Sketchup Make 2017 Import Dwg

[Elly Garnand]

Ihave a 2D aluminum extrusion die drawing saved as a .dxf file. Was able to import it into sketch up, and make a component out of it; but I cannot push/pull it. How do I get it to act like a rectangle? Do I have to redraw in sketchup? The objective is to pull it up to a height of 2" in sketchup, save it as a .stl file, and 3D print it as a sample.

In this article we will take a look at how we can utilize Blender as Sketchup modelers and export/import textured models between the two programs. We will use Blender version 2.80 and Sketchup maker 2017. To export and import Sketchup files into...

Sometimes I have had issues with textures when importing into Sketchup. It can be a single face somewhere in the mesh missing or a face that does not get textured. It is not very common but it happens. What usually fixes it is if we go back into Blender and just slightly move one or more vertices that is attached to the face just a tiny bit and export again.

Making some progress! I imported the MakeHuman character (DAE) in to Blender, and fiddled around in an ignorant manner until I could see textures on the model. Then I exported out of Blender (DAE), and imported in to SketchUp Make.

I am trying to figure out if I am using the wrong search terms. My questions seems likely to be a common problem: I have a complex SketchUp model that I wish to analyse through OpenFoam. Re-drawing the geometry seems pointless, and fraught with potential for error. I am sure that bringing in foreign models like SketchUp to Rhino is something that many users of Honeybee/Ladybug/Butterfly have struggled with. And yet I can find no guidance as to how to treat the geometry when importing so as to ensure reliable analysis. I have trialled the analysis with a simplistic model from SketchUp, and I get the same error message that I get with the much more complex model (reference to there being 8 arguments in the model when only 6 are needed).

Please make sure that in Sketchup, all the geometry that should be air tight from Energy modelling or CFD point of view, is a solid. A trick in sketchup to know if a geometry is solid is to pick one of the solid tools and hower over your geometry. It shows if the geometry is a solid or not. In almost all the cases, a solid in sketchup is an air tight geometry in Rhino.

The only reason I was persevering with the test issue was I was replicating with a very simple example the same error I was finding with a much more complex building. Your suggestions have provided inspiration. I am not very hopeful that the process necessarily will convert this building, but I can see I have only two choices: carry on with the standard desk top opinion based aerodynamics analysis that I have always done, or make this work with the complex design geometry. Copying the geometry in SketchUp is just not feasible. Thanks for taking the time.

@MichaelDonn, Is it possible for you to share the more complex model? In my previous life I used to prepare models for 3d printing and mold which is a very similar process. I want to see how complicated your model is.

Is there any way in either Sketchup or Rhino to improve the mesh settings so I get much smoother surfaces once model is imported into rhino? Or is this just down to the level of detail on the original sketchup model?

Importing SketchUp files works great. I haven't had as much success exporting to SketchUp though, particularly in regards to textures. I've found the mapping to be way off, and many objects lose their textures. I personally wouldn't want to be sending a file back and forth between the two programs in an ongoing fashion.

I've been whinging about the trial and tribulations associated with exporting to SketchUp for years now, alas to no avail. The philosophy held by many in the VW community is that SketchUp is really unnecessary given all that VW currently does. I've always maintained however, that Sketchup is vastly more nimble at conceptualization and communicating design than VW. The learning curve is much less steep than VW. Principals of firms like it, and can use it. Making life easier between the two programs would only work to increase VW's market share.

I've exported models using this technique to the satisfaction of my baby boomer boss. It takes about 15 minutes to get everything cleaned up and ready to use. And materials/colors seem to export with this technique.

When you want to push pull on shapes in Sketchup, make sure that soft and smooth edges are unchecked! You will have to turn materials off and show outlines only. Most of the time soft and smooth will be checked. Uncheck these boxes.

I may be old & too tied to VW, but I find the whole SU interface to be mindnumpingly counter intuitive. I have never been able to really get the hang of it. I know one needs "time on tools" & lots of folks love it, but I just find it so frustrating to use.

Sketchup is easy to use, but one needs to figure out a few things first before it starts to make sense and you get the hang of it. That being said, I started doing 3D in CAD and often require exact positioning, both on location and relative to each other, and that is where the 3D programs like Sketchup to be too cumbersome to use compared to Vectorworks. It is almost like trying to squeeze ketchup

Of course it all depends on your needs.

I like the Sketchup to Vectorworks export to get some quickly rendered OpenGL scenes (they look much nicer when rendered in Vectorworks) but I can't get the Sketchup faceme symbols to work after I import them into Vectorworks.

If you do have access to Rhino then importing into Rhino first, if necessary fix some things in Rhino, and then import the Rhino file into VW may give you good enough results to continue with as it often reduces mesh/triangulation complexity.

I've been working to import a VW 2020 model into Sketchup Pro 2021 and found the SimLab FBX Importer to work smoothly, though I now have a complex SU model with nested groups and components. The walls and floor slabs are split by story, but there's no Vectorworks rendering to mask the transitions. Since each wall is a series of nested groups and components, it is challenging to clean this up. Any advice/insight? I've started a tread here:

I'm going to withdraw my recommendation for FBX Importer and SimLab! I bought the plugin in February and used it then without incident. Recently, I wanted to use it again. I opened SketchUp, ungraded as requested, tried to use the plugin and was told it needed to be registered. I couldn't make that work and have spent the better part of two weeks going back and forth with customer service, being accused of installing it on multiple machines and being told to do the same failed registration steps over and over again. They told me I had "one last chance." It didn't work and they've stopped answering my emails. I found a similar plugin from "skimp" ( ) that seems to be working fine so far...

Hi everyone !

I have tried Enscape 2.2.3 and i really love the potential of it. I have a target to create standalone or video walkthrough for my clients to experience their future building. By that, i have to model everything fully, so it make the file huge (for example, a complete 2 stories townhouse is app 900mb). And the importing took too long, like 6 - 8 hours, sometimes it didnt work too.

Can i have any suggestion on how to reduce the time importing, like seperate objects, because i have tried import enscape first, turned off live update but it still slow me down everytime i try to change something in the model. Thanks alot !

Sounds like an incredibly complex, slow performing townhouse. You may want to consider separating the ground floor from the first and saving each as different models. Essentially becoming two individual models and two separate walkthroughs, cutting the project size in half, or near there hopefully. To be honest, I've never heard of or seen a model this heavy, at least when compared to the volumetric size of an average double story townhouse. The largest model I've ever worked on was around 1.4gb consolidated, was never edited as a singular model and had 85 storeys at 200,000 sqfpf. Do you mean 90 mb?

I think you should use proxies as much as possible... and make sure that you dont have unnessesarily large/complex models where you dont need them. Use the "purge unused" option in sketchup to get rid of unused textures and components.

Herbo ; If the 1.4gb model size sounded unusually large - it was! I mentioned consolidated and largest I'd ever worked on, and that includes ALL the textures and accompanying mipmaps which were tasked between 6K-8K output, rendered via Maxwell. One off feasibility study that was conducted for a recent high-powered tech venture here in Singapore. Needless to say, individually building and texturing 85 floors with a team of 24 others was a great self-feasibility study in how to lose focus quickly and know exactly where the purge_all script button lay on your workspace.

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