Well, I downloaded the latest patch and sat down to try and import some skp files and see  if I couldn't create a recipe which could work for Ken. Something like 'make sure all groups and components are exploded BEFORE saving as .skp.

Sadly, as I'm on a Vista 64 machine, I can't do that. It turns out Google has only created a SketchUp importer for 32 OS'es and doesn't support 64-bit OS'es. 

Ken, here's how it works. SketchUp (and Poser and other apps) provide a software 'module' for importing geometry. Thinks of it as a black box, which only Google has the key to, and when you point this box at a .skp file, it will convert it to a format which can be understood by other apps. The converted format is something easy to import directly into Vue and other programs.

e-on licenses from Google this SketchUp black box. There are three ways which a .skp file import can go wrong:

1. The black box doesn't exist (as in Vista 64, Google's fault);
2. The black box can't convert a file (Google's fault);
3. The black box converts a file, but Vue can't read it; (This could be either Google's or Vue's fault)

In anycase, sending a link to one of the files you mention above should provide e-on with enough information to determine where the fault lies.

Even though I posted it on another forum, I'll post my current workaround to this dilema here for others to see:

Quote - I typically have not had much luck with the SU imports in any version of Vue. Instead, I export from SU as OBJ, then import into Vue: 

To convert from SU to Vue: 
Export from SU as OBJ (in SU 6!) with the following settings: 
(x) means check the checkbox 

X Export only current selection (optional) 
X Triangulate all faces 

X Swap YZ coordinates (Y is up) 
Units = inches 

Import into Vue the OBJ with the following settings. 

X Center object (leave off if you want to maintain center) 
X Resize object 
x Manual resizing = 0.254 

If you don't have a Pro version of SU, then it won't export to OBJ, so you'll need a free plugin-- which can be found at: 

http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2007/01/wavefront-obj-exporter.html 

HTH, 
Chipp