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Sketchup to blender

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Rodney Zamora
    Twitter

the basics

SketchUp is a 3D modeling program for a wide range of drawing applications such as architectural, interior design, landscape architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, film and video game design. Blender is a 3D animation suite that is also free and open source.

If you’re new to 3D modeling, SketchUp is a great place to start because it’s easy to learn and use. Blender is a more powerful program with a steeper learning curve, but it’s worth the effort if you want to create complex 3D models and animations.

To move from SketchUp to Blender, you’ll need to export your SketchUp model as a Collada (.dae) file. This file format is supported by both programs and will retain your model’s geometry, textures, and colors.

Once you have your .dae file, open it in Blender. You should see your SketchUp model in the 3D Viewer. If not, make sure the “Import Collada” addon is enabled in Blender’s preferences.

To render your SketchUp model in Blender, add a new material to it and select the “Diffuse BSDF” shader. Then, in the “Texture” panel, select your .dae file as the texture.

Now you’re ready to render! In the “Render” panel, select “Cycles” as the render engine and choose your desired output format and resolution. Then click “Render” to create your image or animation.

With a little practice, you’ll be able to create stunning 3D visuals using SketchUp and Blender.

Q: How do I export a SketchUp model into Blender?

A: In SketchUp, open the model you want to export.

In the File menu, choose Export > 3D Model.

In the Export Model dialog box, choose the format you want to export to. For this example, choose COLLADA (*.dae).

Choose a name and location for the exported file, and click Export.

Open Blender.

In the File menu, choose Import > COLLADA (.dae).

In the Import COLLADA dialog box, choose the file you exported from SketchUp, and click Open.

Your SketchUp model appears in Blender!

Q: How do I import 3d SketchUp into Blender?

A: There is no direct way to do this, but you can use SketchUp's exporter to export your model to a format that Blender can import, such as OBJ or STL.