Model inspector: what the model is, and what is wrong with it

Before you clean a model up, it helps to know what you are looking at. The Model inspector tells you, and then it tells you what is wrong.

Open the command search with Ctrl + K and type Model inspector.

What the model is

At the top are tiles with the numbers that matter: how many parts, groups, triangles and points the model has, how big it is, how much memory its meshes use, how many materials it has and how much of it is shared. Under them is a list of the heaviest parts. Click a part in the list and it is selected in the view.

Checks that are instant

These need no scan. Each one is a row with a count and a Select button.

Parts with no material

Parts that would draw in a plain grey. Select picks them, and the Materials button gives them one.

Parts with no triangles

Empty parts. They carry nothing and can be deleted.

Tiny parts

Parts too small to see at the size of the model. Delete small parts… removes them.

Heavy parts

The parts that hold most of the triangles. Decimate takes triangles out of them.

Hidden parts

Parts you have hidden. Show all brings them back.

Scan the geometry

Press Scan the geometry. The inspector reads every mesh once, with a progress bar, and you can press Stop at any time. A mesh with more than a million triangles is skipped and reported as too big for the scan. When it finishes, you see only the problems it found.

Parts turned inside out

Every face of the part points inward. The part looks dark, or see-through from outside. Fix normals… turns it right.

Faces turned the wrong way

One face, or a few, point the opposite way to their neighbours. Fix normals… lines them up.

Triangles with no area

Triangles squashed flat to a line or a point. Repair mesh… removes them.

The same triangle twice

Two triangles sitting on each other. Repair mesh… keeps one.

Holes and cracks

Edges that belong to only one triangle, so the surface is open there. Remove holes… closes the ones it can.

Edges shared by three or more triangles

A seam where more than two surfaces meet, which most programs cannot treat as a solid.

Pinched corners

A point where the surface touches itself, like a bow-tie.

Parts in several pieces

One part that is really two or more separate lumps. Remove floating pieces… finds the loose ones.

Needle triangles

Triangles that are almost as thin as a line. They make shading look rough.