Scan Essentials point clouds load but are invisible in Windows 11 ARM via Parallels

Extending SketchUp Scan Essentials
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1

Hi everyone,

I’m evaluating SketchUp Studio / Scan Essentials for commercial point-cloud work and am very close to purchasing.

My setup:

  • MacBook Pro 16", M4 Max, 36 GB RAM
  • Parallels Desktop Pro
  • Windows 11 ARM
  • VM allocated 16 GB RAM / 8 CPUs
  • SketchUp 2026 Desktop
  • Scan Essentials

Normal SketchUp modeling works, but point clouds load successfully in Scan Essentials and remain completely invisible in the viewport.

I have tested:

  • A 14.5 GB Matterport E57 that opens correctly in CloudCompare
  • Trimble’s official Italian House sample RWP
  • Main cloud enabled
  • All stations enabled
  • Density and point size increased
  • White colorization / Ambient Shading
  • No-filter cloud view
  • Zoom Extents

Both point clouds load and appear in Point Cloud Manager, but neither renders visibly.

SketchUp initially crashed using the new graphics engine and automatically switched to Classic Graphics Engine. Graphics Engine Details show:

  • OpenGL 4.1 Metal
  • Vendor: Parallels and Apple
  • Renderer: Parallels using Apple M4 Max
  • No graphics initialization warnings

Has anyone successfully used Scan Essentials with Windows 11 ARM under Parallels on Apple Silicon?

Is the invisible point-cloud behavior a known limitation of the Parallels virtual graphics environment, or is there another setting/workaround I should try?

Thanks!

2

Hi,
Unfortunately, we know that Scan Essentials is not compatible with Mac + Parallels.
We are aware that having Scan Essentials on Windows only is a strong limitation. We are working on improving this but it won’t be available in the short term.
Best,
YS