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Polygon counter

Inspect any 3D model — polygon counter, UV, normals

Knowing the triangle count, UV channels and bounding box of an asset before importing it into a game engine saves hours of debugging. This inspector parses GLB, GLTF, OBJ, STL, PLY and FBX and tells you what is actually inside the file.

polygon counter online · 3d model inspector · count triangles glb · fbx polygon count · check triangles obj

Why use the Polygon counter?

The most common reason a 3D asset misbehaves in Unity, Unreal or Godot is not what it looks like — it is what is inside the file. Too many triangles. Missing UV sets. No normals baked. Materials that point to textures the file does not embed. A bounding box twenty times bigger than the rest of your scene.

This inspector is built to answer those questions in two seconds. Drop a model, get a report: triangle count, vertex count, mesh count, materials, UV channels, presence of normals and vertex colors, file size on disk, and the bounding box dimensions. Each polycount is then matched against three real-world budgets — mobile / web (≈ 20k triangles), indie game (≈ 100k), and AAA (≈ 500k+) — so you instantly see whether the asset is ready to ship or needs simplification first.

When you need this

Triage an asset-store purchase before importing it into your engine
Audit a freelance delivery — verify polycount, UV channels and normals match the brief
Compare two LODs of the same model to see what the simplifier kept
Diagnose why an OBJ renders flat-shaded (no normals, no smoothing groups)
Check the bounding box of an architectural model before scaling it to engine units
Decide whether a model fits the mobile / indie / AAA triangle budget

Tips

Drop the same file twice — the second parse is cached and instant. Useful when comparing it to a reduced version side-by-side.
If polycount is way over budget, click "Reduce polygons" to jump straight into the polygon reducer with the file pre-loaded.
Multi-mesh files? The total triangles row is the sum across all meshes. Open the file in the viewer to see them individually.
For LOD planning, aim for halving the triangle count between each level. The inspector's budget bands give you the target range.

Common pitfalls

Read these before running the tool — they save hours of debugging.

Triangle count ≠ render cost

A 50k-triangle model with one material renders cheaper than a 20k-triangle model with twenty material splits. The inspector shows mesh count and material count too — use both to estimate draw calls, not just polycount.

Missing normals = flat shading

OBJ and STL frequently ship without baked normals. If the "Normals" row says no, your engine will generate flat (faceted) normals on import. Re-export from your DCC with "Smoothing groups" enabled, or convert through GLB which always embeds normals.

Quads are counted as triangles

The reader triangulates on the fly: a quad-based mesh shows roughly double the triangle count of the source. This matches what your engine sees — engines render triangles, not quads.

Bounding box uses file units

The bounds are reported in the file's own units. FBX often ships in centimetres, GLB in metres, OBJ has no enforced unit. A 100×100×100 bounding box can mean very different things — check the import scale of your engine.

Frequently asked questions

Which 3D formats can the inspector read?
GLB, glTF, OBJ, STL, PLY and FBX. Most reader operations finish in under a second; large FBX files with embedded textures can take 2–3 seconds.
Why does my OBJ show zero normals?
OBJ stores normals as an optional vn entry. If the exporter that produced it did not include them, the inspector reports zero — which is accurate. The engine will compute flat normals at import unless you re-export with normals enabled.
What is a reasonable polygon budget?
Rough industry budgets per visible asset: mobile/web — 5k to 20k triangles; indie game — 20k to 100k; AAA next-gen — 100k to 500k+ for hero assets. The inspector colour-codes your model against those bands.
Does the polygon counter handle skinned meshes and rigs?
Yes. Skinned meshes are triangulated and counted like any other mesh; the rig itself (bones, weights) does not contribute to the triangle count. The materials and UV rows include all submeshes.
Can I batch-inspect a folder of models?
Not from this page — drop files one at a time. For batched analysis, use our REST API which accepts up to 32 files per request.

Related tools

LOD generator

One file in, four levels of detail out, packed in a ZIP with a manifest. Web, mobile, and game presets.

Pivot / origin tool

Move the model origin, recenter, or align to ground without re-exporting from your DCC.

Polygon reducer

Decimate any 3D model to a target triangle count or ratio.

3D viewer

Drop a GLB, FBX, OBJ or STL and preview it. Wireframe, snapshot to PNG / SVG.

Polygon reducer

Drop a 3D model, set a polygon budget, and export a lighter low-poly version.

Need to do this from your backend? See the API.