Applying materials in Revit should be simple, but many users are confused about how to do that. This is the third of a three-part series where we look at the best, fastest and easiest ways to apply materials to the three different kinds of families in Revit.
Part 3: Applying Materials to In-Place Families
Here we will look at applying Revit Materials to In-Place Families, which are unique elements that you create when you need to create something unique and specific to the current project, and that does not exist in the available System Families or Loadable Families. They can be almost anything and for almost any shape. We will use the example of a curved desk.
Method A: Changing the Material by Properties
1. SELECT ELEMENT: Start by clicking the In-Place Family, in this case, the desk object.
2. EDIT IN-PLACE: Click Edit In-Place from the ribbon up top.
3. SELECT GEOMETRY: Click the element within the In-Place geometry that you want to apply a material to.
Note: If you want to apply the same material to multiple parts, then hold down control and click all parts to add to the selection.
4. EDIT MATERIAL: Under ‘Materials & Finishes’, click the button next to “<By Category>” to open the Material Browser.
5. SELECT NEW MATERIAL: Click a new material from the extensive list of Revit Materials. In this case, we will click “Wood Sheathing, Chipboard” to change the desk’s “Top Material” to a nice wood finish.
6. FINISH: If we are happy with that material, click OK and Voila, we’re done!
You have successfully changed the material for this In-Place Family. The process is more or less the same for all In-Place Families.
See past posts for How to Apply Materials to System Families and How to Apply Materials to Loadable Families.
Next, we will take a look at Painting, which can be even faster and give us more control over the materials that we apply to specific surfaces.