SketchUp 2026’s new physically-based material system automatically embeds all texture maps (base color, normal, roughness, metallic, etc.) into the .skp file. When using renderers like Enscape, these maps are written back into SketchUp’s shared material definition and the file size can increase dramatically—often by hundreds of megabytes per model.
There’s currently no way to keep textures externally referenced or to disable embedding. This removes the lightweight workflow that previously allowed users to manage large texture libraries and link only color maps inside SketchUp.
Please consider adding:
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A “Keep external texture references” or “Do not embed maps” option.
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A global preference or per-material toggle to prevent auto-embedding.
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A way to manually relink maps without inflating file size.
This change would preserve efficient rendering workflows and avoid unnecessary file bloat for users working with PBR materials and external renderers.
Thank you for considering this.