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.
You apply assets TO materials... The asset tabs include Appearance, Physical, and Thermal.
You do not apply materials to assets.... Therefore, when creating a brand new material, you will have to apply, replace, or create the assets for it as well. The asset is what gets brought between projects.
Now that you have an understanding of materials and their assets... Check out the video below for my tutorial on creating, sharing, and using your own material library:
Click here to view the video via YouTube.
Click here to view the video via Screentcast.
More About Materials:
If you enjoyed this post check out BIM After Dark - Volume 1. I get into the nitty gritty details behind creating, managing, and using custom materials to make your Revit renderings really stand out! Click here to check out BIM After Dark - Volume 1 (there is a free sample chapter as well!)
Additional Material Browser Information:
Click here for more about the new Revit materials setup by Dan Stine...
