Bring in an SKP model

ModelCraft reads SketchUp files (.skp) with its own reader, in the page. Nothing is uploaded, and it works offline whenever ModelCraft does. Files from SketchUp 3 up to 2026 have been tested.

Import the file

1. Click Import in the File group (or drop the .skp file on the 3D view).
2. Pick the file.

The status bar says "Reading house.skp…" while it reads, then what came in, for example "Imported house.skp (SketchUp 25.0.575): 1240 faces, 6 components, in a group."

The whole model arrives as one group named after the file, selected, and the view zooms to it. One ⌘ZCtrl+Z takes it all away again, tags included.

What comes in

• Faces with their holes, and edges that are not part of a face.
• Groups come in as groups, and components as components: every copy of a component is a placement of one definition, so editing one copy changes them all, as in SketchUp. Names come with them.
• Colors. A face's own material gives it its color. A material painted on a group or component becomes that placement's paint, so faces inside it with no color of their own take it, as in SketchUp. A component painted red in one place and blue in another stays one component.
• Textures. A face painted with a textured material comes in with its texture, laid on the face as in the file, and the Shaded style shows it. The image is kept in the ModelCraft file when you save, and a rendered picture shows it too. A textured material painted on a whole group or component gives that copy the material's color only.
• Tags. A group or component on a SketchUp tag gets a ModelCraft tag of the same name, listed in Tags, shown or hidden as it was in SketchUp. If your model already has a tag with that name, that tag is used.
• Hidden things come in hidden: faces, edges, groups and components, and faces and edges on a hidden tag. You see what SketchUp showed, and nothing is lost: Edit › More › Unhide all shows them. See Hide, isolate and unhide.
• Soft and smooth edges stay soft, so curved surfaces still look smooth.
• Sizes come out right in any unit: SketchUp files are in inches inside, and ModelCraft converts them.

What does not come in

The status bar says what was left out, with counts.

• Some textures keep only their material's color: a texture missing from the file, an image in a format browsers can't show (such as a Photoshop file), or a texture without a size. Faces with a projected texture come in with the texture placed approximately.
• Tags on loose faces and edges. ModelCraft tags groups and components only, so a face or edge with its own tag comes in untagged, and the status bar counts them. Make such faces into a group (⇧GShift+G) and tag the group.
• Images placed in the model, text, dimensions, guides, section planes, scenes and styles.

Problems

• "This is not a SketchUp file." or "This SketchUp file is damaged: …": the file is cut off or is something else with a .skp name. Save it again from SketchUp, or ask for a fresh copy.
• A file from a SketchUp version newer than ModelCraft knows is refused with the version it found.
• A model that is all images, text or dimensions says it has nothing to show.

Take the model back

ModelCraft cannot save .skp files. Export Collada (Export › .dae) and import that in SketchUp: groups, components and colors go across; textures go as their material's color. See Export your model.