from the CAD tool as FBX, OBJ, or GLB. DXF is useful as an architectural plan reference but not as a final asset.
Imports don't carry animation
Symptom: an FBX with an animated camera or rigged character imports as static geometry; the animation is gone.
Cause: Smart Import handles geometry only. Animations from your DCC don't import.
Fix: re-author the animation in Compose mode using keyframes. The 3D structure imports correctly; the motion has to be authored on the Intangible side.
My Assets vs Team Assets
Symptom: an imported asset shows up under My Assets when you wanted Team Assets, or vice-versa.
Cause: the import lands in whichever workspace is active at import time.
Fix: switch to the right workspace (top-left dropdown) before clicking Import. There's no cross-workspace asset move; if you imported into the wrong one, re-import in the right one. See Workspaces.
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