Another year brings us a new and improved version of the design tool trusted by over one million creatives worldwide. The latest release introduces photorealistic materials, seamless interoperability, and curated, configurable content, all so you can do more in SketchUp with less effort and rework.
SketchUp 2025 opens up new creative possibilities with a new generation of visualisation tools. Photorealistic materials and environments offer accessible yet powerful methods to bring your designs to life. Best of all, these groundbreaking features are available across SketchUp for iPad, Web, Desktop, as well as LayOut and 3D Warehouse.
Experience true-to-life materiality to make more informed material choices and develop assets that effectively communicate your vision. The new photoreal materials and environments complement the Ambient Occlusion feature from SketchUp 2024, creating a comprehensive suite of advanced visualisation tools.
“Having photoreal materials and environments integrated directly into SketchUp is a game changer. The ability to present designs with such realism has significantly enhanced client presentations.”
— Kate Hatherell, Director, The Interior Designers Hub
Tell a more dynamic design story with the new Photoreal Materials library. These materials add life to your models by accurately depicting how textures react to light. Unlike flat images, Photoreal Materials incorporate layers of textures or maps that generate realistic effects, such as shine, roughness, and metallicness.
Top Tip: Use the 3D cube material thumbnail to explore Photoreal Materials.
SketchUp 2025 provides everything from one-click drag-and-drop material application to advanced settings and the option to create custom Photoreal Materials. Whether you’re aiming for stylized visuals or photorealistic conceptual designs, SketchUp 2025 offers the tools you need. Start with the default Photoreal Material libraries and explore hundreds more available in 3D Warehouse
Additionally, take your material design further by generating your own materials using the new Generate Textures feature. This generative AI tool allows you to sample an image or classic material to create new Photoreal Materials, as well as seamless, tile able SketchUp materials with ease.
Interior view of a lounge and dining space with Photoreal Materials adding texture and an Environment active as the light source to show true-to-life materiality.
Set the perfect ambience with realistic environmental lighting that interacts dynamically with photoreal materials. Environments are 360-degree (HDR or EXR) image files that serve as both a background image (sky dome) and a light source. These environments are essential in representing Photoreal Materials accurately.
Explore and adjust environments using the new Environments panel, where you can toggle the sky dome on or off and customize image angle, exposure, and reflection settings. A library of environments is available in the 3D Warehouse for even more options.
A Revit model imported into SketchUp for construction phasing analysis; Photoreal Materials and an Environment are
active, offering a detailed understanding of site conditions in the model
Move confidently in and out of SketchUp with enhanced IFC support, ensuring your data remains intact. With improvements in data round-trips, file import/export consistency, and new dictionaries for components, SketchUp minimizes manual rework and enhances building information preservation.
Pro subscribers will benefit from better IFC class recognition, version preservation, and geometry optimization. Studio subscribers can also enjoy enhanced control over Revit model imports, improving workflows, collaboration, and project accuracy.
“The new IFC import feature in SketchUp has greatly improved the coordination of different project models with the architectural design. Additionally, the new material editor and HDRI styles in SketchUp 2025 open up endless possibilities for visual representation.”
— Lucas Grolla, Architect & Owner, Grolla Arquitetura
Access high-quality, curated content faster than ever before with the SketchUp Content Library in 3D Warehouse. This collection of models, Photoreal Materials, and Environments is tailored to support the most popular workflows. Expect regular updates, releases, and upgrades to keep your projects on track.
Streamline your design iterations with Live Components, pre-built configurable objects now officially integrated into SketchUp 2025. Customize parameters such as size, type, and material in real-time, and access over 200 new and refreshed components via 3D Warehouse.
LayOut in SketchUp 2025 offers a more intuitive experience. Tools now mirror those in SketchUp, ensuring a smoother transition from 3D to 2D. Environments and Photoreal Materials are also displayed in LayOut viewports, providing visual consistency across the entire SketchUp ecosystem.
SketchUp 2025 advances the tools you need to bring your creative visions to life. With enhanced visualisation and seamless workflows, SketchUp enables you to confidently create, iterate, and share your projects. These faster, more powerful tools will help you and your team achieve more than ever before.
Check out our release notes for the complete list of 2025 updates, and be sure to update to the latest version of SketchUp. When updating, use the new Extension Migrator [LABS] to easily transfer your extensions to the newest version.
If you’re not already using SketchUp, explore our subscription options to unlock these workflow-enhancing updates.
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