Materials Editor

What it does

Revit's own material editor shows you numbers; this one shows you the material. It renders a live preview sphere as you work, so you judge a material by looking at it rather than by reading a roughness value.

When it looks right, Create in Revit builds the material in the open project — appearance asset and all — without starting from a template that has to be unpicked afterwards.

Highlights

• A live, physically-based preview that re-bakes as you adjust.
• Load your own texture maps, or generate what's needed from one image.
• Save and reload presets, so a house material can be reproduced exactly.
• Generate cutouts for foliage, mesh and perforated panels.
• Generate a matching drafting hatch (.pat), or load and export one.
• Render the preview through a full turn to check it from every angle.
• Creates an ordinary Revit material — nothing proprietary is left in the project.

Before you start

• Open the project you want the material created in.
• The window is modeless — leave it open and keep working in Revit.
• Have your texture maps to hand, or start from a preset.

Quick start

1. On the Utils panel, click the Materials icon — the small stack beside AECOprint and SyncSaver. It also opens from the Bank's Materials view.
2. Start from a preset or load your texture maps.
3. Adjust until the preview looks right.
4. Click Create in Revit.

Tips