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I'm trying to import .obj files from Life Science Database of Body Parts the files contain Polygon Mesh Data.

When I import the obj file into Blender, the Outliner shows a new mesh object was added, but nothing is visible in the 3D viewport:

Import

Nothing Visible

How can I solve invisible or missing objects after importing from STL, OBJ, FBX, PLY or any other exchange file formats?

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    $\begingroup$ you might have to zoom in. In 3dview hit period (with the object selected) $\endgroup$
    – zeffii
    May 31, 2015 at 15:27
  • $\begingroup$ Got it. The problem was with "origin" of the mesh, which was way outside the actual substance of the mesh. As a result, I was seeing the origin in the center of the viewport while the mesh was way outside (and as a result not visible until I zoomed out considerably). $\endgroup$
    – Ahsan Iqbal
    Jun 1, 2015 at 11:16
  • $\begingroup$ I think it's a bug. I had this too several times. I noticed that sometimes when you import an object it does not do that loading animation and immediately shows an empty mesh in the outliner. I know its empty because when I tab into it, it shows 0/0 vertices in the below status bar. I usually fix this by closing blender and opening it again. There usually is a little loading animation when the import successfully works. $\endgroup$
    – Harry McKenzie
    Aug 5, 2022 at 4:59

2 Answers 2

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Imported objects from other file formats, are often times really small, off centered, or very far away from scene origin, compared to the default scene scale.

First step is to make sure anything was actually imported. Look in the Outliner for new objects under current collection (geometry should be of mesh type). If there are any, use the Outliner to select them.

enter image description here

Then with the mouse over the 3D View press the Numpad . (Period) key, or go to View > Frame Selected for 2.8+, to view selected objects. This will zoom in tightly on the selected object.

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If the objects are too small or too big in relation to default scene scale you may still be able to see them due to being outside the view distance bounds.

If that is the case you may been to adjust clipping distances, either for the viewport, camera or both.

Working with scene scales too large or too small may lead to float point precision issues. Blender and Cycles render are set up to work best with 1 Blender Unit = 1 Meter, both in terms of lighting and physics. If your objects are in millimetres, Kilometres or very far from this scale range you may want to scale them up or down to fit roughly in that scale range, to avoid future issues.

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The easiest solution is FIRST checking the Dimensions. Select the object in the Outliner and press N then change the dimension to something below 20m (The cube is 2m) but use the Scale field so it's proportional. In this case I changed 1.000 to 0.001). Then press NumPad . and instantly you will see your object.

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    $\begingroup$ Thants for your brilliant advice. $\endgroup$
    – bandybabboon
    Nov 18, 2022 at 17:31

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