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How to View SketchUp Models in VR & AR (2026 Guide)
Updated: 2 days ago
Overview
SketchUp is one of the most widely used 3D modelling tools in design and construction. Trimble reported more than one million active SketchUp subscribers in late 2024, spanning architects, interior designers, kitchen and millwork designers, landscape architects, contractors, manufacturers and students. It earned that reach by being easy: you can block out a massing study or detail a full interior quickly, without the overhead of BIM software.
That speed is why SketchUp models reach clients early and often — and why a 2D screen is so often where the conversation stalls. Clients who don't read plans or orbit 3D views need to stand in the space to understand it. Designers need immersive visualization that keeps SketchUp's pace: fast to set up, simple enough for a client to use, and accurate to the model that was designed.
You've built the model in SketchUp. Now you want your client standing inside it on a Meta Quest — no cable to a gaming PC, no game engine, no afternoon of file conversion. Ideally, you'd also take the same model on site and see it in AR.
So how do you get a SketchUp model into VR and AR on a standalone headset, and have it look like your model?
Looking for the product itself? See SketchUp to VR on Meta Quest with SENTIO VR for the full workflow, AR on site and a free trial. This guide walks through each step in detail.
Key takeaways
SketchUp's own Meta Quest viewer was discontinued in 2025. SENTIO VR runs SketchUp models on a standalone Meta Quest, with no PC tether.
Drag and drop a .skp file in your browser no plugin, no SketchUp license. Scenes, geometry, materials and textures convert in minutes.
Review in VR at 1:1 or as a dollhouse, with measurement, annotations, issues and multi-user meetings.
Take the same model on site in AR, with passthrough alignment, lock and transparency controls.
Share a browser link with anyone who doesn't have a headset. Large models running into millions of polygons are supported.
In this guide
Is there an official SketchUp VR or AR app for Meta Quest?
Not anymore. Trimble discontinued the SketchUp Viewer for Meta Quest in September 2025 and ended access at the end of that year, saying SketchUp-level performance and fidelity on Quest had proved difficult. Most remaining options need a plugin in licensed SketchUp or a PC tethered to the headset.
What SketchUp users ask us
SENTIO VR is used by around 250 firms worldwide, about 40% of them in Europe, and many of them design in SketchUp. Retail brands review store and fixture layouts before anything is built. Closet, kitchen and millwork designers walk homeowners through their new space at 1:1. Architecture and interior studios present concepts to clients who don't read plans. Universities use it to teach design in VR, and contractors take the same models on site in AR. For one example, read how ARX-Pini Group cut rework with SENTIO VR and Meta Quest.
Across those firms, the same questions come up:
"Our SketchUp file is too heavy for a standalone headset."
"Do I need SketchUp Pro and a plugin just to keep my scenes?"
"Will veneers, glass and metal finishes look like they do in SketchUp?"
"Can clients see it without a headset or on site in AR?"
This guide answers each one.
The short answer: to view a SketchUp model in VR, sign in at app.sentiovr.com, drag your .skp file into a project, then open the SENTIO VR app on your Meta Quest and enter the 6-digit access code. No plugin, no SketchUp license and no PC tether are needed.
How to view your SketchUp model in VR AR
Web upload: just the SketchUp file
All you need is the .skp file, no plugin and no SketchUp license.
Drag and drop your model. Sign in at app.sentiovr.com, open a project and drop in your .skp file.
Let it convert. Scenes, geometry, materials and textures convert automatically, usually in a few minutes.
Get a link and a 6-digit code. Every model gets a browser link and an access code for the headset.
View in VR. Open SENTIO VR on your Meta Quest and enter the code.
Download for offline and AR. Download the model to the headset to present offline or take it on site in AR.
Share in a browser. Send clients the link to open the model on a laptop, phone or iPad no headset needed.
Moving through your SketchUp model in VR
Dollhouse and 1:1 scale
Every model opens as a dollhouse a tabletop-sized version you can turn, scale and look into from above. It is the best way to explain a whole project, a site or a floor layout at a glance. Point at a spot and step in to see the space at true 1:1 scale, at your own eye height.
Fly and walk modes
Walk mode keeps you at a fixed eye height above the floor, so stairs and level changes feel natural. Teleport to move quickly.
Fly mode lets you move freely in any direction, up to a mezzanine, through a wall, over a roof for reviewing the model rather than experiencing it.
VR tools for design review
Once you're inside, the VR menu holds the tools a design review needs for you alone, or for a whole team in the same model.
Measurement
Measure between any two points in the model at real scale, clearances, ceiling heights, the distance between fixtures, without leaving the headset.
Annotations
Drop notes directly in the model where the comment applies. Voice-to-text means you can speak a comment instead of typing it with a controller.
Issues
Log issues in place, with a screenshot and position, and track them across the team. Issues can be exported as a PDF report or as BCF for use in other BIM tools.
Meetings
Invite clients and colleagues into the same model from wherever they are. Share a meeting code; guests join from a Meta Quest or the PC viewer app. Switch to guided mode to bring everyone to your position and walk them through the scenes, or let them explore on their own. Cast the headset view to a screen for people in the room.
SketchUp in AR on Meta Quest
SENTIO VR also places your SketchUp model in the real world through the Meta Quest's passthrough cameras, at true 1:1 scale. Show a client where the new walls and joinery will sit in their existing space, check a fit-out on site, or walk a construction team through what is about to be built.
The AR controls are built for getting a model aligned and keeping it there:
Passthrough rotation: rotate the model in fine steps to line it up with real walls and edges.
Eye height adjustment: raise or lower the model to match the real floor level.
Lock: once aligned, lock the model so it stays in place as you move.
Transparency: fade the model to see the real space through it, and compare built against designed.
Minimal drift: once locked, the model stays put. Customers walk sites for 20 minutes and more without it shifting.
AR is built for visual review with clients and teams on site; it is not a survey-grade setting-out tool. It works best on Meta Quest 3 and 3S, with full-colour passthrough. Read more about AR mode on Meta Quest.
Share without a headset: the SENTIO web viewer
Not everyone on a project has a headset. Every web-uploaded model also gets a View-in-Web link that opens the full 3D model in a browser on a laptop, a phone or an iPad. Recipients need no headset, no account, no license and nothing to install.
The viewer is fast and smooth, even with large models, and deliberately simple for people who don't work in 3D. Send it before a VR session so stakeholders arrive already oriented, or after it so they can look again. Learn more about the Sentio Web Viewer.
Large SketchUp models
SketchUp models get heavy quickly: entourage, vegetation, furniture libraries, detailed facades. SENTIO VR is optimized for large models that run into millions of polygons, so you don't need to strip out geometry before you upload.
Conclusion
For firms that design in SketchUp, a reliable VR and AR workflow now matters across the whole project: client presentations, design reviews and verification on site. SENTIO VR gives SketchUp users a dependable way to build that workflow into their business and scale it. Drag and drop a file, keep your scenes, walk the model at 1:1 on Meta Quest, take it on site in AR and share a link with everyone else.
The same platform and pricing model work for a single designer presenting to homeowners and for large enterprises that run their reviews on it every week. Working in Revit too? See the complete guide from Revit to VR.
See your SketchUp model in VR
Drag in a SketchUp file and walk it on Meta Quest in minutes then take it on site in AR or share it with a link.
