Thanks for that, it makes sense now. I’m an old Windows guy, I have a
Windows 95 Certificate from Microsoft from the '90s. I probably glanced
at the release notes and certainly missed the new file path part. Isn’t
it better to import these things into Sketchup using the File/Import
feature, where you can select whether it’s to be a ‘picture’ file or a
‘texture’ file? Then Sketchup can decide whether to use the *.skm
extension or the *.jpg or *.png (etc) that it was, and it puts in the
appropriate directory, or asks the user to choose one.
If this is too far off what happens and you don’t have time to answer
here, you’re excused. I’ll look for a reply online.
Your misconstrue how SKM files work.
A SKM file is a re-suffixed ZIP file, contacting various files and images used to create a SKetchup-Material.
SketchUp comes with some shipped material SKM files, which are used by SketchUp’s starting set.
However, the user’s own SKM files should be kept in their AppData path subfolder as Dan has outlined.
C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\SketchUp\Materials\
Provided that the folder’s path is identified within SketchUp’s Preferences>Files [Materials] and accessible through the Materials Collections subfolders, then you should be able to load materials from any of the subfolders in that, and also save new materials into these subfolders…
An image [often called a ‘texture’] - like a JPG or PNG - is applied to any Material as it’s texture - it is not a texture/material in itself.
A Material at its simplest is just RGB paint color, adding an image file adds the texture - either by adding it manually or importing the image directly as a textured-material…
If you make any new material in a model it is only [re]usable in that model, BUT you can easily use its context-menu options in the Materials Browser [model-tab], to save it externally as a new [or updated] SKM into one of your ‘user’ Collection’s subfolders [or a new subfolder you add].
The way colors and textures work on PC and MAC is subtly different - but I think you said PC ?
That’s what I’ve outlined…
Import only imports into the model’s “In Model” materials collection. You can do this once, but then after tweaking and editing the material, save it out as a SKM file to your personal materials collection in whatever sub-directory makes sense to you (as outlined by TIG above.)