Hello all, started using UE5 this year so still learning things. I am trying to import an FBX model from Maya (I used the game export) but pieces of it are showing up in Unreal Engine 5.7 very low quality despite having a decent amount of polygons in the original model. I exported with triangulation, I set LOD to 0, I’m not sure what I am doing wrong? Does this have something to do with UVs? Image below of comparison:
This is not a UV problem. A bad UV layout smears the texture; it does not turn those spheres into faceted blobs. The bottom of your screenshot is a distant view of the same props, so what changed is which mesh the renderer selected, not the FBX.
Two UE 5.7 features produce exactly that silhouette:
1. Auto-generated LODs. Import still builds extra LODs even when Maya only exported LOD0. On a far camera those LODs take over, and the default reduction can crush a sphere down to a handful of faces. Open the static mesh and set the LOD dropdown to LOD0. Compare the triangle count with Maya, then flip to LOD1 / LOD2. If LOD0 matches Maya and a higher LOD is the blob, either set Number of LODs to 1, or raise Percent Triangles and the LOD1 screen size so it does not collapse that hard. On the placed actor, temporarily set Forced LOD Model to 0. If the distant view snaps back to round, it is LOD distances, not the import.
2. Nanite fallback. If Enable Nanite is on for the mesh but the project is not actually rendering Nanite (Support Nanite off, or a view mode that cannot use it), the level draws the fallback mesh, which is a very coarse decimation. The mesh editor still shows the full triangle count, which is why the wireframe looks fine. Check Project Settings > Rendering > Nanite > Support Nanite. Then either turn Nanite off on the mesh (you will see LOD0), or lower Fallback Relative Error / raise the fallback triangle budget so the non-Nanite version is not a rock.
Quick split: if LOD0’s triangle count in the mesh editor matches Maya, stop re-exporting. Triangulation and the game exporter did not drop the geometry. Maya’s smooth preview (3 key) only subdivides the viewport, but your wireframe already shows a dense cage, so that is not what happened here either.