Structure
Turn model organization into clean material structure.
Ultimate Material Manager Guide
Getting Started with Ultimate Material Manager
A professional material workflow for SketchUp. Learn how to install, activate, structure, assign, replace, transform, and prepare materials for rendering.
What UMM Is
What UMM Adds to SketchUp
Ultimate Material Manager brings a structured material workflow to SketchUp. It helps you reduce repetitive manual work, organize materials clearly, and prepare models for rendering workflows in Twinmotion, V-Ray, Unreal Engine, D5, and other downstream tools.
UMM does not replace SketchUp's native model behavior. It applies changes directly to the model using native SketchUp materials, so collaborators can open the file without needing additional setup.
Assign
Apply materials directly to selected geometry.
Replace
Swap materials across selections or the full model.
Transform
Adjust texture mapping, scale, rotation, and UV flow.
Clean Up
Apply to Faces moves materials from groups and components down to faces, then clears the containers. Perfect for 3D Warehouse or client models.
Install
Install and Activate UMM
- Download the .rbz file.
- Open SketchUp.
- Go to Extensions > Extension Manager.
- Click Install Extension.
- Select the UMM .rbz file.
- Open Ultimate Material Manager.
- Enter your license key.
- Click Activate.
Interface
Understanding the UMM Interface
UMM is organized around the material workflow: structure, assignment, replacement, texture control, cleanup, and inspection.
Material Library
Save texture-ready material sets, batch rename materials, and reload shared libraries into any model.
Replace Materials
Swap one material for another across the model or a selection.
Texture Transform
Adjust mapping style, scale, rotation, offset, and UV flow.
Materializer
Turn Outliner organization into a structured material setup.
Actions & Cleanup
Run diagnostics, create materials, merge duplicates, purge unused materials, and remove unwanted assignments.
Workflow
The Basic UMM Workflow
Select geometry in SketchUp
Most UMM actions are selection-based.
Apply the action
Assign, replace, remove, transform, inspect, or clean up.
Prepare for visualization
Use structured materials to move faster in Twinmotion, V-Ray, Unreal, or D5.
Materials
Material Cards
Material Cards show the materials in your model with fast actions for everyday work.
Assign
Apply the material to selected objects or faces.
Edit
Open material editing controls.
Rename
Rename the material.
Usage
Inspect where the material is used.
Duplicate
Create a duplicate material.
Highlight
Highlight geometry using that material.
Texture Transform
Texture Transform
NEW IN 1.6.8Mapping tools for architectural surfaces, roads, walkways, trims, panels, and repeatable texture setup.
Texture Transform is included in UMM 1.6.8 Early Access. It brings mapping workflows, surface analysis, UV preview, and precise mapping controls into the same material preparation environment.
Quick Mapping
Adaptive Mapping
Applies a fast mapping pass that responds to the orientation of selected geometry.
Reset Mapping
Returns selected surfaces to a clean mapping baseline.
Box Map
Useful for box-like forms and architectural volumes.
Cylinder Map
Useful for cylindrical or rounded forms.
Ribbon Map
For long continuous runs such as roads, paths, walkways, or trims.
Strip Map
For strip-like forms such as fascias, edge bands, and linear surfaces.
Texture Map
Standard texture mapping workflow.
Quad Map
For quad-based surface mapping workflows.
Invert U / Invert V
Flip texture direction horizontally or vertically.
Mapping Details
Surface Analysis
Surface Analysis helps users understand the selected textured faces and suggests mapping direction or workflow hints where possible.
Preview Mapping NEW IN 1.6.8
Preview Mapping lets users inspect UV scale, rotation, and surface flow before committing to a mapping strategy.
Adjust Mapping
Use Shared Surface to treat segmented geometry as one continuous UV surface, or Individual Faces to adjust each face independently for precise control.
NEW IN 1.6.8 Shared SurfaceMap segmented geometry as one continuous UV surface.Individual FacesAdjust each face independently.
Delta UHorizontal texture offset.Delta VVertical texture offset.AngleTexture rotation.ScaleUniform texture scale.ResetReturns controls to baseline.
Core Tool
Materializer Structure Materials in Seconds
Materializer is the core workflow in UMM. It converts model structure into a clean material setup based on your SketchUp Outliner organization.
Use this when you want to move from a clean, unmaterialized model to a structured material setup quickly.
Materializer works best on clean model structure and is designed to transform Outliner organization into a structured material setup.
Full Model
Scans the full model and creates materials from model structure.
Selection Only
Limits the operation to selected groups or components.
Best For
Early material setup, render preparation, placeholder materials, clean IDs, and downstream replacement workflows.
Settings
Customize Your Workflow
Settings let users adapt UMM to their workflow, screen size, and material assignment preferences.
Material Assignment
Overwrite Existing Paint / Deep Paint
Use this when you want UMM to replace existing face materials inside the selected scope. This is useful when cleaning up imported models, replacing placeholder materials, or forcing a clean material assignment.
Do Not Overwrite Existing Paint
Use this when you want to protect faces that already have materials. UMM will only apply materials where no existing face paint should be replaced.
Two Sided Workflow
When enabled, UMM can apply material assignments to both front and back faces. This is useful when preparing models for rendering workflows where backside visibility, face orientation, or exported material consistency matters.
UI Scale
Use UI Scale to make the interface more comfortable on different displays.
- Laptop / small display: 80-90%
- Standard monitor: 100%
- Large or high-resolution display: 110-125%
Density Mode
Controls spacing and control height. Comfortable mode is easier to read, while compact modes are useful when screen space is limited.
Windowing
Users can choose whether UMM tools stay docked in a single drawer-based window or open as separate windows and presets. Single Window / Drawers is recommended for most users.
Drawers
Drawer settings control whether panels open on the left, right, or both sides, including Material Library, Replace Materials, Texture Transform, animation, and reset window layout.
Material Logic
How UMM Reads SketchUp Materials
SketchUp allows materials to exist in several different places. That flexibility is useful, but larger models can become harder to understand when materials are split between faces, groups, components, imports, and older project structure.
UMM is designed to help create a more predictable material workflow that behaves consistently across editing, rendering, exporting, and collaboration.
Face
Applied directly to geometry. This is usually the clearest place for final materials.
Group
Applied to a group container and visible through faces that still use the Default material.
Component
Applied to a component instance and visible through Default faces inside that instance.
Recommended Material Structure
For most professional workflows, final materials are easiest to manage when they are applied directly to faces. This keeps material ownership clear, makes edits more predictable, improves renderer imports, and makes troubleshooting faster when a model is handed to another artist or visualization tool.
Container materials can still be useful, but they are harder to reason about when a model becomes large, nested, or shared across a team. UMM helps you normalize that structure without forcing SketchUp to behave like a different application.
Shared Components and Safety
Some UMM tools intentionally skip edits when changing a shared component could affect instances outside the current selection. This protects the model from unintended changes elsewhere while keeping bulk operations safer and more predictable.
If you work with imported models, downloaded assets, older SketchUp projects, or collaborative files, consider running Material Diagnostics followed by Apply To Faces (Preserve Look). That creates a cleaner starting point for future editing.
Advanced Material Workflow GuideFirst Run
Your First UMM Pass
Clean Model Materializer Material Cards Replace Materials Texture Transform Cleanup Render
- Open a clean SketchUp model.
- Open UMM.
- Run Materializer on the full model or selected groups.
- Review the generated material cards.
- Use Replace Materials to refine placeholder materials.
- Use Texture Transform to adjust mapping where needed.
- Use Cleanup tools to merge duplicates and purge unused materials.
- Send the model to Twinmotion, V-Ray, Unreal, or D5.
Renderer Handoff
Prepare Models for Rendering
Ultimate Material Manager is not a renderer. It prepares material structure before rendering, reducing downstream cleanup and replacement work.
Twinmotion
Build cleaner material structure before import and reduce replacement work.
V-Ray
Organize materials before assigning final render materials.
Unreal Engine
Prepare clean material IDs and structured imports.
D5 Render
Reduce manual material cleanup before visualization.