Thanks a lot for your detailed feedback! This is very valuable.
In a scene like this, it is a very difficult guessing game as to what is missing in the preview and where those maps might be in the material list
It's not very obvious, but when you are in the "Materials" tab and move the cursor to the 3D viewport, the cursor becomes an eyedropper and you can click on an object to highlight its material. It makes it easier to locate it.
From this preview, I can clearly see that a few large objects are missing, but I won't see those objects are actually there
Enabling "Show Edges" helps in these cases.
Quote from TimI also like the initial import preview Skimp uses, as I personally think it's easier to initially visually inspect.
I agree that in cases like this, it's quite useful to visualize the UV mapping and have unique color per objects.
In Transmutr v2 we will have a PBR preview alongside the SketchUp-like preview. Maybe we can have a third one similar to this?
Quote from TimWhen it comes to simplification- again, just a personal preference to the visual style the Skimp presents in showing the basic/flat color tones vs the material
...and a fourth one with just a clay material to better visualize the geometry?
Quote from TimNotice the wire frame objects that are set as "0" Opacity
Yes unfortunately this can happen with poorly exported models. I found that it happens mostly with OBJ, which is a really bad format when it comes to materials. If possible, try to stick with FBX as it contains much more information.
Transmutr can only work with the information it is given.
Quote from Timone big UNDO SIMPLIFICATION button would be awesome for when we have gone too far
Do you mean undoing after importing the object in SketchUp?