How to Change Background Color in SketchUp

When using SketchUp, sometimes you want to change the background color or sky and ground settings for personal purposes. Let’s watch our tutorial video to customize a background color of model in Sketchup just easy steps.

The background isn’t a single setting — it’s part of the active style, which is why the change is stored with the style (and travels with any scene that uses that style) rather than with the model itself. If you save the edited style, every scene assigned to it updates at once; if you don’t save it, the color is lost the moment you switch to another style.

How to Change Background Color in SketchUp — Style & Sky Settings (Tutorial)

Follow these steps to change background color in SketchUp:

• Go to Window > Default Tray > Show Tray (on macOS: Window > Styles)
• In the Default Tray, click the Styles tab
• Pick any style from the library, then click the Edit tab inside the Styles panel
• Click the Background Settings icon (the icon that looks like a landscape/horizon)
• Enable or disable Sky and Ground checkboxes as needed
• Click the color swatch next to Background, Sky, or Ground to open the color picker
• Choose your color. You can also adjust Transparency for ground/sky
• To keep the changes, click the style thumbnail’s update icon (the circular arrow) or save it as a new style by typing a new name and clicking the save icon

How to Get a Plain White Background in SketchUp

A plain white background is the most common request — it makes models look clean for presentations and screenshots. Here’s the fastest way to get a SketchUp white background:

1. Open Styles > Edit > Background Settings
2. Uncheck Sky and uncheck Ground — both hide the plain background when enabled
3. Click the Background color swatch and set it to pure white (R 255, G 255, B 255)
4. Click the update style icon to save

Sky and Ground sit on top of the plain Background color, so they completely hide it unless you switch them off. Once both are off, you’ll see your flat white (or any solid color) behind the model with no gradient.

For a clean presentation export, also go to View > Edge Style and consider turning off Profiles — thick outline edges can look heavy against a white background.

How to Change the Background in SketchUp Using Scenes

If your model has multiple scenes (tabs at the top of the viewport), each scene can display a different background. This is useful for showing the same model in different lighting moods without duplicating the file.

• Create or edit a style with the background you want
• Right-click the scene tab and choose Update Scene, making sure Style and Fog is checked
• Repeat with a different style for each scene

When you animate or export scenes, SketchUp transitions between the backgrounds automatically. One caveat: if you assign the same style to two scenes and edit it in one, both scenes update — because they share the same style object. To keep them independent, duplicate the style first (right-click the style thumbnail > Duplicate).

Changing the Background for Export (2D Images & LayOut)

The background color is baked into 2D exports exactly as it appears on screen. A few things to know before you export:

• Transparent PNG on Windows: The built-in “Transparent Background” export checkbox only exists on macOS. On Windows it is missing. Workaround: set the background to a solid key color (bright green or magenta), export, then mask it in an image editor. Some third-party export extensions also add a transparency option.
• Faster renders: Turning Sky and Ground off (flat solid background only) makes 2D exports render noticeably faster on large scenes — SketchUp no longer has to calculate the gradient shading.
• LayOut viewports: The background set in SketchUp carries through to LayOut. If you need a white page with no background in LayOut, set the SketchUp style to white background before sending to LayOut, or uncheck the viewport background in LayOut’s SketchUp Model panel.

Saving and Sharing Custom Background Styles

Once you’ve set a background you like, save it so you can reuse it across projects:

1. In the Styles panel, click the Edit tab and configure your background
2. Click the Create New Style icon (the plus/floppy icon depending on SketchUp version)
3. Give it a descriptive name, e.g. “White Presentation” or “Dark Studio”
4. To move it to a custom collection, open the In Model styles list, right-click your style, and choose Save in a collection

Styles saved to a collection are stored locally and available in any new file. You can also export a style by saving the model and sharing the .skp file — whoever opens it will have your style in their In Model library.

See also: How to Select Objects by Color in SketchUp

Good to Know

A few edge cases and less-obvious behaviors:

• Horizon color: The Horizon swatch blends into the Sky color near eye level to fake atmospheric haze. It does not act as a separate visible band — it only affects the gradient transition. If your sky looks banded or uneven, adjust Horizon, not Sky.
• Ground “show from below”: There’s a toggle so when you orbit under the horizon plane, you still see a colored ground instead of looking through it. Enable it for aerial-view animations.
• Style not saving: If your background resets after switching scenes, you forgot to update the style. Click the circular-arrow update icon in the Styles Edit tab, or the change only lives in your current view state.
• SketchUp Free (web): Background settings work the same way in the browser version, but the Styles panel is accessible via the Styles sidebar icon on the left toolbar rather than a Default Tray.

Common Issues & FAQ