Ultimate Material Manager for SketchUp

1. Quick Start

Install, activate, sync your model, and start cleaning materials in minutes.

Compatibility — SketchUp 2024–2026 (macOS & Windows). Behavior may vary slightly depending on OS version and system configuration.

2. Workspace Overview

Four matching windows handle the daily material tasks, so you can swap between them without relearning the UI.

3. Main Window Toolkit

Move down the toolbar to scan the model, diagnose issues, and apply fixes. The controls below follow the dialog order.

• License Banner: Shows your license status. Click to open License Dialog.
• Top Bar Info: Shows the extension version, total materials, and live scan progress.
• Model Info: Run a quick material health scan that reports usage, conflicts, and priority fixes instantly.
• Refresh: Manually resync the panel so SketchUp stays in step without freezing your workflow.

• Summary: Face counts plus highlights for missing front materials.
• Front & Back: Lists the materials and IDs applied to each side.
• Assignments: Shows overrides stored on containers or component definitions.
• Potential Issues: Highlights different issues in your selection.
• Apply to Faces: Apply all the materials in the selection directly to faces and clear container paints automatically for consistency.

• Check Faces: Flag reversed faces with green fronts and red backs so orientation mistakes surface immediately.
• Merge Duplicates: Combine matching materials automatically so clones collapse, schedules simplify, and exports stay pristine.
• Purge Unused: Remove unused materials in one click to keep models light, organized, and responsive daily.
• Remove Material: Strip materials from the active selection while preserving hierarchy, containers, and undo history.
• New Materials: Spin up a clean material with smart defaults ready for naming, textures, and mapping tweaks.
• Pick Material: Click any surface in SketchUp to identify its material and jump straight to editing.
• Scan Selection: Sweep a selection, highlight each material, step with arrow keys, and isolate entries fast.
• Highlight: Applies a temporary tint to selected materials and steps through them with the arrow keys while preserving PBR maps.
• Isolate: Filters the list to materials used by the active SketchUp selection.
• Auto-Scroll: Automatically scrolls to material when double clicked in the Scan Selection list.
• Search Materials: Filters the list as you type. Searches are case-insensitive; clear the field to show everything.

Heads-up: Highlight and Check Faces temporarily adjust materials or render settings to show previews. They auto-clear when you turn them off, refresh, close the window, or before saving, but a crash could leave the previewed look. If you notice the thumbnail showing a preview, just toggle these off and save again for a clean shot.

Material List Functions

• Assign: Apply the active material directly to faces and clear container paints automatically for consistency.
• Edit: Adjust color, texture, scale, and PBR maps from one panel without leaving SketchUp.
• Rename: Update material names instantly so schedules, exports, and library folders stay perfectly aligned.
• Usage: List every entity using the material so you can locate, audit, and tidy assignments fast.
• Duplicate: Clone the active material with all parameters preserved for rapid iterations and alternates.
• Highlight: Highlight selected material in the viewport.

Edit Material Window

Click Edit to open the editor. SketchUp 2025+ uses the full panel shown below; SketchUp 2024 opens a simplified window that keeps the core controls.

• Name: Rename the material.
• Colour & Opacity: Adjust the swatch and 0–100% opacity slider.
• Dimensions & Preview: Width and Height update in real time alongside the preview tile.
• Texture Actions: Load, find, or remove the current bitmap.
• PBR Maps (2025+): Enable, load, or remove Metallic, Roughness, Normal, and Ambient Occlusion maps with strength sliders.
• Simplified view (2024): Classic controls only: name, colour, opacity, size, preview, and texture actions, without the PBR map panel.
• Footer Controls: Save applies changes; Cancel closes without updating the model.

4. Material Library

Stage, save, and reload reusable materials.

• Load Library: Load saved libraries into the model by choosing a directory entry and applying instantly.
• Save Library: Export selected materials with textures and a JSON reference so teams share consistent sets.
• Selection: Drag-select multiple swatches to stage bulk actions without toggling each material manually.
• Select All: Grab the whole library in one gesture to streamline batch edits and exports.
• Deselect All: Clear the active selection immediately so accidental bulk edits never slip through.
• Batch Rename: Apply prefixes, suffixes, and numbering in one pass for studio-grade naming discipline.
• Undo Batch Rename: Revert the most recent rename run instantly if results stray from standards.
• Batch Create: Generate up to 100 materials with structured names and automatic colors ready for review.

5. Replace Materials

Swap one material for another with confirmation.

• From Material: Choose the source material to replace so every swap starts with clear intent.
• To Material: Pick the target material and preview the result before committing the replacement.
• Replace Material in Model: Apply the swap model-wide in one command backed by full undo support.

6. Texture Transform

Capture faces for UV edits with live previews.

• Clean Geometry Focus: Optimized for tidy architectural and mechanical faces; use Check Selection diagnostics to flag messy Warehouse imports before they derail your UV edits.
• Start Session: Begin a texture transform session on a face and roam freely while edits stay linked.
• End Session: Close the session to save every tweak automatically with per-step undo available.
• Quick Mapping: Apply box, cylinder, planar, or quad mapping instantly, including quick X-Y inversions.
• Adjust Mapping: Dial position, rotation, and scale with intuitive sliders for pixel-perfect alignment.

7. Settings Main Menu

Settings sit in the toolbar across every window. Set them once and the preference carries with you.

8. Licensing FAQ

This FAQ explains how licensing and activation work in Ultimate Material Manager. Use it as a reference for installation, activation, device usage, and general license questions.

10. Privacy & GDPR

11. EULA