Importing meshes

File › Import (Ctrl I), or simply Open, reads a mesh and turns it into clay.

Format	Brings
STL	Shape
OBJ	Shape, plus texture colours from its MTL’s map
PLY	Shape and vertex colours
glTF / GLB	Shape, vertex colours and base colour textures

Options

Option	Choices
Where	A new sculpt (default), a new object in this sculpt, or added to the selected object
Size	Real size, or fitted. Very small (under 5 mm) or too big for the build limit fits to 15 cm.
Units and up axis	For files that came from apps with other conventions
Detail	The detail level for the new clay
Clean up	Drop loose bits; fit a detail mesh to the scan

What happens to messy meshes

Inside and outside come from the mesh’s winding, so meshes with holes, flipped faces or overlapping parts still become solid clay. Imports run in the background with a progress bar and Cancel, then report holes closed, loose bits dropped and anything too thin for the chosen detail. A million-triangle mesh takes about a second.

For 3D scans, see Turning scans into clay.