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SketchUp to ArchiCAD (a super quick video)

I learned how easy importing files from SketchUp to ArchiCAD 17 is today. So I recorded a quick video to show you. First off I apologize that I’m talking a little fast in this video; I’m trying to be more aware of that. I was excited, my coffee to food ratio is off today, and it’s been a long week so I’m tired (put those three together and I get a little spastic). Don’t worry. The steps are all very clear and so so easy. Insanely easy. So insanely easy that you have no excuse to not start using the SketchUp warehouse as an ArchiCAD Object repository. Oh and this trick works for any SketchUp file. So if you’re bringing in an entire building or some file your coworker created: same process.

Want More? Here’s FOUR posts you should be aware of. The first two posts contain videos that talk more about Object creation and augmentation. The third post talks more about stealing from SketchUp. And the fourth post covers the PolyCount Add-On, which you should be knowledgeable about. If you are going to be pulling in lots of external content, then you need to be aware of polygons in ArchiCAD. The speed of your model depends on it.

sketchup to archicad

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Comments

  • November 22, 2013
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    Bee

    Awesome! Oh how I miss using Archicad! 🙁

  • November 22, 2013
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    Kevin

    Jared,
    Looks great but it looks like this only works in Firefox. Is there a way to get this to work directly form Chrome or Safari?? When in either of those, when I click on the download link, it automatically downloads as a .skp file, I do not get the option to download to ArchiCAD17.

      • February 11, 2014
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        SPR8364

        That is a very nice feature with Firefox. As a workaround and only if you don’t use SketchUp for regular work, you can permanently change what application you want the Mac OS to open the file with. Select the file in the Finder; right-click and select “Get Info”. In the Info dialog box, about halfway down, there is a “Open With…” popup menu. Pick ArchiCAD from that menu and then click the button below that that says “Change All….” Click “Continue” in the next dialog box and from now on, when you double-click a SKP file, it will always open it in ArchiCAD.

        And of course, you can always drag and drop on the application of your choice.

  • October 16, 2014
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    Still waiting on ArchiCAD for the solution to sketchup’s triangulation issues. I have been sharing my model with a sketch up user, then copying his contributions in as morph elements. The problem is, skechup does not import with a single square face, but rather triangulates every square face into multiple faces.
    The clean up can be tedious when dealing with very detailed sketch up objects and elements.

  • March 2, 2015
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    Adrienne B

    Jared- A lot of Sketchup files are in Sketchup 2013 or Sketchup 2014. When I try to open them in AC 18 I get an error telling me the file doesn’t contain anything. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

      • March 3, 2015
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        Jared, that is correct, only sketchup8 or older will import with the model merge… But even sketchups free version lets you back save models.

  • December 4, 2015
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    ashraf

    thanks..nice video …but i want to import the file and make some changes on it …how can i make this…..

  • February 10, 2017
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    Hey Jared, now that Sketchup doesn’t keep old models, how do you transfer them to Archicad?

    Thanks

  • December 6, 2018
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    Jennifer

    Hi Jared– what is your best resource for searching and importing 3D objects, models or components? I am using ArchiCAD 22 and when I tried downloading sketchup (people models) the AC files are blank. I tried downloading both the Sketchup 18 and 14 versions to see if it was an issue with that. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

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