Phases & custom materials
So we have tweaked the RPC’s to our satisfaction, replaced the ugly beetle with a marginally better WRX… but when we render why is the existing building white?
Phases.
If we open the Instance properties of this 3D view you will notice that under Phasing the Filter is set to “Show All” , and the (current) phase is set to “New Construction”, the existing building is all grayed out both the existing and the new deck are shown.
If we change the filter to “Show Previous + New” you will notice only the new deck is showing but the existing building is still grayed out.
We then change the Phase to “Existing” , now only what is in the “existing” phase is shown and the existing building is showing the materials correctly. Note: the site should be shown but is incorrectly set to new construction.
Ok well none of these options help? we need to modify the filters for these phases and in particular the “Graphic Overrides”. On the Existing phase status select the … material and choose anything in the Materials dialogue box and select ok. Notice how everything in that filter has changed to this material, repeat this process this time selecting “No Material”, change the Filter back to “Show Previous + New” and the phase to “New Construction” and render.
Everything renders as expected.
Custom materials
You will come to the point when Revit simply does not have the materials that you want and none of the maps (images) in the library suit either, what do you do then when the map simple does not exist within Revit?
In the image below we want to create a corrugated iron material for the garage door, I will also show you techniques to create custom tile-able maps.
If you want to learn the photoshop techniques click me for link to the postproduction page on custom material creation.
As shown in previous steps duplicate a exisitng material that is simlar to the one that you want to create and link the maps through to the images you have just created in Photoshop.
As this is a coastal property the site has a variety of materials across it, from the gravel entrance, the garden, the grass and finally the tussock sand dunes. We are not concerned about all the details but we will split up the surface to apply the main materials and textures.
We begin with selecting the topo surface and using the split surface tool segment the surface into the appropriate bands (grass, tussock, sand, water). The select one of the bands in this case water and under the instance properties change the material, repeat the process for the sand layer.
When you get to the tussock band duplicate the existing site-grass material and rename to Site – Tussock.
NOTE: It is best practice to create new materials when you need to make adjustments as opposed to modifying the library items, especially if you are likely to link this file into another Revit project.
Choose a library appearance to your liking and adjust as you see fit, I tried to brighten up the default grass material to look like tussock. Do a test render. The materials are not satisfactory so edit to suit, I changed the water material to a darker sample, created a new Site – Sand Beach material and modified the parameters.
When it came to the tussock material I could not find any sample I liked so I copied the map from the default library, modified in Photoshop , saved in out “C:/temp/custom materials” folder that we created earlier and then select this map from the material editor in Revit and re-render.
Now that the context is good shape (even if the renders are average) we will create some new cameras and develop the materials of the model to clarify the design before we export to 3dsMAX to take the renders to another level. I am a strong believer of using the right tool for the right job (I think that was originally my Revit mentor Chris Needhams quote..?) and when you need to create advanced materials, high definition renders, a number of different renders or a animation then use 3dsMAX.
But for now we will continue developing the basic idea of the materials we are interested in so that we can test different combinations quickly within Revit. We start with the columns, first selecting the column, creating a new column type and changing the properties to a new material. We then select the entire model and using the filter tool to select just the columns we change them all to this new type. Then we hide the RPC tree entourage to speed up rendering, crop the view and render, adjust the material and render again.
Then next step from here is modifying the structure of the families to represent how we wish, we start with the exterior walls. Select the wall, right click and edit the element properties. Duplicate this wall, and edit the structure to suit. For this example I simply created two finish surfaces and adjusted the widths and materials. I did the same for the roof and then rendered.
The materials and families need a lot of work as does the design but you get the idea, continue developing your model and materials to suit.
Next page: Developing the model.
