Import Options¶

Full reference for every option in the SketchUp import dialog (File -> Import -> SketchUp (.skp/.skm)).

The importer accepts both model files and standalone SketchUp material packages. A standalone .skm creates a Blender material data-block, packs its embedded texture, preserves its physical texture scale in the skppy_x_scale/skppy_y_scale custom properties, and enables Fake User so it survives saving even before it is assigned to an object. Package contents are authoritative, so downloaded SKM packages incorrectly named .skp also work.

Options that affect collections and object parenting are illustrated together in Imported Scene Organization.

Scale¶

Property: scale Type: Float Default: 0.0254 Range: 0.0001 - 100.0

Conversion factor from SketchUp inches to Blender metres. The default 0.0254 corresponds to 1 inch = 0.0254 m (the standard SI conversion).

Value	Effect
`0.0254`	1 SKP inch = 0.0254 Blender units (metres in the default Blender unit setup)
`1.0`	1 SKP inch = 1 Blender unit (no conversion - useful for abstract models)
`0.001`	1 SKP inch = 0.001 Blender units (a deliberate custom scale)

When to change it: If your Blender scene uses a unit scale other than metres, or if you deliberately want to scale the model up/down on import.

Merge Vertices¶

Property: merge_vertices Type: Boolean Default: True

After building the mesh, run bmesh.ops.remove_doubles with a distance threshold of 1e-4 Blender units. This welds coincident vertices that result from SketchUp’s per-face vertex storage.

Enable (recommended): Produces clean, weld-free topology. Normals are shared between adjacent faces. SketchUp smooth/soft edge shading also requires shared vertices to interpolate normals across smoothed edges. Disable: Keeps every vertex separate. Useful for troubleshooting or when you need exact per-face normals with no interpolation.

Smooth Edges¶

Property: smooth_edges Type: Boolean Default: True

Apply SketchUp smooth/soft edge shading where the source edge flags and adjacent face normals indicate a real smoothed transition.

Enable (recommended): Cylinders, arcs, and softened curved surfaces shade smooth while hard boundaries such as caps stay sharp. Disable: Keep imported faces flat shaded and do not mark additional sharp edges from SketchUp edge smoothing data. Useful for debugging topology or when you want a faceted look.

This option works best with Merge Vertices enabled. If coincident vertices remain split, Blender cannot interpolate normals across adjacent faces.

Import Materials¶

Property: import_materials Type: Boolean Default: True

Create Blender materials from the SKP material definitions. Standalone SKM imports always create their requested material; this switch only controls materials that accompany a model.

Each material uses a Principled BSDF node tree:

skppy attribute	Blender node input
`color` (float 0-1)	Base Color
`alpha`	Alpha
`metallic`	Metallic
`roughness`	Roughness
`texture.data`	Image Texture node (packed into the .blend)

Transparent materials (alpha < 1.0) use:

Blender 4.2+: material.surface_render_method = "DITHERED"
Older: material.blend_method = "HASHED" when supported, otherwise BLEND

Disable: All objects receive Blender’s default material (grey). Useful for quick mesh inspection without shader overhead.

Use V-Ray Materials¶

Property: import_vray_materials Type: Boolean Default: False

Prefer PBR appearance values stored by V-Ray when a material contains supported V-Ray metadata. Currently this includes diffuse colour, metallic, and roughness values from V-Ray material graphs. Materials without supported V-Ray metadata continue to use their SketchUp appearance.

Disable (default): Use SketchUp colour, texture, opacity, and native PBR values. This preserves the appearance shown by SketchUp.

Enable: Override supported SketchUp appearance values with their V-Ray PBR counterparts when present. Texture and other unsupported V-Ray graph inputs continue to fall back to the SketchUp material.

This option affects material parsing even when Import Materials is disabled. For a model, parsed materials are only created when Import Materials is enabled. A standalone SKM is itself the requested material and is always created.

Import Cameras¶

Property: import_cameras Type: Boolean Default: True

Create Blender Camera objects from the saved scenes/views in the SKP file.

Each standalone Camera and each camera stored only by a saved scene becomes a Blender camera object placed in the import collection. Scene-owned cameras use the scene name and preserve page visibility/section/slideshow state as custom properties. The camera matrix is derived from the eye, target, and up vectors:

Forward: F = normalize(target - eye)
Right: R = normalize(F x up)
Up (re-orthogonalised): U = R x F
Blender matrix: column-major, -Z forward, +Y up.

FOV is applied to camera.data.angle_x or camera.data.angle_y; orthographic views use camera.data.ortho_scale.

The imported far clipping plane keeps the SketchUp camera value when it is larger, but never uses less than 100,000 metres. This prevents saved cameras from clipping large buildings, site plans, and georeferenced scenes.

Disable: No cameras are created. Use this if the file has many saved scenes that you do not need in Blender.

Triangulation Mode¶

Property: triangulation_mode Type: Enum Default: NGONS Options: NGONS, QUADS, TRIS

Controls how polygons are tessellated after import.

Value	Effect	Recommended for
`NGONS`	Keep n-gons where possible. Single-hole faces are split into two simple n-gons because Blender meshes cannot store true holes.	Rendering, subdivision
`TRIS`	Triangulate faces through skppy’s generated indexed mesh output.	Game engines, rigid export pipelines
`QUADS`	Generate skppy geometry, then use Blender to join triangle pairs where possible (angle threshold 40 deg).	Subdivision surfaces, clean topology

Note: SketchUp faces with multiple holes are still triangulated internally by skppy before Blender mesh creation. Blender cannot natively represent holey polygons, and two simple n-gons only cover the single-hole case.

Components whose SketchUp behavior is set to Cuts Opening are also resolved before mesh creation. The importer traces the component’s glue-plane outline, transforms it into the containing definition, and subtracts it from the attached host face. This preserves dynamic door and window cuts that are not stored as ordinary inner loops on the face.

Import by Layers¶

Property: import_by_layers Type: Boolean Default: False

Organise imported objects into separate Blender collections, one per SKP layer (Tag).

Value	Collection layout
`False`	All objects in one import collection.
`True`	Sub-collection per layer, e.g. `MyModel/Walls`, `MyModel/Structure`.

Faces, component instances, groups, images, guide points, guide lines, and section-plane helpers are assigned to their source layer collection. Untagged objects remain in the parent import collection.

Construction Geometry¶

Guide points and guide lines are imported as viewport helpers and do not render. Section planes are imported as oriented Empty objects with their source plane equation preserved as a custom property; they do not automatically enable Blender clipping. These entities follow component transforms and layer visibility like ordinary imported objects.

Text and Dimensions¶

Model text and linear/radial dimensions are imported as Blender Font objects with lightweight mesh lines for leaders and recoverable dimension geometry. They follow source layers, materials, visibility, component transforms, and the Flatten Hierarchy setting.

SketchUp screen-space labels have no direct Blender equivalent. The importer places them in model space using their anchor and leader data. Point font sizes are converted from points through SketchUp inches and the selected import scale; world-sized fonts use their stored model size. Font family names and dimension properties without native Blender equivalents are retained as custom properties. Arrowheads and automatic Blender measurements are not generated.

Hidden layers (layer.visible = False) have col.hide_viewport = True in Blender.

Root geometry is split by source layer because one Blender object cannot belong to different collections per polygon. Component, group, and image objects are linked according to their entity layer. Untagged entities stay in the main import collection.

Limitation: Layer folder hierarchy is not reproduced - all layers appear as flat sub-collections.

Reuse Component Collections¶

Property: use_collection_instances Type: Boolean Default: False

Build every reachable SketchUp component definition once in an unlinked Blender collection. Component placements become collection-instance Empties, including nested placements. Repeated definitions therefore reuse both mesh data and their stored child hierarchy instead of creating another object tree.

Enable it for large architectural models and imported CAD drawings. Keep it disabled when every nested component should become a directly editable Blender object. Import by Layers and Flatten Hierarchy require expanded objects and therefore take precedence over this option.

Flatten Hierarchy¶

Property: flatten_hierarchy Type: Boolean Default: False

Controls whether component, group, and image hierarchy is preserved with Blender object parenting.

Value	Effect
`False`	Keep collection instances when reuse is enabled. With reuse disabled, mesh-only leaves become Mesh objects and containers become Empty parents.
`True`	No Empty parents. Each mesh object is placed directly in world space using the accumulated `world_matrix = parent_world @ local_matrix`. Simpler scene graph, but loses component structure.

Use False when you need to re-export or edit components individually. Use True when you need a flat scene for rendering or game engines.

Note on shared definitions: Compatible instances reuse the same Blender Mesh datablock in both modes. An inherited material needed by unpainted faces can create a distinct (definition_id, effective_material_id) mesh variant.