Materials and Material Appearance Assets

Analyze, rename, merge or delete unused Revit materials or material appearance assets found within Revit projects, templates or family files with Ideate StyleManager. Batch process material changes to custom families as well as the system families such as walls, floors, etc. Because material appearance assets are only used within materials, it is recommended that materials be reviewed and cleaned prior to reviewing the material appearance assets.

Materials

Materials influence the Revit model displays in views and rendered images and also can impact structural and energy analysis results. Materials are used in many ways within the Revit project, template and family files including, but not limited to: object styles, graphic view overrides, phase settings, parameter values, etc.

Tips for Managing Materials

  1. For family files (.RFA) select all materials and select the Analyze button, then uncheck the "Used" checkbox to delete the unused materials. Proceed more carefully with a project file as unused materials may be a BIM Standard intended for any future use.

  2. Use the merge option to swap all instances of one material for another - great for rendering work!  

  3. Select any of the elements shown within the Usage pane, and double-click or pick the Show button to open a relevant element (object style, phase override, etc.). If it has been assigned to the wrong material, use the Properties panel to re-assign.

  4. Rename any material by selecting it on the left and using the right-click option.

  5. See any duplicates? Select two or more duplicates then use the Merge button to combine them into one template.

Material Appearance Assets

Material appearance assets contain a group of properties that influence Revit renderings. Assets can only be in use by a material.

Tips for Managing Material Appearance Assets

  1. Review and cleanup the materials before reviewing the material appearance assets.

  2. Uncheck the "Used" checkbox, select any remaining assets, and pick the Delete button to remove all unused materials appearance assets.

  3. Use the merge option to swap all instances of one material appearance asset for another - great for rendering work!  

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