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458 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
Elements are occasionally missing Revit embedded
data. When this data i s missing, the objec t s are
"derived" according to the Derive AutoCAD
Primitives By sett ing. Deriv ing by either of the
Entity choices will not, generally, give you the
endresultyouwantandcouldresultinascenein
3ds Max that contains a vast number of individual
objects. In part icular, these settings can cause
issues with railing balusters.
UseLayer,BlocksasNodeHierarchy
On the Advanced File Link Settings dialog, use
Layer, Block as Node Hierarchy, when choosing
a Derive A utoCAD Primitives By option.
The Layer, Blocks as Node Hierarchy derive by
option,oftengivesthebestresultsforlinking
DWG files, especially when t he Revit project has
other drawings,
RVT links (page 3–1098)
,linked
to it. Combining by Layer (node hierarchies
or not) is the preferred setting. RVT links get
exported to the DWG as xrefs. If you want t he
File Link Manager to preserve color and material
assignments of those objects, Layer, Blocks as
Node Hierarchy is the setting to use.
Turn on Material Definitions and Assignments
The Use Scene Material Definitions and Use
Scene Material Assignments on Reload sw itches
are on the Advanced File Link Settings dialog.
These two switches are quite impor tant when
you’ve got materials assigned in your Revit project.
When the Use Scene Material Definitions switch
is turned on, 3ds Ma x checks the scene for any
currently used materials matching the exact same
name as a material name in the linked DWG file. If
a match is found, File Link do es not tr anslate the
drawi ng’s material, and instead us es the material
defined in the scene.
When tur ned off, the File Link Manager always
uses the material definitions contained in the
DWG file, and will overw rite scene materials
w ith the same name, regardless of which objects
the material is applied to. In addition, material
definitions are always reloaded from the DWG file,
so if you make changes to a linked material, then
reload, those changes will be lost.
If the Use Scene Material Assignments on Reload
switch is turned on, linked objects with a material
already assig ned to them in the 3ds Max scene will
not have that material assignment changed. When
turned off, linked objects have their material
assignment coordinated’ with the drawing, so that
thetwoarein-sync.
Determine how you want Spline s Handled
The settings on the Spline Rendering File Lin k
Settings dialog control how shapes and splines
arelinkedorimportedinto3dsMax.
In your original project, you may have used 2D
lines to represent joints between sidewalk pavers
or as mullions separating sections of a curtain wall.
The settings on the Spline Rendering panel let you
usethoselinesmoreadvantageously.
When you turn on Enable In Renderer and/or
Enable In Viewport, lines are visible when you
render the scene or are treated as selectable objects
in the scene. You can also adjust the appearance
oflinesbyhavingthemdisplayasradialor
rectangular geometry.
Tip: Using the
Sweep modifier (page 1–839)
with
2Dsplinesorshapesletschooseacross-sectional
shape that is swept along the spline resulting in
much more scene detail.
Su ggested Wor k f low f or R ev it
to 3ds M ax Pr oj ects
Most of the work you do on your Revit project
will be done in Revit. The initial design, layout
and modeling all occurs from within the Revit