The 2025 update removed many of the standard materials I use every day and there are hardly any available on the warehouse anymore. How is this an upgrade? It has made sketchup far less efficient for working.
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hello
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Hey Paul, I understand this is an option and I appreciate the fix but not sure why Trimble thinks it’s users should be patching their “update” for them. Why would the old materials not just be part of the update right - it’s just really poor user support and lack of understanding of their users.
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you misunderstand. this is not a “patch”. there were old materials, low quality, poor resolution, for years. and now we have better default materials, with 700+ more in the warehouse.
so if you make the choice you still want to use the old materials, well then you can. the same way you can add your own materials.
my computer came with brand new wallpapers. but I liked my older wallpaper better. SO I applied it again
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Again, I understand that I can add them back and I know where to find new materials. I am saying removing useful features is not an upgrade. That’s like removing half the tools and telling users to “just download them again from the extension warehouse.” It’s non-sensical and a nuisance. The software shouldn’t be making backward steps - what we actually needed was more default materials readily accessible in the materials bar.
Also no professional designer cares about the quality of materials on sketchup - they are using proper rendering software anyways. These new “realistic” materials cater to homeowners and hobbyist designers, not professionals.
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man, thanks for telling me, I’ll have to spend the evening calling all the professionals I know that don’t need a super high end realistic render to tell them they’re not professionals according to you .
not everyone uses a renderer. you do. good for you. but then, you don’t really need sketchup materials, just apply colours, it’s even better.
wait…
Do you think it means they can stop paying taxes as professionals then ?
You’re nitpicking the point because you don’t like what you’re hearing. It’s very clear Sketchup is trying to get anyone and everyone to sign up for a subscription for one time use and hoping they forget about it. Sketchup developers are not focusing on professional design firms useability of the software. They’re trying to be just appealing enough to everyone with all these new party tricks instead of focusing on their core user group.
And yes, nearly every single design professional uses a separate rendering software. Sketchup never has and still isn’t nearly adequate enough for professional rendering.
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reading*
I don’t see the relevance here, what does their subscription model has to do with the cheese ?
you’re right. they’re turning this software into a toy and its users into babies.
ah yes. I shall trust your guts on this one. Although, you should use a statistics like 83%. it sounds better 
What I don’t get is, when working with a third party renderer, using plain colours is simpler than using default materials, old or new. therefore, since nearly every design professional uses a separate rendering software, they shouldn’t be affected.
colours rules !
geez.
you have a gripe with sketchup, fine, there are many reasons to be mad about them, but the OG materials not being native anymore ?
Things,times and people change. Software evolves; get used to it.
The removal of the old materials was initially an inconvenience (I hate change!) but I’ve since realised I didn’t actually use most of them anyway. And some of them are such low quality I expect their use was minimal.
I agree with your initial remark that it feels like you’re “patching” their update but all I did was set up my own template with the materials I want. I can just download anything else from the Warehouse now Sketchup has a dedicated Materials Library.
What the new photoreal materials (and environment lighting) has allowed me to do though, was create some layout files with images good enough to bypass the need to use an external renderer. But I guess it all depends on the field you are working in and what your client wants.
We charge a hefty price tag for any renderings so if the client is happy with a step down from high quality renderings then its a win.
Surely it’s a good thing for us designers? If we can get away with applying higher quality materials directly in Sketchup and subsequently producing some decent images without spending hours or days perfecting some rendered images, isn’t that a step in the right direction?
Sketchup has it’s faults - some are actually baffling, but in the grand scheme of things, the removal of some old materials is pretty low on the list of annoyances and easily rectifiable within a few minutes.
I hope you’ve sorted it out now and have a good day 
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Would you pay for something you can not use? 
Just wondering, since i am paying for updates i can not use for the past three years, and am kinda forced to keep using sup22 in the year 2025 
Actually, what users are paying for is not an update price but rent for using the software. The price would perhaps be the same if no updates were released.
Yes @Anssi, that’s what they call “buy” these days, i’m aware of that 
But what if the latest versions can’t be used for my work and they started to disable basic features of the version I can use?
I can’t call that the “full version” we’re paying for, can you?
I have the same frustration! I do use Enscape as a render engine, but the textures are taken over from the Sketchup model, and then you add realism. But now they really don’t look good! I agree it’s a step back - its made my life also more complicated. The Quality of the images with the new Render capabilities of Sketchup is also not really to write home about! There are definite improvements, but there are always elements in Sketchup you start using and enjoying, and then all of a sudden it’s gone or an old problem is back! I have also experienced Z-Fighting again - something that was quite common in the beginning years of Sketchup - mine is back again! There are definitely some hiccups between Layout and Sketchup I just can’t lay my finger on the specifics yet! It starts as an irritation and something that just breaks your speed, and then you put two and two together! The leader text issue is non-negotiable! Guys, text must copy and move freely on a page. Well, we are all patient - but please, Trimble, it’s wasting lots of time and time is money!
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Thank you for the tip. I found I could pick one or more of the materials from previous versions. ie Water. Like you said, I had to reload the program for the “water” to appear with the 2025 materials.
Instead of copying the old material folders to the ProgramData directory, I would put the copies in the default location for user-added materials so there’s no risk of losing them if there is a reason to reinstall SketchUp 2025.
As part of migrating to a new SketchUp version I copy my own custom texture collections from the previous version to the new versions. Planning ahead, copying those old materials to the same location as my custom materials will make it faster to carry those old materials forward to SketchUp 2026 when the time comes.
Alternatively you can open the old materials collections with SketchUp 2025 and use the materials directly and you can save those you want into a your own collections as needed.
BTW, please update your forum profile. It says you’re still using SketchUp 2021.
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Thanks for the profile reminder. I obviously had not looked at it for a while. I continue to be amazed at the models posted.
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Hey guys, for some reason, I do not see a “materials” folder in any of my SU (24 or 25) folders. Any idea where else it could be hiding? (i am running windows)
Thank you!
In SketchUp, look in the Preferences/Files window. The folder is by default hidden in Windows Explorer.