SketchUp Texture

Ufuk ŞEN

August 6, 2022Updated: November 9, 20265 min read1

In this article we look at SketchUp texture work. We also introduce a venture that produces textures for SketchUp and other programs. This venture, the first of its kind in texture production in Türkiye, is called TextureFun.

Note: TextureFun is no longer online. Today you can find free textures in the bestsketchupplugins.com texture library.

As you know, finding free resources gets harder every day. Most of the free resources we used in past years have moved to paid sales. You can count the free, quality resources that remain on the fingers of one hand.

What is a SketchUp texture, and where is it used?

A texture is the image we wrap onto the surface of a model. Once modeling is done, we need textures to make the object look realistic. Think of it as bone and skin. The model is the skeleton, and the texture is its skin. Textures are useful in many fields:

Architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture
Engineering and product design
Game development and level design
Product-focused promotional images

In SketchUp you manage textures through the Materials panel. First you define an image as a material, then you paint it onto a surface with the Paint Bucket tool. Then you right-click the surface and use Texture > Position to set the texture’s placement and scale. You can find the details of the tools in the SketchUp Help Center. To turn your own images into materials, also see our using image files as textures lesson.

TextureFun: a free SketchUp texture source

The TextureFun team produced these textures for you in Türkiye. As of 2022, the team had produced more than 1,100 free textures. You can use these textures for free in both commercial and personal projects. Users can sign up on the site easily and download textures quickly. We also collected similar resources in our free texture site article.

sketchup texture examples — SketchUp texture examples from TextureFun

Using free textures under the CC0 license

The freedom to use them commercially comes from the term cc0 texture. CC0 stands for Creative Commons Zero, the Creative Commons public domain license. You can freely use textures published under this license in commercial projects too. And there is no requirement to credit the source.

This matters especially for game makers and creators in other industries, because nobody wants licensing trouble in commercial work. So you can add the CC0 textures from TextureFun to your projects with peace of mind.

Resolution: the difference between 1K, 2K and 4K SketchUp textures

Textures usually come in resolutions like 1K, 2K and 4K. 1K means a width of about 1024 pixels, 2K means 2048 pixels and 4K means 4096 pixels. As resolution goes up, close-up detail goes up too. But file size and memory use also grow.

1K: is enough for surfaces seen from a distance and for quick working models.
2K: offers a good balance in most interior and exterior scenes.
4K: makes a difference on surfaces very close to the camera and in large prints.

So instead of giving every surface a 4K texture, choose based on distance from the camera. That way your SketchUp model stays light and orbits smoothly on screen.

Why does a seamless texture matter?

When you apply a texture to a wall or a floor, it repeats across the surface. If the texture is not seamless, a visible line appears at every repeat. With a seamless texture, the edges fit together perfectly. This reduces the sense of repetition on large surfaces. A good seamless texture also has no eye-catching stains or color shifts.

PBR maps: color, normal and roughness

For a realistic render, a single color image is often not enough. PBR (physically based rendering) textures keep each surface property in a separate map. The render engine reads these maps together to calculate how light behaves on the surface.

Base color (albedo): the surface’s main color, without shadows.
Normal: imitates bumps and dents without adding geometry.
Roughness: sets how matte or glossy the surface is.
Displacement (height): actually raises the surface, but needs more processing power.
Ambient occlusion: carries the soft shadow information in corners and cavities.

Engines like V-Ray, Enscape and D5 Render make use of these maps. For details, take a look at our creating professional PBR materials lesson.

How are SketchUp textures produced?

Textures are always needed for a quality presentation and image. And quality images open doors to new fields. We use professional programs to produce textures. A photo on its own is not enough to make a texture.

wood texture example — Wood texture example

In some cases we get product images from companies. We bring these images to specific sizes so the manufacturer can use them. We process the images we get from manufacturers together with the capabilities of the 3D programs themselves.

We bring the textures to sizes that suit 3D programs. We spend hours on key properties like color, contrast and size. Then we sort them into categories like wood texture, stone texture and brick texture. Finally, we upload the textures to the bestsketchupplugins.com texture library.

Which industry chooses which texture?

Textures are useful in almost every industry and have a wide range of uses. For example, a mechanical engineer downloads a metal texture for the part they designed. Game developers build their levels with these textures. An interior architect picks the textures for a child’s room from the bestsketchupplugins.com texture library. Users download the textures and use them in their own work.