Experimental · X-4Software: For SketchUpBeta

Dispatch

A links panel for SketchUp textures.

SketchUp copies every texture into the model and forgets where it came from, so a retouched image means finding it, replacing it by hand, and fixing its size. Dispatch links each texture to its image file, the way InDesign links placed images. Save a retouch in Photoshop and the texture turns amber in the panel. Press Update and the new image goes in at exactly the same size in the model, even if it was saved at a different resolution.

Download for Mac

Free. SketchUp 2026 for Mac; Windows still in testing. Installing needs one extra step (see Install).

The Dispatch panel in SketchUp, listing a model’s textures with two marked Modified and one Missing

What it does

Change resolution?

Textures keep the same scale in your model.

Convert Placed Images

Some models come with images. Dispatch converts images to textures.

Relink

One click, and all modified links are updated.

Every texture, and nowhere to find it

A SketchUp model keeps its own copy of every image and only a note of where it came from, usually a path on someone else’s computer. Loading a new image into a material resets its size, so every retouch has to be scaled again by hand or it lands wrong on every face that uses it. And in a folder of textures someone is retouching, nothing tells you which ones in the model are now out of date.

How it works

01
Export once
Export to Folder writes every texture to a folder you choose, one file per material, named after the material, and links each material to its file. It never overwrites a file already there: a clash becomes “Brick 2.jpg.”
02
Work on the images
Open them in Photoshop or anything else. Edit Original, or a double-click in the panel, opens the file.
03
Update
While the panel is open, Dispatch checks the linked files every few seconds, and again as soon as you come back to it. A changed file shows as Modified. Update All Modified, or Update on the rows you check, loads the new images.

New content? Just relink.

Save a texture back at a new resolution with the same proportions, and it keeps exactly the same size in the model. Save a 1,024 × 683 texture at 2,048 × 1,366 and it gets sharper while nothing in the model moves. It works downward too, and lighter textures keep the file small. If the proportions change because the image was cropped or its canvas extended, Dispatch keeps the same pixel density instead, so the bricks stay the size they were, and it flags the row Reshaped for someone to check.

A 6 by 4 foot wall graphic linked to a 4,500 by 3,000 pixel image is relinked to new campaign art at 3,000 by 2,000 pixels and stays the same size in the model

What it handles

The panel

Every textured material in the model, one row each: status (Linked, Modified, Missing, or Embedded), name, file, folder, pixel size, size in the model, and file size in MB. Filter, search, sort, and resize the columns.

Links travel with the model

Each link is stored in the .skp file, relative to the model. Move the project to another drive, or open it from a colleague’s Dropbox, and it still finds its images.

Missing files

Find Missing in Folder searches a folder and everything in it by file name and relinks what it finds. Relink points one texture at a file by hand. A moved file that’s the same image relinks without reloading.

Told when a model opens

If linked images changed while the model was closed, Dispatch says so as it opens and offers to update them, as InDesign does. You can switch it off.

It keeps what it should

The texture’s size in the model, the material’s opacity, and SketchUp’s Colorize setting, which loading an image resets and Dispatch puts back.

Works with V‑Ray

Checked by hand with V‑Ray for SketchUp 7.4. Converted images become real materials, so V‑Ray reads them like any other texture.

Placed images become textures

Convert Images turns images placed with File › Import as Image into a face with the image as its texture, in its own group on the image’s tag, so it can be linked, updated, and read by a renderer as a material. One lying on a surface is lifted 0.05″ so the two don’t fight on screen.

Long jobs stay responsive

A progress bar and Cancel in the panel, SketchUp keeps redrawing, and one undo reverts the whole action.

Install

Dispatch isn’t signed, so SketchUp asks you to approve it. It’s the same extension either way.

01
Download
Download Dispatch.rbz. The link always serves the newest build.
02
Install in SketchUp
Go to Extensions › Extension Manager › Install Extension and choose the file.
03
Confirm it
Dispatch isn’t signed, so SketchUp says so as it installs and asks you to confirm. Confirm it. If SketchUp won’t load it, your loading policy is set to Identified Extensions Only: change it to Approve Unidentified Extensions in Extension Manager and install again.
04
Restart SketchUp
Dispatch appears under Extensions › Dispatch, with Texture Links…, Export Textures…, Update Modified Textures, Convert Images to Textures, and Check Links When a Model Opens.

Good to know

Linked, not live.
SketchUp always keeps its own copy of each image in the model. Dispatch checks for changes and updates when you ask, or when you accept the prompt as a model opens.
Save the model first.
Links are stored relative to the model’s folder, so a model that has never been saved can only use full paths.
Crop and rescale in one go?
Dispatch can’t tell that from a crop, so the row is flagged Reshaped rather than trusted.
Exported JPEGs are saved again.
A file can come out a little larger. Spot checks showed no visible change.
Converted images in the viewport.
When they’re small on screen, they can look a little lighter. Renders are unaffected.

Requirements

SketchUp 2026 for Mac (older versions haven’t been tested)
A 44 KB download
Free: no license, account, or trial

Windows is being tested now.
Want to know when it’s ready? Tell us.

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