SketchUp to Blender
A SketchUp extension and a Blender add-on that move a tagged SketchUp model into Blender as one clean mesh object per Tag, at true scale, in seconds rather than minutes.
The files
Install the extension and the add-on to use it by hand. The Claude skill is optional.
- Download
SketchUp extension
v1.0.0Exports one .glb file per Tag by isolating Tag visibility. Non-destructive: nothing is exploded or deleted, and visibility is restored afterwards.
sketchup_to_blender_v1.0.0.rbz · 3 KB
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Blender add-on
v4.2.0Imports every .glb in a folder as one mesh object per file, inside a timestamped collection. Materials, embedded textures and UVs come across.
sketchup_tag_gltf_importer.py · 17 KB
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Claude skill
Bundles both of the above with a workflow that lets Claude run the import through the Blender MCP: export check, import, placement in the starter file, save, and linking rooms into a client master file.
sketchup-to-blender.skill · 16 KB
What it does
SketchUp's glTF export writes one node per group or component, and a real project Tag can hold thousands of them. Blender's stock glTF importer turns every node into its own object, and merging them afterwards is unusably slow at project scale.
The add-on skips that entirely. It reads each .glb directly with numpy and builds exactly one mesh object per file — no intermediate objects, no joins, no empties. On dense models that is the difference between minutes and seconds.
glTF carries real units (one unit is one metre) and fixed axes, so the model lands at true scale with no correction. Materials and textures are reused by name across import runs, so several models in one .blend share one “Steel” rather than piling up “Steel.001” duplicates.
Install
- 01
Install the SketchUp extension
In SketchUp, open Extensions › Extension Manager › Install Extension and choose sketchup_to_blender_v1.0.0.rbz. Restart SketchUp — the menu item only appears after a restart.
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Install the Blender add-on
In Blender, open Edit › Preferences › Add-ons, choose Install from Disk, select sketchup_tag_gltf_importer.py and enable “SketchUp to Blender”. Its panel lives in the 3D Viewport sidebar under the SKP Import tab.
Use
- 01
Tag the model
Put each part you want as its own Blender object on its own Tag — walls, ceiling, stage, seating, and so on. Untagged top-level geometry is exported to a file of its own.
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Export from SketchUp
Run Extensions › SketchUp to Blender: Export Tags (.glb) and pick an empty folder. A dialog confirms when every Tag has been written.
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Import into Blender
In Object Mode, open the SKP Import sidebar tab, point Folder at the export folder and press Import Tag .glb Files. Each run creates a new timestamped collection, so a re-import never overwrites the last one.
- Leave the add-on’s Scale Factor at 1.0. It is a leftover from the old DAE pipeline; glTF already carries real units.
- Custom normals are not imported. Flat-shaded architecture does not need them.
- If a file cannot be parsed directly — a Draco-compressed export, for instance — the add-on falls back to Blender’s stock importer for that one file and says so in the console.
- Models with local origins land at 0,0,0. When several rooms are linked into one master file, position each room’s instance once rather than moving the geometry.