MacOS Mojave
SketchUp Pro 2019
I have several .skm files that would be useful for my model. When I open the materials panel and right-click and select new texture, they are greyed out and not selectable in the file window.
How can I add these textures to my model? And how can I add them so that they show up in new models?
Thanks …
You are probably trying to create a new material and assign a texture image from a file. The file selector dialog only displays image file types that are supported as texture images (.jpg, .png, .bmp, …).
The .skm files however are a complete material (not an image that can be assigned as texture to a material). It would be great if one could just open an .skm file and add it to the other materials. But SketchUp only loads .skm files contained in your materials folder, which is either in
C:\Users\username\App Data\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp #\Materials~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2019/SketchUp/Materials
Move the .skm files there and they should appear in your custom material libraries the next time you start SketchUp.
See this post …
Names of components in local folder does not match names in the component window
Do the above first, by creating a folder in your “user” Materials path, and add the .skm files into the new folder. You may need to restart SketchUp for the new folder to be enumerated, but you can try changing the folder in the Materials inspector panel and back again to see if the user “Materials” folder is re-enumerated.
Once you see the materials listed you can select them and the Paint Bucket tool should be activated.
I do not have a SketchUp 2019 directory under Application Support. With MacOS (Mojave), would the directory be hidden?
Are you looking in your user-specific Library (~/Library/Application Support/ aka /Users/yourname/Library/Application Support) or the system-level /Library? The former is where the materials folder is located. By default ~/Library is hidden by Finder. You can use Finder’s Go->Go to Folder menu item to get there.
Does the Mac edition have a browse button (like the Win edition) in the Files panel of the Preferences dialog ? If so, clicking the browse button for the “Materials” path should open it.
Is there a way unhide ~/Library in the Finder?
There are thousands of readily Google-able tips on this… e.g.
In macOS you can type command-shift-. (period) to show all invisible files and folders. There are a few reasons why you don’t need to do that. Easiest one is that if you press Option while looking at the Go menu, Library appears. Also, in any text editor (including what I’m about to type), you can select a path and right-click choose Services/Show in Finder. Try testing that with this text:
~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2019/SketchUp/Materials
Thanks for the tip. Your “easiest” suggestion provides a temporary method, which I prefer
You can make ~/Library permanently visible in Finder by selecting your home folder, press command-J to open the options panel for the folder, and way down at the bottom there is a check box to Show Library Folder.
For earlier versions of MacOS, “Show Library Folder” was included, but unfortunately not in Mojave. Here is a link for Mojave:
yes, but you may have to save a material or create a folder first…
it never used to be a shipped folder or created on install, but may be now…
john
Yes, in Preferences Files panel (at least in current versions of SketchUp) there is a little folder icon at the right. Clicking this takes you directly to the folder even if in the (hidden) ~/Library.
How do I get to “Preferences Files Panel”? As a SketchUp beginner, I am still struggling with the terminology. 
Great, found it, thanks. Your responses are well crafted and very clear.
So, if I drop .skm files into this directory, they will show up in the materials panel? Will these be “in model only” or for new models as well?
Is “texture” the same as “color”? And the term “Materials” applies only to the panel?
A texture is an image used by the material to provide more than a flat color.
And what about the term “color”. When I click on “Color” in the materials panel the drop down menu includes “New Texture”. So I am assuming “Color” and “Texture” are used interchangeably?
Small clarification, I remember this is how it operates: dropping a .skm in the first layer folder accessed through the preferences panel will not make it show up in the materials. You must make a new folder within that directory give that folder a name and put the .skm in there. The material picker only shows lists, not individual materials.
Yes color and material are interchangeable in terms of how they are saved as custom lists. But stock colors and materials are not editable.
