What is the easiest way to update the paint bucket materials that I had on my 2015 pro version into my new 2016 pro version. It would have been nice when I did the upgrade to 2016, that all paint bucket materials and also other add-ons would have just transferred to the new version. Thank you.
Where did you save the materials you created for SU2015? Use Open or Create a Collection or Add Collection to Favorites in the Materials window to add those libraries.
(1) On Windows, create a folder hierarchy, like this:
"C:/Users/%USERNAME%/Documents/SketchUp/My Materials"
Go to your “Documents” folder and create a “SketchUp” sub-folder, then create a “My Materials” folder in the “SketchUp” sub-folder.
This will be a version independent repository for your custom materials (SKM files.)
(Copy any materials you want to share between all SketchUp version.)
(2) Open SketchUp, and go to:
Window > Preferences > Files
Click the browse button at the right end of the “Materials” path box.
Navigate to the folder you created (above).
Now when SketchUp wants you to save a material from a model, or otherwise needs you to select a material manually, … this “Files” path will be what SketchUp uses as the default file browser location.
(When a later version of SketchUp is installed, it should “pick up” and clone this setting from the next oldest version.)
Close the Preferences dialog.
(3) As Dave said, open the “Materials” manager inspector. Click the little menu icon with the right-pointing black arrow. (Just below the Eyedropper “Sample” button.)
Use the “Open or Create a collection…” and “Add collection to favorites …” commands to add the above “My Materials” path. (You can add it in the primary or secondary-extended pane of the Materials manager. Use the expand button to show the secondary-extended pane.)
… repeat steps 2 and 3 for each version you have already installed.
Step 2 seems to propagate to any new version when it is installed. But step 3, seems to not propagate. You may need to manually add the “My Materials” collection for each new version.
The “My Materials” folder can have any number of sub-folders, or sub-sub-folders you desire in order to organize your materials.
Yes you can do a similar thing for “Styles”, “Images”, “Components”, etc. (Be careful with components as they are versioned SKP files. They may need to be back-saved to some common version, say 14.)