Trimble Connect User Forum

Since the implementation of PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials in SketchUp 2025, this version introduced a new graphics system for materials, allowing PBR materials to dynamically react to light and the model's environment, offering greater visual realism. However, this translates into very large file sizes that can be unmanageable in the cloud-due to their excessive size-in the case of complex projects.
Below, we conduct a comparative study of file sizes between SketchUp 2025 versions and previous versions (2018-2024) that did not use PBR materials.

1. SketchUp (2025-2026):
   • Example: Model with a 2x2x2 cube and solid white color, 12 axes, 6 faces, 1 component, 1 material → 0.03 MB
   • Example: Model with a 2x2x2 cube and PBR "Brick" material: 12 axes, 6 faces, 1 component, 1 material → 5 MB
   • Example: Model with four 2x2x2 cubes and different PBR materials, 48 ​​axes, 24 faces, 1 component, 4 materials → 11.7 MB
   • Example: Model with four 2x2x2 cubes and different PBR materials, 48 ​​axes, 24 faces, 1 component, 4 materials, 1 Environment → 18.4 MB
2. SketchUp (2018-2024)
   • Example: Model with a 2x2x2 cube and solid white color, 12 axes, 6 faces, 1 component, 1 material → 0.03 MB
   • Example: Model with a 2x2x2 cube and "Brick" material, 12 axes, 6 faces, 1 component, 1 material → 0.18 MB
   • Example: Model with four 2x2x2 cubes and different materials, 48 ​​axes, 24 faces, 1 component, 4 materials → 0.21 MB

The addition of PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials in SketchUp 2025 significantly improves the visual realism of models by allowing materials to dynamically react to light and the environment. However, this improvement in graphic quality has a direct and significant impact on file size, posing management challenges, especially for complex cloud projects.