I am trying to add textures to SU materials library

[L i am]

Hi all, I have forever been trying to add new materials to SU. I have always known how to get them in temporarily (in model) But am unable to load them permanently so I can access them directly from the materials window as part of my collection. The image shows where I get up to before I get lost.
Also I know they are .skm files, do i add the .skm file extension to the Jpeg? Could somebody talk me trough from where I am in the image please?

[TIG]

Make a new material in the model [using the Materials Browser, Model tab].
Edit this new material to adjust its RGB color and Transparency.
Also navigate to an image file - like a JPG or PNG - and set that as its Texture.
You can change the size of that Texture too.
If you don't want the proportions to be kept click the chain-link icon to break it, then you can set the height and width independently.

Set up your own Materials folder [and also perhaps ones for Components, Styles etc], either in your Documents path [thereby making it accessible to all SketchUp versions] or perhaps in the [hidden by default] AppData user-path where the SketchUp Plugins folder resides [only accessible for that SketchUp version and user].
If you specify your Materials folder in SketchUp's Window > Preferences > File section that should then be the starting point for any saved Collections in the future. You can of course add/use subfolders to organize your own material collections...
That path should be added to your listed folders in the Materials Browser... a restart of SketchUp might be needed to force the update ?

You can now use the Materials Browser's pop-out menu to save one material SKM or all SKMs in the model to your own 'Collection'...

If you open a new model you should see the new Collections folder listed with the materials you saved out for future reuse...

[L i am]

Hi Tig,thank you for your reply. Can I set them up in "D" Drive as I have limited space on my "C" SSD (sketchup and just about everything else is on my "D"drive). I am reasonably experienced with SU but this part has me stumped. Unfortunately and frustratingly, I am dyslexic and some things and particularly this process kind of sounds like........Blah.......Blah.......Blah.....Blah. if you have the patients could we go step by step?

[TIG]

Test it...
Make a folder somewhere on the D drive, name it say "My_Materials".

Put a copy of a material SKM file in it.
Copy one from SketchUp's own shipped set of Materials subfolders,
in C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2017\SketchUp\Materials

Open SketchUp's Window > Preferences > Files
In the Materials entry click the right-hand button.
Navigate to that new folder.
It's now set as your own Materials folder path.

See if it's included in the Materials Browser set of folders.
Try making a material and save it as a collection into your folder...

[L i am]

I was wrong, Sketchup 2017 is on "C" But I cannot find materials.

[TIG]

You are looking in the wrong place - it's not 'Program Files'.
SketchUp puts its shipped folders of materials etc in:
C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2017\SketchUp\Materials
Note the folder name is 'ProgramData'...

[Rich O Brien]

If for some reason you can't find ProgramData type...

%programdata%

...in the address bar and you'll jump straight into it.

[TIG]

Yes, some folders are 'hidden', however, if you copy+paste the whole path as I gave, into a Windows Explorer window address-bar, then it should jump straight to it for you...

[L i am]

Thanks for your patients Tig and Rich!

[Dave R]

It's generally not a smart idea to add your own custom materials to the SU materials libraries. It is better to make your own custom libraries. If you ever have any reason to uninstall, reinstall or repair the SketchUp installation, you will lose your modifications to the SU materials libraries. If you make your own custom libraries they won't be touched during anything you might need to do to the program like reinstalling it. It's also easier to make the libraries accessible when you upgrade to the next version of SketchUp. You can put those custom materials libraries in a Materials folder in User/App Data/Roaming/SketchUp... in some directory such as My Documents.

Here's one of my custom libraries containing sub folders to sort my materials. This shows the "Materials A" directory. There's also a "Materials B". Even if I were to totally uninstall SketchUp 2017, these would remain intact. When I update to the next version of SketchUp, I'll just copy these.

[L i am]

Thanks Dave, will look into that

[MichaelSiggers]

Hi Dave

Can I add a quick query to this.

On the Mac, I have folders for my own SKM materials, but these folders are within;

Library/Application Support/Sketchup2018/Sketchup/Materials

Does this make sense?

There does not seem to be a way, on the Mac, to keep my own skm materials in a completely different location, as there is only one option for the search path in Preferences. I haven't tried, but I'm assuming if I change it, it won't find the materials in the Sketchup 2018 folder.

Kind regards

Mike

[Dave R]

Mike,

You should put your own custome collections in the User directory and not in the applications. You can access collections from the materials window on the Mac. I'll make some screen shots showing how when I get home and have access to my Mac.

d