Hey community. If anyone out there is like me and was (or is still) curious about how to integrate Megascans content into their rendering workflow, then this may be of interest.
The Problem - Getting Megascans stuff into SketchUp. First of all I’m on a Mac and while Megascans does have a Mac version of their Bridge app, there’s no direct link to SketchUp because SketchUp doesn’t natively import .obj or .fbx files.
Option 1 - Skimp (Mac or PC) does a great job at importing .obj/.fbx, with the extra benefit of reducing geometry as needed…but it requires a manual reload of the diffuse map after import. It also unfortunately loses the references to the additional texture maps (diffuse, bump, opacity, etc) that give Megascans their great detail. (Someone please correct me if there is a workaround for this or if I missed something re: map retention).
Skimp interface with Megascans asset
Missing maps (VRAY)
Closeup view showing how important Opacity (ie Alpha) map is in order for texture to look correct
Option 2 - Transmutr (PC only)
Megascans has the option for custom exports and Transmutr smartly tapped into this feature to allow for direct transfer of geometry, textures and maps to move be preserved. This isn’t a review on Transmutr so I’ll keep it simple but say that you have the option of saving asset as proxy or full SketchUp file. I’m using Parallels on Mac and can specify saved destination on my Mac drive…which is convenient as then I won’t have to transfer or create duplicate copies.
You can export to custom socket port under Megascans Bridge export settings
Here you can change geometry settings, choose which variety you want (this grass asset came with 6 versions).
Under the materials tab we can see the maps came in automatically saving us loads of time if we were to have to re-path them
Lastly, once saved as SketchUp model from Transmutr, I can now work with the assets as I would any other component and trust that they’ll render nicely.
Here is the SketchUp scene for this little test:
And the VRAY interactive render. Added dome light with default HDRI, VRAY ocean waves applied to infinite plane. Everything else default settings.
Love the detail that shows up from these photo-scanned assets
Now to get a 3D scanner and go make some myself 
