Any time I import an obj into Blender 2.81a I get missing faces. The lines and vertices are there. I can go to edit mode and hit f to fill in the faces, but I'm leary about doing that with morphs for poser. Is anyone else having this problem? It's not just with poser figures, it's with any obj.

This is very interesting. I have been using 2.81a for a while now and imported many OBJ's from Zbrush and 3dsmax but have not seen anything like this. I'm curious if this is actually an import error or a display driver issue? Can you verify that the geometry faces are completely absent from the mesh entirely, or can you select the faces that are supposed to be there but they're just invisible? You mentioned that the lines and vertices are still there so I'm assuming the faces must also be there, just that you can't see them? If you are in face selection mode, can you select any of those missing faces?

I did a quick search for this problem but I haven't found anything useful. If you are able to pose a screenshot with wireframe edges visible it might help. Or better yet post the .blend file with a mesh afflicted with the issue so we can have a look first hand.

I'm assuming also that you already inspected the surface normals and the geometry is actually gone?

Actually I can select faces. I thought I hadn't been able to but double-checked. And they are facing the correct way. This is obcet mode with the wire frame.

When I went in to edit mode and selected some random faces, I got this weird thing.

That went away when I selected everything and hit F. Once I did that everything seems normal.

How did you create the Obj imported into Blender? Is it the original OBJ file from Posers geometry folder?

Yes, it's the original object file. That one happens to be Lafemme, but I've had it happen with other objects too. Checking some things I've made in Blender, they import okay.

Have you tried to reset Blenders import-parameters?

So this is only happening with Poser OBJ files or files either exported from Poser as OBJ or intended for use in Poser? What about OBJ files exported from other packages like Maya or 3dsmax? Since the polygons on the objects are not actually missing, and the normals are facing the correct direction (you could verify this very easily with Overlays > Face Orientation), then it would indicate either something going on with the Poser OBJ format or a graphics driver display issue. When you enter edit mode and you see that black bar, is that selectable? Is it an object or just a display glitch? If that isn't actually wonky geometry, then it points even more strongly toward display issues, but if it's actually geometry (distorted faces or edges), then we're looking at an actual geometry issue for sure.

I'm going to assume also that you didn't have this problem with earlier versions of Blender?

LuxXeon posted at 7:22AM Tue, 14 January 2020 - #4376536

So this is only happening with Poser OBJ files or files either exported from Poser as OBJ or intended for use in Poser? What about OBJ files exported from other packages like Maya or 3dsmax?

I think this becomes missleading. Blender has no problems with correctly exported OBJ files from Poser if imported with the right parameters. I do this all day long. It must be something special with RedPhantoms installation or configuration. And it must be on Blenders side, because he imported the original OBJ file from Poser (works fine for me).

I exported out LaFemme from Poser and imported to Blender no issue I am working on uncompressing the files and going to try and grab the original obj from the folder to see if there is a difference and no not able to recreate this error so thinking the Blender install has become corrupt some how

Ok, so this is starting to sound more and more like an isolated case of corrupted files or display driver issues. Can you tell us what GPU you have and are the drivers up to date there?

When you say you've verified that the faces are facing the right way, does that mean you've tried to "recalculate normals" on the mesh? I've had stuff import with errant faces like that before, would have been 2.56 era maybe, and recalculating the normals always sorted me. I did NOT have the phantom black thing issue tho, which as LuxXeon says, would seem more like a possible display/driver issue.

I checked and it seems as though it might be only poser things that do it. I imported something made in shade and it was fine. I also check the demon head that comes with zbrush. That was fine and so was the morph of L'homme i was working on and had exported from zbrush. V4 crashed blender entirely.

As far as the direction of the normals, I used the normal display line things.

recalculating the normals changed nothing.

My video card is 1024MB NVIDIA GeForce 210. There hasn't been a new driver in years so they are as up to date as they can be.

The phantom black thing can't be selected. It only shows at certain angles and totally disappears and doesn't come back when I add the faces.

And no. I never had this with other versions of blender

Can you show us Blenders import option dialog? (After selecting import Wavefront, Bottom left, window named "Import OBJ")

OK I have seen that Phantom black anomaly before and it was the eyelashes which use to cause an error in the past but I have not seen that in years but it was something common that use to happen with Genesis 2 figures when they first came out there was a fix for it but it has been so long I do not recalll what it is. Just out of curiosity do you access to another version of Blender like 2.79 and tried importing the same OBJ into it to see if the same happens? According to Blender support for your graphic card ended with 2.76

The same files load fine in 2.80. I don't have 2.79 anymore but I never had propblems when I did use it.

OK then only thing I can think of is 2.81 has become corrupt I know it was bought up prior to the holiday that 2.81 was lacking some obj import parameters that were not carried over but I have opened the same file that I am sure of is the same obj your using from my poser library and it is loading fine haven't been able to replicate the same error

Hmm. Have you tried rendering it [not using a gpu based render engine]? That might help rule out display issues. I'm doubting its a display issue anymore tho. Looking at everything again, it looks like the problem is exclusive to the head? If it were a problem with your graphics card/drivers, it'd be present everywhere. I'm guessing the UV unwrap for the head cuts off right about where the issue stops appearing.

I haven't been following Blender THAT closely recently, but what Lobo says is plausible, it could very well be an issue with a change [or omission] in the import module in the most recent version. If so, you might be able to get around it, importing it in an older version of Blender which you said loads the object ok, saving it as a .blend then working with it in the newer version if there are features you need that aren't present in the older version.

It renders okay in cycles. In eevee, it is messed up. The legs don't have a texture and it shows the black stuff, which changes each time I click on the figure. The faces are missing from the whole thing. And while I'm not 100% positive, it looks like it's the same faces each time.

This is the full body

Here is a cycles render

Here is an eevee render

And this is what happens when I fill in the faces. It shows all one map. This is a cycles render

I tried importing the figure into blender 2.80 and saving it as a blend file and loading it in 2.81 and I had the same problem. I also tried exporting an obj from 2.80 and importing it into 2.81 with no luck.

I was trying out other blend files and found some that didn't contain poser things that also were acting up. Then I got this, and where there is a problem in other windows maybe it is a video card issue. The colors went away when I clicked on things in the windows.

Hmm, I think you might have BOTH problems here?

Yikes to that craziness in the last picture! That's usually a gpu issue; whether its just an incompatibility in drivers/software or something more sinister I couldn't guess [tho if it went away when you clicked over there, I'd lean toward software issue, maybe?]. Keep you eyes open for other oddities in other programs tho, if you start getting artifacting like that in multiple places/programs where it wasn't before [unless you made a system wide change, like upgrading your OS]. that would be a pretty sure sign your gpu is preparing to shuffle off. If weirdness persists, it probably wouldn't hurt if you're up to it, to re-seat the gpu, and check the power connections/etc to it, they can occasionally vibrate a little loose over time, which can give you some display issues.

It is the same faces each time. If you look at the characters left ear, you can see an "L" shape above it, made up of correctly oriented polygons, and in front of that, you've got a "mutton chop" of inverted faces, then there's a 6 polygon [3 pairs] making a bit of a "triangle" on the forehead.

Interesting sequence of renders. The first Cycles render, is that using the CPU or the GPU [if i remember correctly, cycles can use either]? I know Eevee is GPU only, so I'm not surprised to see it rendering a mess. If something isn't displaying right in the viewport, its more often than not going to be wonky in a GPU render as well.

It looks like all the problem areas, are in UV spaces that are NOT the torso/arms. Are the torso/arms a single UV map? It could be something in the export/import that isn't liking the way the UVs are handled. Since it seems to switch between OK on the torso, and wonky right where I'd guess the seams are. It could be something that is parsing the first island/map correctly for the torso, then getting twisted up after that. I don't know what Poser's preferences are, but it could be something like poser wants the vertices at the edge of the UV islands one way, but Blender is looking for the data differently, which could hose your point order.

Also, worth trying some lower res maps, could be you're running out of GPU Ram if you're using high-res textures, which MIGHT be a reason why you're getting all one map in the render when you fill in the faces.

You could try playing with more import/export options, seeing if something works out, but if it loads fine in 2.80 but you're fighting it this much in 2.81, I think it may be best to stick with 2.80 and hope for the best whenever 2.82 ... or 2.81a or whatever rolls down the pipe. And keep an eye out for other graphical artifacts in case your GPU is staring into the abyss.

Wish I could offer something more definitive, or at least, more helpful. :(

I would use Guru 3D's nVIDIA driver uninstaller and reinstall my video card driver. If one of the nVIDIA driver files gets corrupted it can cause a host of problems and nVIDIA spews files all across your hdd. But be sure to use the uninstaller (in safe mode as directed) reinstall your video card driver and check it again.

Thanks. i'll look into that

reinstalling my driver didn't help. I installed 2.82 to see if anything changed and there was no improvement. More experimenting and it seems to have problems with any object with more than one material zone, even a simple subdivided cube, even one made in that version. I started having problems as soon as I assigned a second zone to some faces

Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to see any improvements in future versions, and might have to roll back to 2.80 or whatever was the last working version you had, it looks like you're GPU might not be supported anymore.

The official Blender system requirements, list a minimum of Geforce 400 series cards...

System Requirements

... but I did run across this ...

Supported GPUs in Blender 2.80

,,, which says 2.80 may work on Geforce 200 series cards, but that's with some band-aids in the code, and reading between the lines, it looks like they're phasing support for those cards out. The work-arounds could have caused problems with newer stuff implemented in 2.81+ and had to be dropped or may just have been oversight, etc, which could explain the issues you're having in the newer versions. I'm just speculating tho. You might have a read thru the comments section there, see if anyone mentions similar problems to what you're experiencing.

I figure it's my card. I can still use 2.80 so that's good. I'll read through the link you posted and see if I can find anything. Thanks

Yep, as Warlock279 suggested, your 1024MB NVIDIA GeForce 210 is just not supported in 2.8x or later. The issues you're seeing there are going to be related to the very limited amount of Vram and outdated drivers your card has. I don't even think Nvidia is offering Geforce drivers now that will work with that particular card model properly.

The Geforce 200x series support mentioned in the link documentation was written during the Beta dev and shortly after the official release of 2.8. I wouldn't count on it being truly relevant after the official release, and you're most likely using only CPU capability in Blender aside from the viewport display. Since your card only has 1024 MB of Vram, all textures and geometry which exceed that limit will misbehave in your viewport. The reason it will still render properly is that your CPU is taking over at that point. You will likely need to either upgrade your GPU or roll back to 2.79 to get proper viewport behavior.