TIEBIAOJI SketchUp Tutorials

Importing Photoshop PSD Files

The way SketchUp handles 2-D images is pretty basic. For example, you don't have many ways to change an image once it's imported. You can scale it, skew it, and position it in the 3-D world, but you can't edit the photo itself. On the other hand, Photoshop (.psd) images can be extremely complex. As with the other 2-D formats, you need to do your image editing in Photoshop before you import the image into SketchUp.

Tip: You can tell SketchUp which program you want to use to edit images. Choose Windows ^ Preferences ^ Applications (SketchUp ^ Preferences ^ Applications) and click the Choose button. A file browser window opens, where you can navigate to Photoshop or any image editing program you like. Once you select a program in Preferences, you can then right-click (C-click) any image and choose Texture ^ Edit Texture Image to open it in that program.

As mentioned on page 432, unless you make changes in Preferences, SketchUp limits the size of imported images to 1024 pixels. Photoshop does a better job of resizing images than SketchUp, so it's best to resize images before you import them. When you save a Photoshop image in its native .psd format, the last thing you see is the Photoshop Format Options box asking if you want to save the file with "maximum compatibility". Make sure the single checkbox is turned on. If not, you may see an error message similar to the one in Figure 13-7 that says: "This layered Photoshop file was not saved with a composite image".

I Figure 13-7:

I Figure 13-7:

An identical image was saved with (left) and without (right)

Photoshop's compatibility option. The image saved without the compatibility option displays an error message when you try to import it.