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#1 Old 25th Feb 2026 at 7:05 PM
Default my mesh turns transparent when importing to simPE
hello, i hope you're having a nice day i hope someone here can help me because i’m not sure what to do. i spent a considerable amount of time on this model and the idea of having to redo it is exhausting. in blender it looks normal and it doesn’t have flipped normals, but when i import it into SimPE it says it can’t recognize the faces and it looks like in the image i made the model using the knife modifier in blender, it doesn’t have many vertices on the front, only the ones the engine creates when it automatically triangulates it, and it only shows the parts made with extrusion. i doubt this is because of the modifier i used since i know many creators who have been able to import models made with the same technique into s4s, but maybe i’m wrong. it’s a bit strange because at the same time the calculator buttons also look transparent, and those were modeled normally and don’t have inverted normals either.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 26th Feb 2026 at 12:08 AM
Have you UV-unwrapped the model? Looks like it's only showing texture on the sides.

Also, are you sure there are only faces/polys with 3 or 4 edges/vertices? If there are larger faces (5 or more edges/vertices per polygon), SimPE often throws a tantrum over it, either throwing an error on import, or not showing the polys. Overlapping polys can also potentially be an issue. Extruding that way can cause some bugs - it tends to work, but you may need to do some cleanup after.

If you export directly from Blender, make sure to use the proper settings too, or you get an inverted mesh + likely an error in SimPE. Personally, I tick these:
2.7+ --> Apply modifiers, Include edges, Write normals, Include UVs and "Objects as OBJ groups".
4.0+ --> UV coordinates, Normals, Apply Modifiers, Object Groups.
(the most important are UVs and normals, plus Object Groups if you have more than one item)

A tip for extrusion - make sure the polys are set up properly before extruding (either knife tool, or mark 2 vertices + click J to create an edge). That way both sides are already fixed and fine.
If you trace an item but don't care where the polys are, then extrude, you end up with a lot more to fix, and often a more uneven model, likely also unnecessarily higher poly too.
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Original Poster
#3 Old 26th Feb 2026 at 3:05 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Have you UV-unwrapped the model? Looks like it's only showing texture on the sides.

Also, are you sure there are only faces/polys with 3 or 4 edges/vertices? If there are larger faces (5 or more edges/vertices per polygon), SimPE often throws a tantrum over it, either throwing an error on import, or not showing the polys. Overlapping polys can also potentially be an issue. Extruding that way can cause some bugs - it tends to work, but you may need to do some cleanup after.

If you export directly from Blender, make sure to use the proper settings too, or you get an inverted mesh + likely an error in SimPE. Personally, I tick these:
2.7+ --> Apply modifiers, Include edges, Write normals, Include UVs and "Objects as OBJ groups".
4.0+ --> UV coordinates, Normals, Apply Modifiers, Object Groups.
(the most important are UVs and normals, plus Object Groups if you have more than one item)

A tip for extrusion - make sure the polys are set up properly before extruding (either knife tool, or mark 2 vertices + click J to create an edge). That way both sides are already fixed and fine.
If you trace an item but don't care where the polys are, then extrude, you end up with a lot more to fix, and often a more uneven model, likely also unnecessarily higher poly too.
hello, thank you for replying yes, i've unwraped it before! i'll leave a few pictures of how its topology looks :c do you think I should have made loopcuts before using the knife tool on the plane?
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#4 Old 26th Feb 2026 at 5:36 AM
You do need to part up the big polys at the front and back. SimPE does translate square polys into triangular, but likely has trouble with those large polys.

Also try reducing the edges a bit around the curve (especially chin/ears/paws), or the polycount is going to be quite high.

You can connect the edges from side to side up to the insets, and do cuts along the ears. Try to avoid cutting through multiple lines wherever you can, because it only increases the polycount.

Tried to roughly show one way to do it in the picture below.
Screenshots
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Original Poster
#5 Old 28th Feb 2026 at 3:48 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
You do need to part up the big polys at the front and back. SimPE does translate square polys into triangular, but likely has trouble with those large polys.

Also try reducing the edges a bit around the curve (especially chin/ears/paws), or the polycount is going to be quite high.

You can connect the edges from side to side up to the insets, and do cuts along the ears. Try to avoid cutting through multiple lines wherever you can, because it only increases the polycount.

Tried to roughly show one way to do it in the picture below.

hello!! i tried it, but it happened again. i did a weird experiment where i imported the same mesh into roblox, and it was accepted with no issues and looked exactly like it does in blender. but when i imported it into simpe, it was the complete opposite, it deleted the front faces made with knife, no matter how many modifiers i used to convert it into a mesh with normal scale. then i tried importing into SimPE the version i had exported for roblox, and that one was accepted with no problem at all. i used the export settings you mentioned, but nothing worked except that it seems like other game engines accept the model just fine, but SimPE doesn't, at least not directly
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Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 28th Feb 2026 at 4:18 AM
Quote: Originally posted by snailunch
hello!! i tried it, but it happened again. i did a weird experiment where i imported the same mesh into roblox, and it was accepted with no issues and looked exactly like it does in blender. but when i imported it into simpe, it was the complete opposite, it deleted the front faces made with knife, no matter how many modifiers i used to convert it into a mesh with normal scale. then i tried importing into SimPE the version i had exported for roblox, and that one was accepted with no problem at all. i used the export settings you mentioned, but nothing worked except that it seems like other game engines accept the model just fine, but SimPE doesn't, at least not directly
NEVERMIND, i found a solution!! thank you so much for all your help <3 in case this helps anyone in the future, what was happening is that i needed to check the “triangulated mesh” box when exporting in blender and uncheck the materials option. i also had to make sure everything was converted to mesh, apply scale, and try flipping normals. it’s honestly kind of hard to figure out if you’re a beginner in blender and you’re using less documented programs like simpe, because a lot of the time you just have to figure things out through trial and error 😭
Mad Poster
#7 Old 28th Feb 2026 at 4:20 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Feb 2026 at 4:51 AM.
Could you upload the Blender version? Just curious how it's put together.

How other games/game engines translate meshes likely relies on various other things. It's possible the creation tools for Roblox accepts the multi-vertex faces.

.SimPE can manage some multi-vertex faces, but I've noticed they need to be somewhat simple, and preferably one plane (a circle cap like at the ends of a cylinder, or anything that would work with criss-crossing edges that don't overlap - the more complex, the less likely it will work). If the plane is interrupted by other geometry, it rarely works. It's probably having the most issues with the insets/buttons. SimPE doesn't translate modifiers, so make sure the mesh is ready for upload (no modifiers).

Milkshape is often a decent translator of how the mesh behaves - if it doesn't work there, it's less likely to work in SimPE.

If I'm working with meshes like this, I sometimes prefer the "bridge edges" option (it's been moved around, but I think it's still under the edge menu) over the knife tool. It gives more control, plus you make sure the edges are tied together where they're supposed to be. You can choose multiple edges as long as they don't cause the bridge to cross over other polys. Filling the gaps could also work.

A couple of quick tutorials (I often look up Blender stuff on Youtube - plenty of tutorials, and you can find a lot of short ones if you're just looking for spesific tools/methods).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrMY8k1l5dI (uses shortcuts, but it's the same method)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vApGpkd05x4 (filling holes)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sv9sa12d0yo (fill N-gons - not optimal, but can work)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwpajQ0oQPI (Ngons to quads)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 1st Mar 2026 at 1:59 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Could you upload the Blender version? Just curious how it's put together.

How other games/game engines translate meshes likely relies on various other things. It's possible the creation tools for Roblox accepts the multi-vertex faces.

.SimPE can manage some multi-vertex faces, but I've noticed they need to be somewhat simple, and preferably one plane (a circle cap like at the ends of a cylinder, or anything that would work with criss-crossing edges that don't overlap - the more complex, the less likely it will work). If the plane is interrupted by other geometry, it rarely works. It's probably having the most issues with the insets/buttons. SimPE doesn't translate modifiers, so make sure the mesh is ready for upload (no modifiers).

Milkshape is often a decent translator of how the mesh behaves - if it doesn't work there, it's less likely to work in SimPE.

If I'm working with meshes like this, I sometimes prefer the "bridge edges" option (it's been moved around, but I think it's still under the edge menu) over the knife tool. It gives more control, plus you make sure the edges are tied together where they're supposed to be. You can choose multiple edges as long as they don't cause the bridge to cross over other polys. Filling the gaps could also work.

A couple of quick tutorials (I often look up Blender stuff on Youtube - plenty of tutorials, and you can find a lot of short ones if you're just looking for spesific tools/methods).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrMY8k1l5dI (uses shortcuts, but it's the same method)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vApGpkd05x4 (filling holes)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sv9sa12d0yo (fill N-gons - not optimal, but can work)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwpajQ0oQPI (Ngons to quads)
it's blender 5.0!! in the end, i figured out that i just had to check the “triangulated mesh” box. i hadn’t considered it because i’d never needed it for other meshes, and i had already triangulated everything manually. it’s strange, but that was the issue. i truly appreciate your help from the bottom of my heart!! i think the roblox version worked because the engine automatically triangulates everything
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