I still remember the first time I tried exporting a SketchUp model into Twinmotion. I naively thought it’d be a one-click job: hit export, open Twinmotion, done. Instead, it was a disaster. Half my windows disappeared. My brick walls looked like they’d been scaled up to Lego size. And worst of all, every single material seemed to turn some strange neon shade of pink. The client was sitting next to me as this unfolded, and let’s just say their confidence in my “rendering pipeline” wasn’t exactly boosted.

That was my wake-up call. Exporting from SketchUp to Twinmotion isn’t as straightforward as most people assume. Sure, you can just drag a .skp file into Twinmotion and hope for the best, but if you do, you’re almost guaranteed to spend hours fixing what went wrong. And trust me, I’ve made every mistake in the book: reversed faces, broken textures, missing geometry, you name it.

The good news? After years of trial, error, and a few embarrassing client calls, I’ve built a workflow that actually works. It’s not about fancy tricks or secret plugins, it’s about knowing where the process breaks down, and how to prevent that mess before it even happens.

So if you’ve ever wondered why your SketchUp model looks perfect one minute and like a glitchy video game the next, keep reading. This isn’t another generic how-to, it’s the practical, battle-tested way I export SketchUp to Twinmotion without losing my sanity.

Why “Save As” Isn’t Enough

Here’s the trap a lot of us fall into: SketchUp and Twinmotion might seem like a natural pair, but they don’t actually speak the same language. SketchUp is first and foremost a modeling tool. It’s fantastic for building geometry, testing ideas quickly, and keeping projects lightweight. Twinmotion, on the other hand, is a real-time visualization engine. It cares about lighting, reflections, material fidelity, and how efficiently it can push polygons to a GPU.

That difference in priorities is why exporting isn’t just a matter of hitting “Save As” and hoping everything transfers over. What looks great in SketchUp, like a perfectly tiled floor or a neatly grouped set of components, can collapse into chaos in Twinmotion if you don’t prepare it correctly.

Some of the most common problems? Reversed faces (where Twinmotion ignores your geometry because it thinks you’re looking at the “back” of a surface). Materials that look fine in SketchUp but suddenly explode in scale, making bricks look like billboard-sized blocks. Or entire objects going missing because they weren’t grouped properly.

Yes, Twinmotion does support .skp files directly. And yes, sometimes that’s all you need. But if you’ve ever opened your model only to find half of it missing, you know that “direct import” isn’t foolproof. Exporting well is less about what button you click and more about how you prep your SketchUp file for the trip.

Get Your SketchUp File Ready First

If you’ve ever opened your SketchUp model in Twinmotion and felt like you were staring at a broken Lego set, chances are the issue started before you even hit export. The secret isn’t just the export button you press, it’s how clean your SketchUp file is going in.

For a deeper breakdown of the bigger picture, check out our guide on mastering the SketchUp to Twinmotion workflow.

#1. Clean the clutter

SketchUp makes it easy to hoard components, test ideas, and keep dozens of unused textures lurking in your file. The problem? Twinmotion has to chew through all that junk when importing. Do yourself a favor and purge unused components and materials (Window → Model Info → Statistics → Purge Unused). You’ll be shocked at how much lighter your file becomes.

#2. Check face orientation

This one bit me more times than I’d like to admit. Twinmotion doesn’t like reversed faces — the “back” side of a surface. In SketchUp, switch to Monochrome view and look for any blue faces. Blue = back side. Flip them before exporting. Otherwise, you’ll import into Twinmotion and wonder why half your walls disappeared.

#3. Tidy up hierarchy

Twinmotion reads groups and components as structure. If your model is a flat mess of random geometry living on random layers, you’ll have headaches later. Group logical elements (walls, windows, furniture) and keep naming consistent. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself when you’re replacing materials inside Twinmotion.

#4. Materials matter

Textures are notorious troublemakers. What looks fine in SketchUp might scale up to absurd proportions in Twinmotion. Before you export, zoom in on your materials and check the tiling. A wood floor should look like planks, not like a giant brown smear. And avoid throwing in 8K textures “just because”, you’ll bog down Twinmotion for no reason.

A lot of these headaches can also be minimized with the right extensions — here’s our roundup of essential SketchUp plugins to make modeling smoother before you even export.

#5. Watch your naming

Here’s a weird one: special characters in file names (/, +, *, &) sometimes break imports. I’ve literally had a file refuse to open in Twinmotion because I added parentheses in the file name. Keep names simple: House_v1.skp, not House (Final-Final+REVISED).skp.

The Three Roads to Twinmotion

So you’ve cleaned up your SketchUp file and it’s ready to travel. Now comes the big decision: how do you actually get it into Twinmotion? You’ve basically got three roads you can take. I’ve tried them all, sometimes by choice, sometimes because the “easy” one failed.

Route 1: Direct SKP import

This is the no-frills method. Twinmotion can read .skp files directly. Just open Twinmotion, hit Import → Geometry, and point it at your SketchUp model. Done.

When it works best:

• Small to mid-sized models.

• Quick concept presentations.

• When you don’t need to resync changes often.

The catch:

I’ve had windows disappear, walls turn transparent, and materials import at the wrong scale. Also, if you edit the SketchUp model later, re-importing can overwrite or break your materials inside Twinmotion. Direct import works, but it’s not always reliable.

Route 2: Datasmith (Direct Link) plugin

If you’re using SketchUp Pro, this is usually the best option. Epic Games (Twinmotion’s parent company) provides a Datasmith Exporter plugin for SketchUp. Once installed, it adds a “Send to Twinmotion” or “Synchronize” button inside SketchUp.

Why it’s better:

• Preserves hierarchy, groups, and materials more cleanly.

• Lets you sync updates without re-importing everything.

• Great for iterative workflows where you’re constantly tweaking.

The downside:

• It’s SketchUp Pro only (not the free version).

• The plugin sometimes lags behind SketchUp’s latest version. For example, I once updated to a new SketchUp release only to find Datasmith wasn’t supported yet. Had to wait or fall back to another route.

Route 3: Export as FBX / OBJ / GLTF

Think of this as the fallback safety net. If direct import is buggy and the Datasmith plugin isn’t cooperating, exporting your SketchUp file as an FBX, OBJ, or GLTF can save the day.

How it works:

• In SketchUp: go to File → Export → 3D Model and choose FBX (my go-to).

• Import that file into Twinmotion.

Why it’s useful:

• FBX handles geometry and materials more predictably than SKP import.

• GLTF/GLB is lightweight and becoming more popular for 3D workflows.

• OBJ is simple and widely compatible.

The catch:

• You’ll usually need to re-link some textures.

• Hierarchies and metadata don’t always survive the trip.

In short:

• Try Direct SKP for quick tests.

• Use Datasmith if you’ve got SketchUp Pro and want a smoother pipeline.

• Keep FBX/OBJ/GLTF in your back pocket when the first two give you grief.

And if you happen to model in Rhino, we’ve put together a dedicated walkthrough on exporting from Rhino to Twinmotion with its own quirks and fixes.

Fixing the Import Mess Inside Twinmotion

Okay, your model is in Twinmotion. Great. Except now it probably looks… off. This is the part where a lot of people throw up their hands, but honestly, a few tweaks right after import can save you hours of frustration later.

#1. Check the scale

The first thing I always do is drop in a human figure or a car from Twinmotion’s asset library. If your “2-meter” door is suddenly taller than a bus, something went wrong on export. Better to catch it now than after you’ve dressed the entire scene.

#2. Re-apply key materials

Even if your SketchUp materials came through, they usually don’t look amazing in Twinmotion. I almost always swap them out with Twinmotion’s native materials, wood floors, concrete, brick, glass, because they react to light properly. The difference is night and day.

#3. Fix disappearing geometry

This one’s classic: parts of your model vanish when viewed from certain angles. The culprit is usually reversed faces, but sometimes the fix is simpler. In Twinmotion, you can turn on two-sided materials in the material settings. It’s a quick band-aid if you don’t want to go back to SketchUp.

#4. Relink or adjust textures

If you get a “missing textures” warning, don’t panic. Head into the material tab and re-link them. And if you notice a brick wall that suddenly looks like a child’s drawing, check the texture scale, sometimes it resets on import.

#5. Sort out lighting

SketchUp’s shadows and sun don’t carry over. In Twinmotion, you’ll need to adjust the geolocation, sun angle, HDRI, and exposure. This is where your scene stops looking flat and starts looking believable. I treat this step as “resetting the mood” of the project.

Once you’ve fixed textures and lighting, it’s worth fine-tuning your render setup for maximum realism — our guide to the best render settings on Twinmotion covers the tweaks that make a huge difference.

#6. Optimize performance

If Twinmotion starts chugging, it’s usually not your PC’s fault, it’s your model’s. Twinmotion prefers clean geometry. Get rid of tiny, unnecessary details (like fully-modeled screws in furniture) or swap heavy models with lightweight assets from Twinmotion’s library.

Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

I wish I could say I nailed this workflow on day one. I didn’t. In fact, most of the tips I use today were born from very painful, very preventable mistakes. Here are the big ones:

#1. Thinking materials would “just work”

I once imported a SketchUp model straight into Twinmotion and assumed all my carefully chosen materials would carry over. They did, technically. But the wood floors looked plastic, and the brick façade scaled so huge it looked like Minecraft. Lesson: always re-check and replace critical materials inside Twinmotion.

#2. Relying too much on plugins

Datasmith is amazing… when it works. But the first time I updated SketchUp and the exporter lagged behind a version, I was stuck. Couldn’t sync, couldn’t export cleanly. Always keep a fallback plan, like exporting to FBX.

#3. Throwing massive files at Twinmotion

I once tried importing a 500MB SketchUp file with every detail modeled, down to the screws in the hinges. Twinmotion basically froze. The fix? Clean the model first. Delete what won’t be visible, simplify geometry, or replace details with lightweight assets later.

#4. Ignoring face orientation

This one still haunts me. I walked a client through a scene only to realize half the walls disappeared when they rotated the camera. The culprit? Reversed faces I never flipped in SketchUp. Ever since, I always check in monochrome mode before exporting.

#5. Not versioning files

Nothing feels worse than “breaking” your only model right before a deadline. I once overwrote a Twinmotion file during reimport, losing hours of material tweaks. Now I save incrementally: House_v1, House_v2, etc. Boring? Yes. Lifesaving? Absolutely.

When Your PC Isn’t Enough

Getting your SketchUp model into Twinmotion is only half the job. The other half is making sure people can actually experience it. And that’s where things usually break down. Clients don’t always have powerful machines. I’ve had someone try to open a Twinmotion scene on a Chromebook, and it was basically a slideshow. Even my own laptop has crawled to a halt once a project passed the gigabyte mark.

If you’d prefer to upgrade your local setup instead of going cloud, here’s how to choose the right PC for SketchUp so you’re not fighting hardware limits every project.

That’s when I started using Vagon Cloud Computer. Instead of crossing my fingers that the client’s device could handle the load, I run the scene on a cloud workstation built for heavy 3D. All they need is a link. No installs. No monster file transfers. Just click and explore, whether they’re on a gaming rig or a bargain-bin laptop.

And honestly, it’s not just about clients. Offloading to Vagon has saved me more than once when my own hardware was tapped out. The workflow feels lighter: my local machine isn’t gasping for air, my files live in one place, and collaboration becomes way less of a hassle.

For me, this isn’t a “bonus tool” anymore. It’s part of the pipeline. Because exporting from SketchUp to Twinmotion is one thing, but making sure others can move through your scene, at full quality, the way you imagined it? That’s the part that really matters.

Final Thoughts

Exporting from SketchUp to Twinmotion isn’t a magic button. I learned that the hard way when my first “one-click” attempt turned into a pink-material nightmare in front of a client. But once you know the traps, reversed faces, messy hierarchies, bloated textures, the process becomes way less intimidating.

For me, the real trick is twofold:

1. Prep your SketchUp file like it’s going through airport security, clean, organized, and stripped of anything unnecessary.

2. Choose the export route that matches your project: direct SKP for quick tests, Datasmith for synced workflows, FBX/OBJ/GLTF when you need control.

Everything after that is fine-tuning in Twinmotion, fixing scale, re-texturing, adjusting lighting, the fun part where the model starts to feel alive. And if your machine (or your client’s) can’t keep up, streaming it through a cloud workstation like Vagon makes the whole experience smooth and accessible.

At the end of the day, the export isn’t just about getting a model from Point A to Point B. It’s about protecting the work you put into SketchUp so it shows up in Twinmotion exactly how you envisioned it, and making sure anyone you share it with can experience that vision without hardware standing in the way.

And if you ever feel SketchUp isn’t the right fit for your workflow, we’ve also reviewed the top alternatives to SketchUp for 3D modeling.

FAQs

1. Why do my SketchUp textures look wrong in Twinmotion?
   Usually it comes down to scale or orientation. In SketchUp, materials can look fine even if they’re mapped inconsistently. When Twinmotion imports them, you suddenly get giant bricks or smeared wood floors. Before exporting, double-check texture scaling and make sure all faces are oriented correctly (Monochrome mode is your friend).

2. Do I need SketchUp Pro to use the Datasmith plugin?
   Yes. The Datasmith exporter is only available for SketchUp Pro. If you’re on the free version, your best options are direct SKP import or exporting via FBX/OBJ/GLTF.

3. My model looks smaller/bigger in Twinmotion, what happened?
   That’s almost always a scale mismatch. When exporting via FBX or OBJ, make sure units are consistent (meters vs inches). Dropping in a reference asset like a Twinmotion human figure can help you spot issues immediately.

4. Why do parts of my model disappear after import?
   Invisible walls or missing objects usually mean reversed faces in SketchUp. Twinmotion only renders the “front” side of a surface unless you enable two-sided materials. Fix it at the source by flipping faces before you export.

5. Can I work on a heavy Twinmotion project without a powerful PC?
   Yes, that’s where cloud solutions like Vagon Cloud Computer come in. You run Twinmotion on a GPU-equipped virtual machine in the cloud, then stream it to your device. That way, even if you’re on a basic laptop, you can still navigate and present your scene smoothly.

6. What’s the fastest way to re-apply materials in Twinmotion?
   Don’t waste time trying to make SketchUp materials look good in Twinmotion. Import your geometry, then swap SketchUp placeholders with Twinmotion’s native materials. They’re optimized for lighting, reflections, and real-time performance.