# How to pick the texture and the colour at once on Mac Sketchup Pro 2016? **URL:** \ **Category:** Pro\ **Tags:** mac\ **Created:** [October 20, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506 "2016-10-20T16:40:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AisteValaityte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/aistevalaityte/32/32113_2.png) [@AisteValaityte](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/AisteValaityte)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/1 "2016-10-20T16:40:37Z")
Hi Everyone, I have recently switched from Windows user to Mac. And the problem I am experiencing is picking the textures with the eyedrop tool. On Windows system, whenever you use the eyedrop (color picker tool, not sure how its exactly called) it picks the colour and the texture at once whereas on mackintosh it only picks the colour but not the texture! I found it extremely annoying. Has anyone experiencing this too? Please share your experience. Many thanks ! ---
**Author:** ![DaveR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/daver/32/7601_2.png) [@DaveR](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DaveR)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/2 "2016-10-20T16:42:24Z")
Can you share an example SKP file that shows this? ---
**Author:** ![slbaumgartner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/slbaumgartner/32/7302_2.png) [@slbaumgartner](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/slbaumgartner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/3 "2016-10-20T18:05:16Z")
How are you trying to sample the texture? One of the design “features” of the Mac materials browser is that the visible “eyedropper” icon activates the Mac’s color-chooser, not SketchUp’s texture sampler. To get the texture sampler, hold down the command key while the paintbucket tool is active. The cursor will change to an eyedropper (yeah, confusing!) and when you click it will sample the texture not just the color. This is one of the strange and arbitrary differences between the Mac and Windows materials browser GUIs that many of us Mac users have griped about for years. Once you get used to its quirks, the Mac version is usable, especially if you are fluent with the OS X color chooser. But it was obviously cobbled atop the color chooser without much effort to make it consistent with the Windows version. ---
**Author:** ![Bryceosaurus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/bryceosaurus/32/37_2.png) [@Bryceosaurus](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Bryceosaurus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/4 "2016-10-20T19:57:43Z")
On the mac use Command+Paint to sample the material applied to a face. The eye dropper on the color picker chooses the color of pixels on the screen (system default for the color picker). ---
**Author:** ![AisteValaityte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/aistevalaityte/32/32113_2.png) [@AisteValaityte](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/AisteValaityte)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/5 "2016-11-12T18:27:18Z")
Thank you all for the answers, holding the command key works and brings the dropper. However, how do I adjust the properties of the chosen colour? Thanks, A. ---
**Author:** ![colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/colin/32/266703_2.png) [@colin](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/colin)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/6 "2019-03-30T19:56:49Z")
This is an old topic I chanced across while finding out something else. If you have command-clicked with paint bucket to select the material, the Colors palette will have selected the right swatch in the Colors in Model section, and you can then edit it to change all surfaces that are using that material. ---
**Author:** ![mcdreon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mcdreon](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/mcdreon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/7 "2020-03-23T17:09:06Z")
THANK YOU! This was super helpful! Was so confused trying to find the texture eyedropper when using Sketchup on Mac. ---
**Author:** ![ford519](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ford519](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/ford519)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/8 "2026-09-16T18:14:16Z")
Hi Colin. While your solution is true, it doesn’t work on a complex model where I would need to find that quite faint selection box within the material palette. I need to be able to have the eyedropper tool work on a Mac as it does on a PC. I need it to select the material and have the editable controls available immediately. Has SketchUp/Trimble come up with a solution for this yet? ---
**Author:** ![bmike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/bmike/32/225451_2.png) [@bmike](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/bmike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/9 "2026-09-16T18:40:21Z")
![Screenshot 2026-09-16 at 20.37.59](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/4X/e/3/4/e34ea442e0ec2ef9525511eafa65842e58799bf0.png) ---
**Author:** ![ateliernab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/ateliernab/32/198399_2.png) [@ateliernab](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/ateliernab)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-pick-the-texture-and-the-colour-at-once-on-mac-sketchup-pro-2016/32506/10 "2026-09-16T18:55:32Z")
> [@ford519](#): > > I need it to select the material and have the editable controls available immediately. Has SketchUp/Trimble come up with a solution for this yet? Sorry, I answered in the other 6yold thread you resuscitated 😉 . > [@Selecting a material with color drop and not being able to edit](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/selecting-a-material-with-color-drop-and-not-being-able-to-edit/141251/21): > > no it’s not. the paintbucket + alt will select the material, you still have to either double click or click on edit. on mac, the eyedrop will select the material and you have to double click on it. no edit tab yet. yeah, mac os has a crappy sense of contrast, the material is selected but it can be hard to see. Unless you used the wrong eyedrop. see, on mac, it’s apple’s material panel. the eyedrop at the bottom will capture a single pixel. if you want the “normal sketchup eyedrop” it’s l…