# Troubleshooting import 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. ## Watch {% embed url="" %} ## 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](/build/import-your-own-models.md). ## 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 the materials look default-gray, plastic, or have lost their textures. **Cause**: the source file uses a non-standard shader (Maya's V-Ray shader, Houdini's principled shader with custom AOVs, etc.). Intangible accepts standard PBR materials; specialty shaders get flattened. **Fix**: two options: 1. **Re-export from your modeling tool with standard PBR materials.** Bake textures, save as albedo / normal / roughness maps. The result imports cleanly. 2. **Accept the default materials and use** [**image reference**](/overview/concepts/image-reference.md)**.** Attach a hero photograph; the visualizer will use the image to constrain surface treatment at render time, regardless of the imported material's quality. For brand-accurate hero assets, image reference is the canonical approach – it's 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): 1. **The file is too large.** Multi-gig FBX with millions of triangles overwhelms the browser-based system. Decimate externally before importing. 2. **The format isn't fully standard.** A custom variant of FBX (e.g. Maya FBX with embedded animation) sometimes fails to parse. Re-export with vanilla FBX options. 3. **The file is corrupted.** Re-export from the source. 4. **The browser has run out of memory.** Close tabs and retry. If the file is from a CAD tool that produces non-standard output (some specialty industrial CAD), convert to GLB externally first; GLB tends to be the most reliable interchange format. ## 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](/teams-and-billing/workspaces.md). ## Related * [Smart Import](/build/import-your-own-models.md) * [Image reference](/overview/concepts/image-reference.md) * [Supported file formats](/overview/reference/supported-file-formats.md) * [System requirements](/overview/reference/system-requirements.md) * [Workspaces](/teams-and-billing/workspaces.md) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.intangible.ai/overview/faq/troubleshooting-import.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. 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