Sync, render and control your SketchUp model with MONA

Install the MONA extension for SketchUp once, point it at a project, and every time you save, MONA gets your current scenes and model data. Press Sync now when you want the 3D model and Layout sheets too. Your renders, your CAD work and your schedule then start from the model you already maintain, instead of from a plan you exported by hand three weeks ago. When you want a client-ready image of the view in front of you, Render view with MONA makes it without leaving SketchUp. And with SketchUp open, you can tell MONA what to change from any chat, on your laptop, your phone or by voice, and the model changes. See Control SketchUp from MONA.

What syncs on save

Each save sends your scenes and model data to the project you chose. Press Sync now to send the 3D model, a DWG and your Layout sheets as well.

• Your scenes. One image per named scene, exported at 1920 pixels wide. The extension steps through your scenes and puts you back on the one you were looking at when it is done.
• Your model data. A small file describing the model: units, tags, materials, scene cameras, and every component with its name, tag, Advanced Attributes (price, size, URL, owner, status) and dimensions. This is what lets the MONA agent answer questions about the model rather than just show you pictures of it.
• The 3D model, with Sync now. A GLB on SketchUp 2024 and newer, a DAE (COLLADA) on 2021 to 2023. A DWG export is included too, on by default and switchable off. SketchUp opens its own Exporter Progress window while it exports, which is why saves skip this unless you turn it on.
• Your Layout sheets, with Sync now. Every Layout document that references this model is exported to PDF, sheet by sheet, so the drawing set lands on the project alongside the model.

Everything arrives as ordinary files in your MONA Library, filed on the project, so you can search them, attach them to a chat, and send them to a client the same way you would anything else.

Requirements

• SketchUp Pro or Studio, version 2021 or newer. Windows or macOS.
• 2024 or newer for GLB. Earlier versions sync a DAE instead, which every CAD tool reads.
• Pro or Studio for Layout sheet PDFs. The Layout API is not available in SketchUp Free or Go.
• A MONA account on a plan with project access, signed in with your MONA email.
• Model files up to 1 GB each (extension 0.4.0 or newer). Scene images and the model data file are small and have no practical limit.

Install the extension

1. Download the latest .rbz file from monaverse.com/downloads/mona-sketchup-0.5.2.rbz. Already have an earlier version? Install 0.5.2 over it the same way; your sign-in and project links are kept.
2. In SketchUp, open Extensions, then Extension Manager.
3. Click Install Extension in the bottom left, choose the .rbz file you downloaded, and confirm.
4. Restart SketchUp. You will see a MONA entry under the Extensions menu and a MONA toolbar with two buttons: Sync to MONA and Render with MONA.

Sign in and choose a project

1. Go to Extensions, then MONA, then Sign in.
2. Enter the email address you use for MONA. We send you a one-time code.
3. Type the code into the dialog. That is the whole sign-in: no password to store, and the code is never saved.
4. Go to Extensions, then MONA, then Choose project, and pick the MONA project this model belongs to.

The project you pick is remembered inside the .skp file itself, so it travels with the model. Open the same file on another machine and it already knows where it syncs.

Then just save

Press Sync now for your first sync, so the project gets the 3D model and Layout sheets too. A small window shows each step; a typical project takes well under a minute. After that, saving the model syncs your scenes and model data a few seconds later and reports in the status bar. Open the project in MONA and the 3D source: SketchUp card on the Overview shows the model name, when it last synced, your scenes as thumbnails, your model files and your Layout sheets.

From a scene thumbnail you can open Visualize with that view already loaded, which is the fastest way to turn a modelled elevation into a finished render.

Render inside SketchUp

Frame the view you want, then go to Extensions, then MONA, then Render view with MONA (or press the Render with MONA toolbar button).

1. Pick Current view or one of your scenes.
2. Pick Standard or Pro quality. Pro uses more credits, the same as in MONA.
3. Optionally add notes for this render: time of day, materials, mood. "Late afternoon light, white oak floors, linen drapery" is the kind of thing that helps.
4. Press Render.

The extension captures the view, MONA studies it and writes the render prompt (this is the same Photorealize step you get in MONA), then renders it. It takes about a minute, the dialog shows progress, and SketchUp stays usable while you wait. The scene you were on is put back after the capture; nothing in the model changes.

When the render is ready it appears in the dialog:

• Open in MONA opens Visualize on monaverse.com with the render loaded and the project set, so you can edit a region, swap a product, or restyle it.
• Save image writes the PNG wherever you choose.
• Render again runs another one, with different notes or a different quality if you like.

Renders are filed on the linked MONA project. If the model is not linked to a project yet, the render lands in your Library instead; use Choose project first if you want it on the job. Each render uses MONA credits like a render made on monaverse.com.

Control SketchUp from MONA

With extension 0.5.2 installed, SketchUp open, you signed in and the model linked to a project, MONA can change the model for you. You do not click anything in SketchUp: you tell MONA what you want, in plain words, and the extension does it in the open model a few seconds later.

What to say

Open any MONA chat. Tell MONA what to change on the project's 3D source: SketchUp card opens one with the project already set, and a chat on your phone or a voice conversation works the same way. Name the thing you mean the way it is named in your model (a component, a tag, a material or a scene) and say what should happen to it. For example:

• "Take a screenshot of the Kitchen Elevation A scene."
• "Swap the island pendants for the Visual Comfort chandelier in my Library."
• "Paint the island cabinets Hale Navy, #434C56."
• "Move the sofa 18 inches to the left and turn it 90 degrees."
• "Hide the Furniture and Lighting tags and save this view as a scene called Empty Shell."
• "Delete the second bar stool, then show me the room from the top."

MONA replies in the chat with what it changed and a screenshot of the result, so you can check it from your phone in a client meeting and then ask for a render of it. If a name matches more than one thing, or nothing, MONA does not guess: it lists what it found and asks which one you meant.

Products you place come from your MONA Library or your schedule (as .skp or .dae files), or are copies of components already in the model. .glb files place on SketchUp 2025 and newer; on earlier versions MONA tells you to use a .skp or .dae instead.

One Undo per change

Every change MONA makes is a single step in SketchUp's undo history, labelled MONA and the action. If you do not like it, press Undo once (or Edit, then Undo) and the model is exactly as it was. A change that fails part way is rolled back on its own, so a model is never left half changed.

Allow MONA to control this model

The switch lives under Extensions, then MONA, then Allow MONA to control this model. It is on by default. Turn it off and MONA can still see that SketchUp is open (the project card says Connected, control off), but nothing in the model changes until you turn it back on. Show MONA activity in the same menu opens a window showing what MONA is doing in the model.

When SketchUp is closed

The project card shows a green dot and SketchUp connected while the extension is running with the model open, and Offline with the last time it was seen otherwise. If you ask for a change while SketchUp is closed, MONA queues it and tells you so. When the model opens with the extension signed in within 10 minutes, the change runs then. After 10 minutes it expires and nothing happens to the model. The card lists each change under Recent changes as Queued, Running, Done, Failed or Expired, with who asked and the screenshot.

Units

MONA sends every length to SketchUp in inches. Say feet, centimetres or metres if that is how you think; MONA converts before sending. Directions like left and right are read along your model's axes; if something lands the wrong way, press Undo and say which way you meant.

What it will never do

• Run code. The extension only accepts the fixed list of actions above. MONA cannot send it a script, and it will not run one.
• Touch a model that is not linked. Only the model linked to the project, open on a machine signed in to your MONA account, takes changes.
• Change anything with control off. The switch is checked on every request.
• Edit Layout. Your Layout documents keep syncing as PDFs, but MONA does not change them.
• Search 3D Warehouse. Products come from your MONA Library or schedule.

Every screenshot MONA takes lands in the project's Library like any other image, so you can open it in Visualize, attach it to a chat or send it to a client.

Keep the schedule matched to the model

After a sync, open the project's SketchUp tab. Model and schedule reads the synced model and your schedule side by side. An item is every copy of one component, so four of the same chair is one item with a count of 4.

• Not on the schedule. Items in the model that have no schedule line. Add to schedule creates a line with the component's name and the model's count as its quantity. If MONA finds a line that looks like the same thing (same product link, or the same name), it offers Link to that line; Link to a line lets you pick any other. Not scheduled sets an item aside (walls, a scale figure, entourage), and you can bring it back from the same list.
• Changes. A linked line whose quantity is different from the model's count. Update schedule to takes the model's count; Update all quantities does every one at once.
• Linked. Items that match their line. Not for ordering is for copies you placed but will not buy, such as a second chair in a vignette: those copies are left out of the count.

A few things worth knowing:

• Nothing changes until you press a button. Reading the comparison writes nothing, and it never runs during a sync.
• A component that left the model is reported, not removed. Its schedule line stays as it is.
• Renaming a component in SketchUp makes it a new item. Link it again.
• Parts inside another component are folded away. A cushion inside a banquette is usually ordered with the banquette, so items that only exist inside another component sit behind Show inside other components. If your model groups furniture by room, open that list or search by name.
• Components with no real name (Component#12, Cube.003, a bare size) are counted and left out. Name a component to schedule it.
• A copy SketchUp made unique is the same item. "Plant#1" counts with "Plant".
• Quantities only, for now. Sizes and finishes are not compared.

You can ask MONA instead: "what's in my SketchUp model that isn't on the schedule", "link the pendant to the island pendant line", "update the schedule to match the model".

Settings worth knowing

Everything below lives under Extensions, then MONA:

• Auto-sync on save. On by default. It sends your scene images and model data and reports in the status bar. If nothing changed since the last sync, it stops after a quick check. If the model has scenes, the view moves through them while the images are captured. Turn it off if you would rather sync by hand with Sync now.
• Include GLB, Include DWG and Include Layout sheets. On by default for Sync now and for syncs you ask for in chat. SketchUp's 3D export is usually the slowest step and opens SketchUp's own Exporter Progress window, so turn off Include GLB first on a very large model. Layout sheets are skipped automatically if Layout is not available.
• Include GLB on auto-sync, Include DWG on auto-sync and Include Layout sheets on auto-sync. Off by default, so saving stays quick and SketchUp's export window stays away. The project keeps the files from your last full sync, marked as from an earlier sync.
• Show MONA activity. Opens the log for any sync, and shows Cancel sync while one is running.
• Render quality. The dialog remembers the last quality you picked.
• Allow MONA to control this model. On by default. See Control SketchUp from MONA.
• Sign out. Clears the stored credentials on this machine.

If a sync fails

The status bar and Extensions, then MONA, then Show MONA activity name what went wrong. The usual causes:

• Signed out. Sign in again from the MONA menu. Tokens expire eventually and a fresh one-time code fixes it.
• No project chosen. Use Choose project first. A model that has never been bound to a project will not sync.
• Layout sheets skipped. Expected on a seat without Pro or Studio, and on a Layout document that is open and unsaved. The rest of the sync still completes.
• A new version did not load, or MONA is still in the menu after you uninstalled it. SketchUp keeps an extension running until it restarts. Quit and reopen SketchUp, install the new file from Extension Manager, then restart once more. About MONA Sync in the MONA menu shows the version you are on. Your sign-in and project links are kept.
• A slow sync. On a large model SketchUp's own GLB, DWG and Layout exports can take a long time, and SketchUp freezes during each one. Sync now shows which step it is on and has a Cancel sync button, which stops when the current step finishes and leaves your project on its last sync. To make every sync faster, turn off Include GLB, then Include DWG and Include Layout sheets.
• File is too large (max 100MB). You are on an extension older than 0.4.0. Since 0.4.0, model files and Layout PDFs over 24 MB upload straight to MONA's storage instead of through the API, with a 1 GB limit per file. Download 0.5.2 and install it over the old one; your sign-in and project links are kept. The status window says straight to storage next to any file that takes the new path. Since 0.5.2, a file over 32 MB goes up in 16 MB parts and a dropped connection retries that part alone instead of starting the file over; the window counts the parts as they land.
• Sync failed: Errno::ECONNRESET or ECONNABORTED while uploading model.glb straight to storage. Your connection dropped mid-upload. On 0.5.1 and older the whole file started over and gave up after three tries. Download 0.5.2: it sends big files in parts and retries only the part that dropped. Until then, uncheck Include GLB and press Sync now; your scenes go up and MONA keeps the last model it received.

If a render fails

• Out of credits. Add credits on monaverse.com under Settings, then Credits, and press Render again.
• Too many renders in a row. The prompt step is rate limited per account. Wait a few minutes.
• Taking longer than expected. The dialog stops waiting after seven minutes. The render usually still finishes on MONA; check the project's Library.
• Signed out. Sign in again from the MONA menu.

If a change from MONA fails

• SketchUp is offline. Open the model with the extension signed in within 10 minutes and the change runs; after that, ask again.
• Connected, control off. Turn on Allow MONA to control this model in the MONA menu.
• MONA asks which one you meant. More than one thing matched the name, or nothing did. Answer with the name from the list MONA gives you.
• A product will not place. On SketchUp 2024 and earlier, .glb files cannot be imported. Use a .skp or .dae version of the product.
• SketchUp is busy. Changes wait while a sync or a render is running and start as soon as it finishes.

Frequently asked questions

Can MONA change my SketchUp model? Yes, with extension 0.5.2 and SketchUp open. Tell MONA what to change from any chat and it places, moves, replaces or deletes components, changes materials, toggles tags, sets the view, saves scenes and takes screenshots. Each change is one Undo step in SketchUp.

How do I stop MONA from changing a model? In SketchUp, go to Extensions, then MONA, and turn off Allow MONA to control this model. MONA can still see that SketchUp is open, and the project card shows Connected, control off, but nothing in the model changes until you turn it back on.

What happens if SketchUp is closed when I ask MONA for a change? MONA queues it. If the model opens with the extension signed in within 10 minutes, the change runs then. Otherwise it expires and nothing happens to the model. The project card shows each change as Queued, Running, Done, Failed or Expired.

Can MONA run any code inside SketchUp? No. MONA can only ask the extension for a fixed list of actions: screenshot, view, scene, tags, material, place, move, delete, attributes, list components and sync. The extension never runs code sent from MONA.

Which versions of SketchUp does the extension support? SketchUp Pro or Studio, 2021 and newer, on Windows and macOS. GLB export needs 2024 or newer; on 2021 to 2023 the extension sends a DAE (COLLADA) file instead. Layout sheet export needs Pro or Studio, since the Layout API is not in SketchUp Free or Go.

Does syncing overwrite my last sync? No. Every sync is kept and its files stay in your Library. The project simply points at the most recent one, so the card on the project always shows the model as you last saved it.

Can the MONA agent trigger a sync for me? Yes, while the model is open in SketchUp with extension 0.5.2: ask MONA to sync and the extension runs Sync now. With SketchUp closed nothing can sync, because the model lives on your machine; the agent can still read everything the last sync produced.

Does the extension upload my .skp file? No. It exports from the open model and uploads the exports: the 3D model, one image per scene, your Layout sheets as PDFs, and a small data file describing the model. Your .skp stays where it is.

Can I render inside SketchUp without opening MONA? Yes. Extensions, then MONA, then Render view with MONA turns the current view or any scene into a photorealistic render through the same pipeline as Photorealize in MONA. MONA writes the prompt from your view, renders it in about a minute, and shows the result in SketchUp with Open in MONA and Save image buttons. Renders use your MONA credits like any render made on monaverse.com.