8

Applying Materials to Linked R evit O bj e cts 461
Applying Materials to Link ed R evit
Obj ects
As with models that are imported or linked
from Architectural Desktop, there are special
behaviors exhibited with materials assigned to
linked Revit objects. T he behavior is cont rolled by
the
PropagateMaterialsToInstancestoggle(page
2–1276)
.
When applying materials to a linked drawing in
3ds Max, family and type plays an important role
in material management. Assigning a material
to any component of any linked Revit object is
equivalent to assigning the same material to every
instance of that component in every object with
thesamefamilyandtypethroughoutyourscene.
As an example, say you have multiple instances of
a
Doors <Single-Flush : 34” x 80”> door in your
drawing , wh ich consists of three components:
two Frame/Mullion components representing the
inside and outside trim and a Panel component.
If you assign a material to one Panel component
anywhere in your 3ds Max scene, all the Panels for
all the Doors of that family and t ype throughout
the scene will receive the new material.
If you want to keep materials from propagating
between instances in your scene, turn off the
Propagate Materials To Instances toggle (page
2–1276)
from the Material Editor’s Options menu.
See also
Instanced Objects (page 3–463)
Blocks (page 3–464)
Editing R evit M aterials i n 3ds M ax
Once a draw ing is linked or imported to 3ds Max,
you can modif y or replace the mate rials. The File
Link Manager maintains a list of materials that it
links to 3ds Max. If you change the propert ies of
an assigned material while working in 3ds Max,
the new proper ties can get overwritten the next
time you reload an updated drawing, exported
from Revit.
DuringaFileLinkreload,iftheShowReload
Optionsswitchisturnedon,youcancontrol
how materials ar e handled by using the
Use
Scene Material Definitions
or Use Scene Material
Assignments on Reload
options.
Procedures
To reta in mater ial settings made in 3ds Ma x dur ing
areload:
1.
On the Files panel of t he File Link Manager,
make sure the Show Reload Options switch is
active.
2. SelecttheupdatedDWGfilefromtheLinked
Files list and click Reload.
3. Open the Advanced tab and tur n on Use Scene
Material Definitions
and then click OK.
TheupdatedDWGfileisreloadedandRevit
materials retain the setting changes you made
in 3ds Max.
AccuR ender M ater i als
AccuRender materials consist of one or more base
materials. For each base mater ial you can set
attributes such as color , reflectivity, transparency,
index of refraction, bump maps, and image maps.
The Procedures list displays the simple materials
that combine to form your final material definition
and the rules for combining them. For simple
materials, there is only one item in the list: Base.
For complex materials, a tree indicates how the
components combine. For example, the marble
procedure consists of a Base material and a Vein
material. WhiletheBasematerialisconsidered
a ’procedure’, it is translated because it’s at the
bottom level of the material. The Vein material is
ignored.