The New Materials User Interface in Revit 2013Dan Stine, CSI, CDT
Registered Architect and AuthorThe latest version of Autodesk Revit brings several new features. Most notable are the following:
- An all-in-one version of Revit is available in addition to the discipline specific packages (Architecture, Structure and MEP)
- Model based stair sketches, which allows for T-shaped, Y-shaped and stacked multi-run stairs
- Artificial lighting and photographic exposure in realistic views
- Ray Trace mode
- RPC content appearance in realistic views
- Save and reload selections (this was in Revit Structure previously)
- Split a dimension string
- View Templates can be assigned to a view, and then drive the view’s settings
- Thermal properties in Materials, and assemblies which automatically calculate Resistance (U) and Thermal Mass
This article will cover the major changes made to the
Materials user interface (UI) that current users need to be aware of in order to efficiently use the 2013 family of Revit products. We will be looking at the new
Materials UI from the perspective of an existing experienced user.
Compare New and OldThe two images shown below compare the
Materials dialog for 2012 (Figure 1) and 2013 (Figure 2). The 2012 dialog is largely self-contained within a single dialog box. In 2013, the process has been broken down into multiple dialogs. Admittedly, the new design feels more cumbersome, but complaining about that will not change anything for this version. Once you read this article, you will be aware of where everything is and not get hung up on a few not-so-intuitive aspects of the new
Materials UI.
The Materials dialog for Revit 2012 is shown below:
Compare this to the
Materials dialog for Revit 2013:
Looking at the new UI shown above, one can see that the original dialog was essentially split down the middle into two dialog boxes. By default, when you first open
Materials from the
Manage tab, both of these dialogs open side-by-side. It is possible to close the
Material Editor (right) and still have the
Material Browser (left) open. If you do this, the next time you open
Materials, the
Editor dialog will not open. If you want both to always open, just click
OK/
Cancel and never click the
Done button.
There are a few steps you can take to maximize the usability of this new layout. First you can adjust the two dialogs to be taller. This allows you to see more information, especially in the
Material Editor. Second, you can switch the
Material list to
Text View so you can see more materials. This is similar to the default view in previous versions. To do this, follow steps #1 and #2 in the image shown below. Once you make these changes, Revit will remember them so you only have to do this once.
In the image below, you can see the adjusted dialog boxes for overall size and
Material text view.
Understanding Revit MaterialsThere is a new term being thrown into the mix, which is
Assets. Notice this heading in the figure above, within the
Material Editor dialog. To better understand
Assets, let’s first talk about the overall concept of a
Material. Consider the simple illustration shown below. The box shown here represents a
Material in Revit.
Think of a
Material as a container. Some of the information represents elements you can touch and see when the building is complete, while others do not.
All of these components shown within the box existed in previous versions of Revit except
Thermal. We did not have the terminology of
Assets either (except in the API). Knowing this will help to ease the initial shock one might experience when first looking at the new
Materials UI. We will take a look at each of these material components in the order listed.
General InformationNotice the circled arrow icons in the image below. These icons expand and collapse sections of information. The first one is the easiest to miss as it is collapsed by default and not near the others like it.
Clicking this arrow expands the
General Information such as
Keynote and
Product Information, as shown below, which was previously found on the
Identity tab in 2012.
One big thing missing in 2013 is the
Material Class field. It was at the first item on the
Identity tab. This allowed us to sort
Materials.