[Bug Report] D5 Render 3.0 + Latest D5 Sync: SketchUp Scene Visibility Not Syncing, Missing Objects, and Launch Issues
Hi D5 Team,
Our design team has been experiencing several serious issues with the latest D5 Sync plugin and D5 Render 3.0 when working with SketchUp 2026.
These issues are significantly affecting our daily workflow, particularly when switching between multiple interior design options within the same SketchUp model.
We have already performed extensive troubleshooting, and multiple team members have encountered similar problems. I would like to provide a detailed explanation to help your development team investigate.
1. Software Environment
- SketchUp: 2026
- D5 Render: Latest version (3.0)
- D5 Sync: Latest version (1.7 series, integrated with D5 Lite)
- D5 Lite: Latest version
- Hardware: Our workstations meet D5’s system requirements.
- Previous working setup: D5 Render 2.9 with the older LiveSync plugin.
All the reported issues occur with the latest software versions.
2. Major Issue: SketchUp Scene Visibility Does Not Sync Correctly
Our typical workflow involves developing multiple design options within a single SketchUp model.
For example, we might have three different interior design options, each containing separate Groups for walls, ceilings, and floors.
We set up three SketchUp Scenes:
- Scene 1: Only Option 1 is visible.
- Scene 2: Only Option 2 is visible.
- Scene 3: Only Option 3 is visible.
Expected behavior:
When switching between Scenes in SketchUp, D5 Render should automatically update the visibility of the corresponding Groups and display only the selected design option.
Actual behavior:
SketchUp switches between all three Scenes correctly. However, D5 Render does not update the Group visibility.
Instead, all three design options remain visible simultaneously in D5 Render, overlapping each other, even though only one option is visible in SketchUp.
We have confirmed that Real-Time Sync is enabled.
We have also tried manually clicking the One-Time Sync button, but this does not resolve the visibility issue.
This makes it extremely difficult to switch between design options during our normal design and rendering process.
3. Troubleshooting: Removed All Tags and Used Only Hide / Unhide
To eliminate the possibility of Tag or Sub Tag conflicts, we performed another test.
We removed all custom Tags from the SketchUp model, leaving only the default Untagged (Tag 0).
We then manually controlled the visibility of each design option using SketchUp’s Hide / Unhide commands and saved the visibility states into three separate Scenes.
In SketchUp, everything works correctly:
- Scene 1 displays only Option 1.
- Scene 2 displays only Option 2.
- Scene 3 displays only Option 3.
However, D5 Render still fails to recognize these saved visibility states and continues displaying all three options together.
This confirms that the issue is not limited to Tag or Sub Tag visibility. It also affects the hidden object states saved within SketchUp Scenes.
We have also tested newly created SketchUp files with newly created D5 Render scenes. The same problem occurs, so it is not specific to an old project or legacy synchronization data.
We have also reproduced the issue by connecting SketchUp directly to D5 Render 3.0 without opening D5 Lite first.
4. Group Visibility Issues and Objects Randomly Disappearing
We noticed that manually hiding or unhiding individual objects, such as furniture, sometimes works correctly.
However, visibility changes involving entire Groups, particularly when controlled through Scenes, are much more problematic.
In previous D5 versions, similar visibility synchronization issues occasionally occurred, but simply hiding and unhiding an object once would usually force D5 to refresh and display it correctly.
With the latest D5 Sync, this workaround is no longer reliable.
We sometimes have to manually Hide / Unhide entire Groups multiple times before D5 updates correctly. In other cases, the objects never recover.
There is also another serious issue:
Objects that were previously visible in D5 Render can suddenly disappear without any related changes being made in SketchUp.
For example, a floor Group that was displaying correctly may suddenly disappear from D5 Render while we are working on other parts of the model.
Even after repeatedly hiding and unhiding the floor Group in SketchUp, it may remain completely missing in D5 Render.
This behavior has been particularly frustrating because we cannot reliably restore the missing geometry through normal synchronization.
5. Unable to Launch D5 Render Directly from SketchUp
We have also encountered a separate issue when trying to launch D5 Render directly from SketchUp using the latest D5 Sync plugin.
Instead of launching D5 Render and establishing the connection automatically, the plugin displays a message instructing us to manually launch D5 Render and then try syncing again.
As a result, we cannot reliably start D5 Render directly through SketchUp as expected.
This has occurred while working with the same files that experience the visibility synchronization problems.
I am not sure whether these two issues are related, but I wanted to report both in case they point to a problem with the new synchronization plugin or connection management.
6. D5 Lite Performance and Stability Issues
We have also experienced performance and stability problems with D5 Lite.
When using D5 Lite with SketchUp:
- SketchUp frequently freezes or unexpectedly crashes.
- D5 Lite sometimes feels noticeably slow and unresponsive.
- Even basic operations, such as opening the lighting settings panel, can be unusually slow.
- The overall experience feels less stable than expected.
Our computers meet the official system requirements, so we would appreciate further investigation into these performance issues.
7. Multiple Team Members Experiencing the Same Problems
I would also like to emphasize that these are not isolated issues affecting only one person or one computer.
Other designers on our team have experienced similar visibility synchronization failures, including objects that cannot be brought back into D5 Render after being hidden.
We frequently work with complex interior design models containing multiple design options, Groups, and Scenes. Reliable real-time visibility synchronization is essential to our daily workflow.
8. Comparison with D5 Render 2.9 and Older LiveSync
One of the most important observations is that when we reverted to D5 Render 2.9 and the corresponding older LiveSync plugin, the same SketchUp files and workflows synchronized correctly again.
We understand that the older LiveSync plugin is no longer being updated and that its functionality has been integrated into the new D5 Sync plugin.
However, we would expect the latest version to maintain at least the same synchronization reliability as the previous version.
At the moment, the newer setup is significantly disrupting our workflow.
9. Request for Investigation
Could your development team please investigate the following?
- SketchUp Scene visibility synchronization, especially saved Hidden Objects states.
- Visibility synchronization for entire Groups and nested objects.
- D5 Render displaying multiple design options simultaneously despite correct Scene visibility in SketchUp.
- Objects randomly disappearing in D5 Render and failing to reappear after Hide / Unhide operations.
- D5 Render failing to launch directly from SketchUp and requiring manual startup before synchronization.
- D5 Lite performance issues, SketchUp freezing, and unexpected crashes.
The most critical issue is the inability to reliably synchronize SketchUp Scene visibility with D5 Render 3.0.
This is a fundamental part of our design workflow. Having to manually hide and unhide objects repeatedly, or being unable to restore missing geometry, makes it very difficult to work efficiently.
We have already ruled out several possible causes through our testing, including old project data, Tag/Sub Tag configurations, and switching between D5 Lite and D5 Render.
We would really appreciate it if this could be escalated to the development team for further investigation.
Please let us know if this is a known issue, whether there is an existing bug report, and if a fix is being planned for an upcoming update.
Thank you for your support!