And now, I recall having looked at this thread. Sorry for any misinformation, and thanks to pbacot

SketchUp does that just by writing text to the status bar. a series of | characters to show progress. You can mimic the same behavior, but you do have to re-write it yourself.

To open it as you would via File > Open: <span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">openpanel</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">'Choose model to import'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'*.skp'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">open_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span> To load it as a component and let the user position it: <span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">openpanel</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">'Choose model to import'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'*.skp'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">unless skp_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">nil</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  model </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_model<br />  definition </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definitions</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">load</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">place_component</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definition</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">end</span> To load it as a component and insert at ORIGIN: <span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">openpanel</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">'Choose model to import'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'*.skp'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">unless skp_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">nil</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  model </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_model<br />  definition </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definitions</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">load</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">skp_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  tr </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Geom</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">;;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">Transformation</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.new<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">add_instance</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definition</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> tr</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">end</span>

There was a similar question some days ago, perhaps you can find some hints there...

Sketchup::Model#raytest()