Import SketchUp ".skp" files

Question

I am new with Blender. I changed to it because now I am using Ubuntu. Previously on Windows I used to work with SketchUp, and I still have many projects, that I would like to import *.skp into Blender to continue modeling and or rendering.

Is there any way how I could import SketchUp's .skp file into Blender?

This might be interesting https://sites.google.com/site/alexvaqp/sketchupblender — iKlsR, Aug 12 '13 at 20:02
@iKlsR thanks a lot. It might help me, but is there any way that I could do that without coming back to SketchUp? — Gediminas Jeremiah Gudelis, Aug 12 '13 at 20:08
I am not sure if there is an importer for this. I poked around a bit and it seems most people export to .dae or .obj and then import into Blender. Your best option I think is to get on a windows machine and export them to either of these formats. — iKlsR, Aug 12 '13 at 20:10
it should be noted that it is possible to run sketchup under wine. some instructions. Possibly the easiest way to set this up would be to use Play On Linux — gandalf3, Aug 12 '13 at 21:29
Yes, I know about that. But on my PC SketchUp crashes at startup... — Gediminas Jeremiah Gudelis, Aug 12 '13 at 21:49
@GediminasJeremiahGudelis if you have a copy of windows you could try using a virtual machine. You could even grab a free preview of windows 8 or something like that. — iKlsR, Aug 12 '13 at 21:50
I'll try to do that on my friends PC (with Windows) to avoid harassing for installing heavy ppa, witch would be temporal... Thank you so much. — Gediminas Jeremiah Gudelis, Aug 12 '13 at 22:09
There is an importer that only works for Windows/Mac. http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?360406-Sketchup-%28SKP%29-importer — PrinterKiller, May 05 '15 at 08:03

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 15 '17 at 10:53

14

There isn't a direct importer for .skp files into Blender. Given your situation of being on linux at the moment, your best option is to get access to a windows machine and export to either .obj or .dae and import into Blender. If you are using the free version of sketchup, you might have to go through a few more steps.

There is an article of an extension on how to do this here.

To run Sketchup on Linux you can use wine for instructions With a web search this was found.

Or perhaps an extension on Sketchup might be http://sketchup2blender.com/blendup-get-started

edited Feb 15 '17 at 10:53

CrandellWS

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answered Aug 12 '13 at 20:31

iKlsR

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You don't to use a Windows machine, just the 8 hour trial version of SketchUp in Wine in Ubuntu.... You can download the exe's here... – Wilf Dec 19 '13 at 14:12
@wilf Yes, that and using a virtual machine were also suggested in the comments on the question. – iKlsR Dec 19 '13 at 15:27
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17000 views, this needs a better answer. Will update it soon. – iKlsR May 06 '15 at 09:40
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if video helps I found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFDQq2zVhuM – CrandellWS Feb 15 '17 at 06:13

zeffii · Answer 2 · 2013-08-12T20:32:21.570

.skp is a closed file format, this means the specifications for the file are only available to

developers with access to the SDK (Software Development Kit) and therefore have accepted the licensing terms for the SDK (which is incompatible with Blender's license).
developers who are willing to stick time into reverse engineering it.

It is unlikely that blender will get a way to import .skp files directly because there are several alternative ways to get models from SketchUp into Blender. Exporting as Collada .dae format from SketchUp works very well.

G M · Answer 3 · 2018-06-19T12:03:49.060

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Keeping all the layers

The best procedure is that shown by Sixthlaw in this video. Because if you export it directly as .dae you loose all the informations regarding the layers and you will have many surprises. So is better to follow this procedure:

Export your model to .dxf from SketchUp
Download and install Autdodesk-FBX-Converter to
convert the .dfx to .fbx
convert the .fbx to .obj

Now you can import it in Blender.

go to import ->Wavefront(.obj)
set Forward: to Y Forward
import the model

edited Jun 19 '18 at 12:03

answered May 16 '14 at 20:17

G M

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Softpedia? Is there an official source to get that app? – SilverWolf Oct 22 '17 at 19:12
Thanks. I don't really need this app myself, I just feel uncomfortable with download hubs and don't want people to get infected with adware, etc. (: – SilverWolf Oct 23 '17 at 14:29

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 25 '15 at 05:30

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I know this is old, but if you came accross this like me you can try convert them to .kmz then change the file extension to .zip and extract the files and see the .dae and textures.

answered Mar 25 '15 at 05:30

Imulate

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Blender 2.83.5 crashes when I try this method. – tomh Aug 25 '20 at 09:50

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 29 '14 at 04:19

Recently, I came across this as an issue as well. The AutoCAD converter I had tried using didn't work out too well. But I was able to, after installing the latest version of Sketchup 8, export directly from Sketchup in the .obj format and import directly into Blender. Of course you have to remember to turn on the plugin in the User Preferences menu.

The exporting options, like the other answers have stated, don't tend to work out too well. The file loses translation in between programs. Merging layers and codes or omitting them altogether. I think the first time I tried using the .dae it turned a bracket into this weird spikey ball vector. So I don't recommend it.

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 06 '21 at 11:57

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There is an import option available, called sketchup_importer_0.18_win64. I used it to import .skp files directly into Blender. However, the guy who wrote the software, has to upgrade it to the latest version of Blender, and (even worse) he only wrote it for Windows, not Linux. Now, others stated running blender in Wine, but I would rather use the importer from him. My options at the moment are building in SketchUp, open an older version of Blender, import and save, then open the latest Blender. All in Windows.

edited Dec 06 '21 at 11:57

Gediminas Jeremiah Gudelis

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answered Oct 22 '17 at 15:46

Dutchie

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That could work, although using Windows may not be an option. I'd be surprised if it worked only on Windows, though maybe it uses some Windows-specific API or something. – SilverWolf Oct 22 '17 at 18:56
@seaturtle It's a partly binary plugin, having a .dll file. However, the source code is available. https://github.com/martijnberger/pyslapi/releases – Oct 22 '17 at 19:09
Ah, that's good! Although nobody can actually use that to help unless they get permission from the person who wrote it, as they don't seem to have included a license file. – SilverWolf Oct 22 '17 at 19:11

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 06 '17 at 12:58

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A new addon release for sketchup to blender users

Addon

Video

answered Nov 06 '17 at 12:58

atek

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New? There have been no commits for 2 years. Need blender 2.77 with python 3.4 or 3.5. Is not available for linux. Is mentioned in another answer. – batFINGER Nov 06 '17 at 13:08
@batFINGER I think the question is not for Linux its about importing sketchup model into Blender – atek Nov 06 '17 at 13:25
I am using Ubuntu (in the question) – batFINGER Nov 06 '17 at 13:39

Import SketchUp ".skp" files

7 Answers7

Keeping all the layers

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