How to - Import a Sketchup (.skp) Model into Unity (with Textures)

As it took me about 5 hours to find out how to import .skp Models into Unity 3, i want to share the steps that brought me to success

Sketchup Standard version or Pro Version - v8 or higher:
1. Create/open the model with Google Sketchup
2. Align the faces of the model (In the Monochrome mode--> the bright side should be up/front)
3. Export in .dae format (Default settings!)

Blender - v3.55 or higher:
4. Open the .dae file with Blender (If you want to see the textures - switch to texture rendering mode)
5. Export to .fbx (Default settings)

Unity - v3 or higher:
6. Create a new folder for your models (within the Assests tab) - Recommended
7. Create a Folder called "Textures" within the new folder
8. Drag/Import your model textures into the textures folder
9. Drag/Import your .fbx model in the new folder (same layer as the "Textures" folder)

If you have done everything right, you should see a materials folder (near the textures folder)
If you drag your object into the scene it should be fully textured
If something is invisble - you have aligned the faces wrong (go back to step 2)

PS: If you have Google Sketchup pro - you can skip the blender part

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks, will surely find this useful.

 

could you please explain what you mean by align the faces of the model (step 2) ? I do not usually use sketchup and It would be useful for me to have the detailed procedure to do this step.
thanks you.
regards.

 

cool, thanks.

 

Go to View > Face Style > Monochrome. Everything now should be either blue or white. For everything that you want to be visible make it white. If a side you want to have visible is blue, then right click it, and scroll down till you see Reverse Faces.

 

Or you get sketchup pro and export to fbx :S, or export to Dae, and then convert?

 

this. :d

 

Tig's obj exporter works with free or pro and exports the textures to png files in a sub directory. I use this a lot to just make a quick level or asset to test what it will be like in Unity quickly.

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=33448

 

many thanks!

 

SketchUp Pro -> COLLADA -> Unity 3.5 will give best results (once Unity 3.5 available), since Unity 3.5 has much better COLLADA support.

 

Rise from your grave...


Just wanted to add, and also ask if there was a way around this, you need to do it in Inches, where 1 inch = 1 unit in Unity.

That kind of sucks though, since I prefer to work in Metres. Is there a way to make a model in metres and have it import into Unity at 1 metre = 1 unit.

Yes, I have tried setting the starting template to metres. Doesn't work. It imports into unity roughly 40 times bigger than it should be.

The main reason for not wanting to work in inches is that when texturing, every texture imports and applies at a massive scale and you have to scale each texture down really really tiny which is a pain in the butt.

 

I set sketchup to decimal feet then 3.28 feet cube is 1 unit in unity at a 1:1 scale on import.

 

I am working with this right now and am finding with Unity 4.1 the materials aren't auto assigned in unity. Any suggestions?

 

Playup tools will help you a lot. I found using Sketchup for quick modeling is great but I take and import any sketchup models I do into Blender and texture map or paint textures.

http://www.playuptools.com/

 

I must admit i have not given sketchup enough time... I have seen people do a lot of good stuff with it.

 

With the proper plugins and the right frame of mind while modeling it is a very useful tool. I use it for a lot low poly assets for example the toonish styled buildings here where all made in Sketchup.

 

i had same problem with unity 4.0.0.f7

do this

1. before u export model from sketchup to .fbx make new folder and export model to it , so when u export model , sketchup automatically make a sub folder and copy texture file on it .
2 .in unity project make new folder for new model ( i call it here testfldr ), drag model fbx file to it , if unity automatically make material folder , delete it !
3. drag texture folder to unity ( testfldr folder ) .
4. select model by click it and go to inspector , find material naming and choose model name + model's material option .

5. click apply
6. enjoy.

 

It isn't working please can I have some help

 

But what if you want both sides of a face visible?

 

An other very easy way is to go into Sketchup and click on the file tab and choose the export option and export into 3D however you feel like.

 

I would like to know this too, as I also work with meters in SketchUp. I'm guessing this will be important for VR support in the future?

 

@eobet yes just go to window/model info on the top menu bar then when the Model Info window appears chose units on the left and then set format to decimal m this will let you model and export in meters and 1 meter in Sketchup will be 1 unit/meter in unity. Just make sure when you import your model in Unity set the scale to 1 since I noticed when Unity imports models from Sketchup it is always set to 0.01

 

I have an easier way my friend!!! In sketchup, after you export the DAE file do this. copy the dae file into the same folder as the textures. then select them all and drag them into Unity's project tab and it comes in perfect!!!!! I hope this helps!!!
A few days ago I posted a really easy way to get fbx files from sketchup into Unity. Put the fbx file in the same folder as the textures. Select all in the folder and drag it into the project tab in Unity. Thats it! works like a charm. for a more detailed explanation see my blog post at http://unity-unreal.blogspot.com/

 

That works malosal but for those not wanting to use Blender it can be done with no other programs and just 1 free plugin for Sketchup. I always use Blender to texture and such when I need a uv map but other then that I just export a obj with Tig's obj exporter for Sketchup(works with free or pro) and it will export the texture, mtl, and obj to a folder straight from Sketchup. Then import that to Unity set scale in Unity to 1.

 

I have an easier way my friend!!! In sketchup, after you export the DAE file do this. copy the dae file into the same folder as the textures. then select them all and drag them into Unity's project tab and it comes in perfect!!!!! I hope this helps!!!

 

tra2002, i think the dae export works with the non pro version, right?

 

I see what you mean now tra2002. I had to scale to .05 on all axis to be able to get it at a reasonable size. Thanks for the info!

 

The dae export works for non pro Sketchup but sometimes I have issues with importing the Sketchup dae to Unity. I have had zero issues though with Tig's obj exporter. It is a older exporter but it still works with the newest Sketchup

http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rld/plugin_details.php?id=790

 

Ok, I set the decimal format to m (from mm), and double checked the scale in Unity (it was already 1), but alas it did not make any difference.

Here is what I see:



1. I believe I'm at max zoom, so this should be 1x1 meters I'm seeing, right?
2. I tried to generate a default cube believing it would be 1 cubic meter, but it wasn't... how do I get it to that size, for reference?
3. I've built the model I've exported to .dae to be confined in 3x3 meters, but it obviously still isn't.

Problem persists.

Anyone know anything else to try?

EDIT: Leaving the above for reference... the cube apparently IS 1x1x1, but the grid seemingly refuses to show anything less than 10x10, hence the confusion... I'd really like it to show 1x1, if someone knows how to do that... and also, the SketchUp is still massively wrong.

 

In Sketchup make a cube 1mx1mx1m then export it and import it to unity. Create a Unity cube into the scene then place your imported cube into The scene. Both cubes will be the same. Unity's default cube is 1meter

 

Again, making sure that scale is 1 in Unity and the unit is meters in SketchUp yields this:



An approximately 36 cubic meters large cube...

Also, at this "great" zoom level, the camera movements in the editor is not smooth at all, and rather jumpy, like it's much more comfortable at a much greater zoom, which I find to be weird...



Further info:

 

Ok tested to see, and yes for some odd reason the dae exporter is not saving scale properly. in Unity set the scale to 0.0255 for the dae you imported and it should be equal to the 1 meter cube in unity. This is why I have decided to export as obj files with a plug in the dae exporter for sketchup is terrible.

 

Yes, I just discovered that as well.

.OBJ scales correctly, .DAE does not.

However, .OBJ creates "junk" .HTML files upon export... not really sure if they are any use, or if there are any side effects to exporting in this format, but at least we have an answer that works for now.


EDIT: On a semi-related note, I just clicked in some weird way with my mouse and got a 1x1 grid AND nice camera movements again... no idea what I did, but perhaps someone can enlighten me?

(Answer to the above is the "F" key, while selecting objects.)

EDIT 2: WOOOOOOOOOOW... .OBJ export is apparently a "pro" feature, and my SketchUp trial just expired... god damnit.

 

When you export to obj you will have a texture, mtl and obj files. You can just import the obj and textures and leave the mtl out since the mesh will have the uv data.

 

Thanks ..

 

@tra2002 Update:

With SketchUp 2015, you don't need pro to export to .fbx

Then you can just put it into the assets folder in Unity 5 and it auto-assigns all textures and meshes.

 

WOW! thanks aAAAAlot Tundergod44 a real help.

 

Thundergod 44 is a champion.

 

Thanks, bro!

 

I can't find how to download as dae.

 

Sorry, nevermind. I just clicked download as SketchUp 2017 file. I guess SketchUp 2018 files are not supported yet?