SketchUp 2025 added the option to make materials using the “physically-based rendering” technique (PBR). It is a 15-years-old technique which, for very little computation cost, massively improves the realistic look of materials. Supporting them in VR Sketch would be the natural thing to do. The result would still be very far from “real” rendering engines that use more advanced techniques, but the effect might be good enough to be worthwhile to consider.
Are PBR materials really useful in the current SketchUp ecosystem? The answer depends on how you use it, including how third-party renderers like V-Ray approach the question. It might be more natural to keep using placeholder materials in SketchUp and then use (e.g.) V-Ray’s own material editor to make “real-looking” materials; SU2025’s new intermediate step might be pointless in that workflow.
Nevertheless, these concerns may not be the full story; maybe the PBR materials in SU2025 really are useful. To figure it out, we would be interested in building an experimental custom build of VR Sketch. Do you have a demo model with PBR materials that you could share with us? We could make a custom build to see how that model would look like in VR, and share it with you to try. Your opinion, as either a professional or hobbyist user, is valuable!
Please post demos or comments either here or to info@baroquesoftware.com. Thanks!