Materials in SketchUp - Enscape

12/4/21, 2:44 AM Materials in SketchUp - Enscape
Overview
The native SketchUp material editor supports only a texture and a transparency value – not
necessarily sufficient to create visually stunning images such as the ones our users usually achieve .
This is why we came up with our very own material editor specifically for SketchUp, to make sure all of
our users can enjoy powerful tools such as Bump- and Reflectivity maps.
In addition to this Knowledgebase Article, you can also have a look at this best-practices blog post 
by Dan Stine.
Using some detailed Bump- and Reflectivity maps in SketchUp
Accessing the Material Editor
To open the Enscape material editor, either go to Extensions -> Enscape -> Enscape Materials, or click
the Enscape Materials Button in the Enscape Toolbar.
Enscape Material Editor in SketchUp
https://enscape3d.com/community/blog/knowledgebase/sketchup/ 1/42
NOTE: If the Material Editor opens but is blocked with a notification informing the user that the
license key has expired, or that there are no seats available on a floating license, then please refer to
this article.
This is the interface that will pop up, here showing a project with a number of materials already created,
and also showing the material search facility.
In your case, the window may look slightly different – the reason is that the Enscape Material Editor
will always display the material that is currently selected in SketchUp – as long as the material is
used in your model.
This way, you can easily choose any material to adjust in Enscape by simply selecting it using the
Sample Paint ( ) tool in SketchUp. The Enscape Material Editor will switch to any selected
material immediately.
Two other functions that are available in the Enscape Material Editor are the menu button at the top
which allows you to either Batch Import *.mattpkg files, or import materials from the Enscape
Material Library.
You can also set the location where materials will be stored (such as a network drive) via the ‘gear /
cog’ symbol at the extreme bottom left of the Material Editor dialog and this is also covered in the
Material Library article.
Other Material Editor options
IMPORTANT
Before importing any materials, you should decide whether the project will be shared with
another user for collaborative purposes. If this is the case, a storage location where all users
working on a project will have access to. Therefore, you should pay attention to the ‘gear’ icon
that can be found at the bottom left corner of the dialog in both the Material Library, and the
Material Editor. If you do not adjust the storage location then when a project file is opened by
another user, that user will not be able to access the materials assigned in the project due to
the default storage location being assigned locally by default. This means that the materials
assigned in the project will need to be manually reimported from the Material Library and
reassigned.
To apply textures from the Material Editor, simply select the material in the Material Editor, then click
on the updated thumbnail under the SketchUp Materials section and click the surface you want to
apply it to in the SketchUp viewport.
The following shows how to import a PBR material from the Enscape Material Library, select and apply
it in SketchUp.
Applying a Material in SketchUp
Material Types
There are six Materials Types you can select from in the Enscape Material Editor:
Generic
Carpet
Clearcoat
Foliage
Grass
Self-illuminated
Water
Material Types
Generic
The “Generic” material type is suited for any materials that aren’t supposed to be rendered as grass
blades, water surface, or have translucency applied.
It gives you control over the color, reflectivity, transparency, and surface relief (height) of your
material.
This is the default material type and can be used for the majority of all possible materials.
The Generic Material Interface
Albedo
The Albedo area controls the basic color of the surface you’re designing. You can either select a color,
or choose a texture by clicking the blue folder symbol. If choosing a texture, you’ll also receive a “Tint
Color” menu, allowing you to easily change the color of the texture used. Control the amount of
influence on your texture using the “Image Fade” slider. Of course, Enscape will use any UV
information (texture placement) it gets from SketchUp.
The Albedo area with no texture applied
Albedo area with texture applied
Albedo Texture on Sphere
TIP
When using an Albedo color, if a material has ever been modified through the Enscape
Material Editor and the material had originally contained a diffuse texture in the Revit Material
Editor that additionally had the Image Fade set to less than 100% in the Revit Material Editor,
any subsequent changes made to that material’s Albedo color via the Revit Material Editor will
be ignored by Enscape. Only the changes to its Albedo color performed via the Enscape
Material Editor are considered.
Video Textures
It is also possible to add a video texture to the Albedo texture slot. The following formats are currently
supported: .mp4, .mpg, .m2v, .3gp, .avi, .mov, and .mk,
When selecting a video file as the Albedo texture, transparency-related material settings are limited to
Cutout-Transparency only where you can apply a mask texture. The adjustment or inversion of the
brightness of the video texture in the Enscape Texture Editor becomes unavailable in this scenario.
Video texture applied to Albedo texture slot
Transparency
The Transparency area lets you control the opacity of your model, or, in other words, the amount of
light that can travel through the surface, allowing you to see what’s behind it.
Transparency Options
The Transparency area
Texture
The Texture parameter allows you to control the transparency using a 2D image, a map. It refers to the
Opacity value, so a black area (which equals zero) on the image used will result in a perfectly
transparent portion of the surface, while a white area will appear perfectly opaque. Grey areas will
appear partially transparent, such as glass. If you load a colored image, Enscape will automatically
convert it to black and white, so you don’t have to worry about that.
Opacity
The Opacity slider controls the overall transparency of the surface. If you’re using it combined with a
transparency map, it will define the maximum opacity, so white areas on said map will appear as
opaque as you’ve set using this slider.
Tint Color
This menu allows you to choose a color that should be added to any semi-transparent areas of your
material. Very much like colored glass.
Refractive Index
The Refractive Index slider determines by which factor light is being bent when traveling through a
transparent surface. You know this effect from looking at a glass of water, or very thick glass.
Air has a refractive index of 1.0 – so light rays travel through it in a straight line -, water has an index of
1.33, window glass 1.52, and, for example diamonds have an index of 2.42 – they bend light quite
heavily.
For further information on this topic, feel free to have a look at the Wikipedia article .
Frosted Glass
If the Frosted Glass checkbox is enabled, Enscape will blur what’s visible through the transparent
surface. The amount by which it’s blurred is being determined by the Roughness value in the
Reflections area.
Transition from transparent sphere to one with transparency texture applied
Height Maps
The Height option in the Enscape Material Editor allows you to utilize so called Bump, Normal, or
Displacement maps in order to simulate bumps, wrinkles and dents and the lighting of these.
Bump maps can be any black and white 2D images. They tell Enscape to interpret a surface as
protruding (bright parts of the texture) or recessed (dark parts of the texture).
Normal map are a type of Bump map that require an image with RGB values. These RGB components
correspond to the X, Y, and Z coordinates, respectively.
Displacement maps are an enhancement of the bump mapping or normal mapping techniques
applied to textures. Normally an Occlusion Map is the type of image you will use for Displacement
maps. The actual technique employed in Enscape is called quadtree parallax displacement mapping
for optimum performance. It’s worth noting that Displacement maps are incompatible with
transparent materials so the entire “Transparency” section becomes unavailable where a
displacement map has been applied (including mask textures). Furthermore, the brightness of
Displacement maps cannot be further adjusted or inverted when editing the texture inside the
Enscape Material Editor itself.
Height maps are incredibly valuable for realism in your images and this can not be overstated
enough!
Height maps can make for incredible surface detail and noise, without actually affecting or adding
more geometry. You can use this feature for noise on concrete surfaces, wood, tiling, or even full
reliefs! This can go a long way in convincing the viewer that they are looking at a realistic picture.
Textures that are available online, either paid for or free, will generally have a Normal, Bump / Height,
Occlusion map included or available additionally to the basic Color texture.
It is also worth noting that normal based self-shadowing of material surfaces implemented. This
feature further improves the depth perception of materials, especially with displacement maps. It’s
active for sun light only when the Rendering Quality level is set to “High”. On Rendering Quality level
“Ultra” artificial lights will also cast normal based shadows.
Applying a Bump map
Applying a Normal map
Applying a Displacement map
As powerful as this feature is, it’s very easy to setup. Just select an image file using the blue folder
button. A Bump map doesn’t even have to be black & white, as Enscape will take care of that for you.
Normal Maps must have an RGB value in them.
As already mentioned, Displacement maps would be best served with an occlusion map if available.
You can switch between using a Bump, Normal, and Displacement map via the Type drop down
option.
Select the Intensity (Bump and Displacement) or Amount (Normal) of the effect, using the
respectively named slider. Negative values for bump maps. will invert the effect, causing dark areas to
stick out and bright areas to be pushed in.
Displacement Maps will only adjust the amount, whether negative or positive values, in the same
single direction from the minimum height value.
The Bump Map Settings options
PRO TIP
When using a Bump map, if there’s already an Albedo texture applied to your
material, you can just click “Use Albedo“. Enscape will then assign the color
texture to the bump value. This offers a uniquely streamlined way to set up
existing projects for Enscape: If you want to apply a bump effect to, e.g. an
existing wood material, simply select the material in SketchUp using the
tool. Click “Use Albedo” in the Bump area (and, if desired, in the Reflections
area as well), select the right intensity with the “Amount” slider – Done!
Reflections
This area is all about the microscopic roughness of your material, determining how much of the
environment you’ll see reflected in its surface.
The Reflection settings area
Roughness
The smoother the material (Roughness -> 0%), the more it will reflect it’s environment. The rougher
the material is, the more it will diffuse incoming light.
Texture
Again, you can also use 2D Images as a ‘Roughness Map’ to control the roughness value per location
on your surface.
Metallic
The Metallic-slider tells Enscape to treat the surface either as a non-metallic (e.g. plastic, ceramic..)
reflective surface, or as a metallic one.
Let’s say metallic surfaces behave more like a mirror, reflecting a clear image of their surrounding,
while non-metallic surfaces show more of their actual surface, reflecting the environment rather
vaguely.
Specular
This value controls the amount by which light is being reflected when hitting a non-metallic surface at
a steep angle, as opposed to light that’s hitting it rather from the side.
If you’re not too familiar with this setting, it’s best to leave it around 50% for realistic results.
Sphere with checker texture applied as a Roughness Map
Carpet
The Carpet material acts in the same way as the Grass Material, in that it can be applied to a
horizontal surface only, and the Height and Height Variation are controlled in the Enscape Material
Editor.
NOTE: The minimum surface area for the sprites of the Grass material to show in Enscape is 10cm x
12.5cm. Any surface that has this Material Type applied and is smaller than these dimensions will
result in the sprites not being visible in Enscape.
Carpet material applied in SketchUp using an underlying texture file in the Albedo slot.
The Height and Height Variation Settings title is amended with Carpet when Carpet is selected as the
Type in the Material Editor.
Carpet selected as the Type in the Enscape Material Editor
Carpet Material Settings in the Material Editor
Clearcoat
When selecting “Clearcoat” as material type, the Enscape Material Editor interface removes the
transparency option altogether.
The Clearcoat material imitates the type of paint that you find on car bodies. So, essentially the
Clearcoat is a transparent resin material, and the color is defined via the Albedo option in the Material
Editor window.
This material, therefore, is shiny and reflective by default, although you do have the option to dial
back the reflective properties, as well as add a bump map.
Clearcoat settings
Clearcoat material with Enscape orange selected as the base color.
Foliage
When selecting “Foliage” as material type, the Enscape Material Editor interface will look identical to
when selecting “Generic” as type.
The difference this material type will cause is only visible on single-face objects. Please make sure
the object you apply this material to doesn’t have any depth, and also that the material is applied to
both sides of the face.
If these conditions are met, Enscape will apply Translucency to objects this material type is applied
to. This means that, if the Sun (yes, this doesn’t work combined with artificial lighting) is located
behind said surface, it will be illuminated on both sides. This is common in nature for example with
leaves, which is why this is the most common use case for this type of material.
You can apply a material to two sides of the same face
Regular material on the left, Foliage material on the right
Grass
The Grass type material, as seen in the material editor, looks almost the same as the Generic type.
While it’s lacking the Transparency part, it instead features a Grass Settings area. Apart from the
Albedo area, which you can use to color your grass (also using a texture), the Height– and Reflections
parts are only useful if you plan to toggle the Grass Rendering setting on and off (this can be found in
theEnscape General Settings -> Performance -> Grass/Carpet Rendering option).
NOTE: The minimum surface area for the sprites of the Grass material to show in Enscape is 12.2cm x
12.3cm. Any surface that has this Material Type applied and is smaller than these dimensions will
result in the sprites not being visible in Enscape.
Grass Settings
'Grass' selected as material type
Height
The Height slider will stretch the sprites being used as grass blades, making them appear larger,
making for higher grass.
Changing the grass height
Height Variation
The Height Variation slider adds a random factor to the grass height. This makes for a wilder looking,
ragged grass.
Randomizing the grass blades
Wind Settings
The Grass material is now also affected by the global Wind setting found in the in the Visual Settings
-> Atmosphere tab. You can adjust both the wind Intensity and Direction Angle, and this affect can
be seen working when adjusting the Intensity slider, as well as when moving around in the Enscape
Viewport and will be included in Video exports.
Wind Settings in the Visual Settings window
TOP TIP
Grass will only animate whilst you are moving around the Enscape viewport, as well as for
about a further 2 seconds once entering a rest state. You can have grass animate constantly,
even when at rest, via the General Settings dialog. There you will find a Performance option
that contains a checkbox named Restmode. Uncheck Restmode to have animations on, even
when at rest.
Self-illuminated
The Self-illuminated type material, when selected, tells Enscape to literally handle your material as if
glowing, and emitting actual light. You can choose a brightness between 1 and 100000 candela per
square meter (cd/m²), as well as the color of the light.
Self-illuminated Type
Checker texture applied to Self Illumination Color
Water
Here are the available settings for Water in the Enscape Material Editor.
Setting the Water Type for a material will tell Enscape to treat any surface it’s applied to as physical water,
including waves & caustics.
Water Color
Choose a color your water should be tinted in. No textures to be used this time – water color is set
globally.
Separate faces and materials have been used in this image
Wind Settings
Control the water movement. Change the speed and the direction your water is flowing to simulate
e.g. a river.
This can be set using the global Wind Settings to be found in the Visual Setting-> Atmosphere tab,
the same as for the Grass material. These global settings can be overridden for Water however, and
this override is available in the Material Editor when Water is selected as material Type.
Intensity
Control the speed in which the water is flowing.
Direction Angle
Control the overall direction water is moving in.
Override Wind Settings option
TOP TIP
Don’t be surprised, water in Enscape will stop moving as soon as you stand still and stop
moving the camera. This is intentional, and will not happen in video exports or VR. You can
have the water animate all the time by unchecking the Restmode option in the General
Settings dialog under the Rendering option.
Wave Settings
Fine tune the look of your waves, whether it’s the overall scale to match the proportions of your
model, or just the height to control whether your water looks rather wild or calm.
The Wave Settings sliders
Height: The Height slider controls the height – or intensity – of waves in water materials.
Size: The Size slider controls the overall scale of your water. This way you can adjust the water behavior for
various project sizes, close ups etc.
Detail Settings
Caustics Intensity
Under Detail Settings, Caustics Intensity controls the amount of light that is being refracted through
waves in water. Control this beautiful effect using this slider. Keep in mind you will only see this effect
as long as there’s a surface beneath the water for the light to reflect off of.
Caustics Intensity
No caustics to 100% caustics visibility
Texture Editor
All texture slots used & their texture buttons above the settings
You can use up to four textures at a time per Enscape material. Textures are being used to control
Color, Visibility, Surface Detail and Roughness of a material.
By clicking any of the texture symbols at the top of the material editor, or any of the blue and
underlined image file names next to “Texture”, you’ll enter the actual texture editor interface.
Here you can
Choose the image file for your texture

Change the brightness
Invert the colors of your image
Apply explicit texture transformations, if you don’t want to use the ones delivered from SketchUp
The Texture Editor interface is the same for any texture type. It’s meant to allow for simple image
editing operations without having to leave the material editor.
The Texture Editor
Importing and Exporting Materials
In order to be able to utilize existent materials, you can import multiple materials simultaneously via
the Batch Import feature, or by importing a single material. You can also export single materials as a
*.matpkg file.
To import a single material hover the mouse over any material listed on the left hand side of the
Material Editor dialog and the material Type symbol will change to 3 dots.
Clicking on the 3 dots will reveal the menu options Export Material Package and Import Material
Package. In order to import an existing material, click on Import Material Package which will allow
you to navigate to the location of the *.matpkg file you wish to import.
Material Import and Export options
To export a material package file (*.matpkg), click Export Material Package and this will allow you to
choose the location you would like to save the file to.
Export Package Materials options
Finally, to Batch Import .matpkg files you need to click on the three horizontal lines menu next to the
Materials title at the top left of the Material Editor dialog and choose the Batch Import *.matpkg…
option. This will open a dialog window to allow you to navigate to the “.matpkg” files you would like to
import. When Batch Importing the *.matpkg files you want to import must be in the same location.
Batch Import *.matpkg options
Naming Keywords
Before introducing the Material Editor, Enscape would let you decide material properties using
keywords you simply had to include in the material name. This framework is still included in the
Enscape feature set, and can be used freely alongside the material editor for greater comfort.
These are the keywords to include in the SketchUp Material name to tell Enscape how to display it
more realistically.
Keywords and their effects
KEYWORD EXPLANATION
Water, Ocean, River Draws the material as a water surface.
Vegetation, Foliage, Leaf Adds translucency to thin surfaces (single face).
Emissive Emissive material based on the material color.
Grass, Tall Grass, Short Grass, Wild Realistic grass material based on the underlying surface color.
Grass
Long Carpet, Short Carpet Carpet like material, either long or short, that take on the underlying color or
texture file.
Keywords and their effects
Those keywords change the material parameters without changing their color. The color is still
defined by the SketchUp texture. The SketchUp default roughness is 1.0.
KEYWORD EXPLANATION SPECULAR HIGHLIGHT
KEYWORD EXPLANATION SPECULAR HIGHLIGHT
Glass, Glazing 0,0 –
Chrome, Mirror 0,0 Metal
Steel, Copper, Metal, Aluminium 0,3 Metal
Carpaint, Polished, Acryl 0,02 –
Ceramic 0,1 –
Marble 0,2 –
Plastic 0,5 –
Fabric, Cloth 0,8 –
Video Tutorial
Have a look how at useful tips & tricks regarding this topic.
Materials
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12/4/21, 2:44 AM Materials in SketchUp - Enscape

Using some detailed Bump- and Reflectivity maps in SketchUp

Accessing the Material Editor

Enscape Material Editor in SketchUp

Other Material Editor options

Applying a Material in SketchUp

The Generic Material Interface

The Albedo area with no texture applied

Albedo area with texture applied

Albedo Texture on Sphere

Video texture applied to Albedo texture slot

The Transparency area

Transition from transparent sphere to one with transparency texture applied

Applying a Bump map

Applying a Normal map

Applying a Displacement map

Normal Maps must have an RGB value in them.

The Bump Map Settings options

The Reflection settings area

Sphere with checker texture applied as a Roughness Map

Carpet selected as the Type in the Enscape Material Editor

Carpet Material Settings in the Material Editor

Clearcoat material with Enscape orange selected as the base color.

You can apply a material to two sides of the same face

Regular material on the left, Foliage material on the right

'Grass' selected as material type

Changing the grass height

Randomizing the grass blades

Wind Settings in the Visual Settings window

Checker texture applied to Self Illumination Color

Separate faces and materials have been used in this image

Override Wind Settings option

The Wave Settings sliders

No caustics to 100% caustics visibility

Here you can

Choose the image file for your texture

The Texture Editor

Importing and Exporting Materials

Material Import and Export options

Export Package Materials options

Batch Import *.matpkg options

Keywords and their effects

Water, Ocean, River Draws the material as a water surface.

Vegetation, Foliage, Leaf Adds translucency to thin surfaces (single face).

Emissive Emissive material based on the material color.

Keywords and their effects

KEYWORD EXPLANATION SPECULAR HIGHLIGHT

KEYWORD EXPLANATION SPECULAR HIGHLIGHT

Glass, Glazing 0,0 –

Chrome, Mirror 0,0 Metal

Steel, Copper, Metal, Aluminium 0,3 Metal

Carpaint, Polished, Acryl 0,02 –

Fabric, Cloth 0,8 –

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