Revit Material Management Tips and Tricks

I have been getting many questions about different aspects of managing materials in Revit.  I thought it would be valuable to wrap a bunch of my material management techniques into a post here on the blog.  I also dug through the archives and pulled up some old posts (warning, some videos may be "pre-ribbon"!!):


Here is a good one from July 2009 (more material creation than management):

Tutorial - Families and Materials

While I was away from the blog and digging my face into the LEED reference guide I received a lot of emails. There were a few emails that were very alike and I would like to address the issue. It was very hard for me to think of a way to explain the answer in an email so I did it The Revit Kid.com! way with a nice easy to follow video.

The question had to do with conflicts between family materials and project materials.

Create Your Own Material Libraries in Revit

Beyond actually creating custom materials this would be the number one question I get when it comes to material management.  Here is the scenario:

I have a project that I have created a bunch of new materials (or modified a bunch of defaults ones).  I tweaked and rendered these materials to point where I am finally happy.  Now, I want to bring these materials into a different project that has already been started.  How do I accomplish this?!

For a while, I was making sure the material and asset names were unique and I would copy/paste elements with those materials applied into the new project... Yeah, I did...  Not anymore!  Wait until you see how easy it is to share materials between Revit projects.

First, you need to understand that a materials and and asset are two DIFFERENT things.

Another Cloud Rendering Issue

I posted about an ongoing cloud rendering issue back in February.  Well, here is another one that has bothered me and negatively affected some of my renderings...

If you use a material with self-illumination (such as "Light Bulb - On") and you rendering it in the cloud you may get an unwanted result.  I tested this a with a couple different settings and haven't been able to find a reason for it.  Here are the results...

7 Things I Learned at #RTCNA 2014

1. Chicago has some serious thunderstorms.

Many of you may have seen the numerous tweets about cancelled flights, delays, and overall travel annoyances.  I, too, had to deal with some issue getting to the conference on Wednesday night.  Fortunately, thanks to perfect timing and the power of Twitter I hopped on a plane with a fellow RTCNA attendee and made it on time.  To quote Jay Zallan, "these are first world problems.."

2. Schaumburg is NOT Chicago

Similar to RTCNA 2012, RTCNA 2014 was marketed as being in the big city of Chicago but ended up being about 31 miles away.  Ultimately, the conference was a hit regardless of where it was located (the only time I would have had to get outside would have been late at night anyways).  I have always wanted to go to downtown Chicago... Maybe one day I will.

3. Revit is STILL gaining traction...

I have been blogging for over five years about Revit, BIM, and technology as it relates to architecture and construction.  Talking about Revit everyday, working with Revit everyday, and blogging about Revit everyday may have caused me to lose a bit of perspective.  I've assumed that Revit (and BIM in general) had become the new norm and had been accepted as the new norm.

I was wrong.  When I saw all of the new faces at this years RTCNA (apparently there was a very large percentage of first time attendees) they reminded me that BIM is still on the rise!  This was an encouraging thought that will motivate me moving forward with the blog and BIM After Dark. 

BIM After Dark - Volume 2: Survey

I mentioned before that I would be creating a survey to find out from you, my readers, what BIM After Dark - Volume 2 will be about!  I did this last year for BIM After Dark - Volume 1 and I believe the videos catered to your needs.

The survey is based off of a series of email responses from the Volume 1 mailing list.

Remember, I make these tutorials for you... I want to know what you want to know!

Additionally, when you complete the survey you will get a discount code to help purchase BIM After Dark - Volume 1 !!

The survey is only 4 questions... If you can spare a few minutes please click here to take the survey now...

Are You at #RTCNA Right Now?

If you are, stop by my class today at 2:30 in Schaumburg CD !

I'll be talking Revit, 3D Max, V-Ray and some awesome post-processing techniques... You'll also get a little gift for showing up.

See you then!

Will you be at #RTCNA ?

I will be!  A week from today I will be boarding a flight to Chicago for this years Revit Technology Conference North American (#RTCNA).  I am extremely excited to be a speaker for two sessions this year.

In Session 8, I will be filling in for Tom de Plater.  Tom could not make the trip from the other side of the globe and asked me to fill-in.  His lecture is about the Unity Game Engine, Revit, and Oculus Rift VR goggles....  How could I say no?!

In Session 10, I will be introducing you to the world of 3DS Max/V-Ray.  Anyone who wants to make their Revit models looks like renderings on the cover of Architectural Record will enjoy the class.

If you are going to be at RTCNA and you see me, please say hello!  I go to this conference every year in hope of meeting more of my readers... and I always do!  So, don't be shy!  Also, shoot me and e-mail or Tweet if you want to meet up!  I may be giving out a few little gifts related to BIM After Dark...

Finally, make sure you follow me on twitter (@TheRevitKid) and the hashtag #RTCNA.  I will post on the blog as frequently as possible but Twitter is always the easiest method of reporting from the conference.  You will never see as much Revit talk on Twitter than you will during this conference.

See you all there!!

Updating The Revit Kid's Email List

Some of you may know that Google official stopped supporting Feedburner back in 2012.  With it, they also took down Google Reader.

I have been wanted to move this blog over to a new email/RSS provider for quite some time and will finally be getting around to doing it within the next week or so.

What does this mean for you?  If you are an email subscriber or RSS feed subscriber you may not notice any change at all.  I will be moving my mailing list and RSS feed to MailChimp.  If all goes as planned, I you will notice nothing.  Unlike Feedburner, MailChimp is currently being supported, allows for instant broadcasts, and allows me to customize the email and RSS template.

The ability to immediately broadcast an email to you all is what I am most excited about!  With Feedburner you would receive an email at 11AM (EST) every day (like this one).  That email would provide all of the posts I'd published prior to it.  Therefore, if I post something happening right now (like when I went onto Revit Radio at last years RTCNA) you wouldn't get it via email until the next day!

I wanted to publish this post just in case the transition does not go smoothly and something crazy happens (like you get multiple emails, etc...) you will at least know why!

Thank you all for following this blog over the years and subscribing via Email or RSS.  This change should benefit you the most.

Cheers!

Revit Tip - Remove Material from Object Style, Etc...

This is one of those things that can make you throw a computer monitor if you don't know about it.  Let us say you have a Category and it has a material override (for this example I am overriding a category within the "Object Styles" dialogue).  Or, there is an existing category with an material override you want to remove.

Where the heck is the "Remove Material" button....  Look closer....

Well,  I'll be damned... There it is!!

Now, take a look around some other overrides like the material override for phases... Same little button!

Revit Tip - Placing Rebar and Stirrups (Revit Rocks)

Daryl, over at Revit Rocks (and CADClips) published a nice post breaking down some tips for creating Rebars and stirrups in Revit:

Image: http://revitrocks.blogspot.com/2014/05/tips-on-placing-revit-rebar-and-stirrups.html

Placing Rebar in a concrete column in plan view can be a quite a frustrating experience. . . . that is until you read read post. 

 We get the 'stop sign' symbol (seen below) on our cursor when the rebar cannot be placed and it can be a real pain in the butt. A few tips on Placing Rebar....

Click here to view the rest of the post....

Revit 2015 Student Version, Available Now!

I have been pretty quiet about the release of 2015... Mainly because I have been plowing through the ARE's...  I do have a drafted Revit 2015 post in the works and I hope to get it out sooner, rather than later.

For now, download 2015 and start exploring!  You can now download it via the Education Community as well (if you are a student and/or teacher)...

Click here to head to the education community...

Click here to download a trial of 2015 now...

The Revit Kid on Novedge!

I am honored to have been featured on Novedge's Blog.  Aurora, a writer over at Novedge, reached out to me for an interview about myself, The Revit Kid.com, and BIM After Dark.  Having heard of Novedge and having followed their "Pulse" section over the years I was very excited for the opportunity.

Click here to check out the interview... (Sorry about the "in-your-face" large photo of me...)

A little about Novedge, the company:

Novedge is the leading online software store for design professionals. From architects to engineers, from filmmakers to graphic designers, we go to great length to find all the software you need, so you can focus on your projects. Our website offers unparalleled search and comparison charts, with clear licensing information for over 8,000 titles. 

Our team is knowledgeable and can offer unbiased advice, guiding you to the right products for your specific needs and our prices are the the most competitive in the industry. We recognize the everyday creativity of all the professionals designing the future today: your passion and innovation make our world possible.



Aurora, thank you again for thinking of the blog!  You're awesome!