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Chad Smith
2003-10-05, 11:07 PM
I thought I would check here before adding to the wishlist, just incase I've missed something.

Is it possible to assign an object style to a wall component?

Here's why:
I have a wall that has say 3 vertical components on top of each other. But when I export to a DWG and link into Autodesk VIZ, the wall is considered the one colour and I can't assign different colours to each component. Also, you would have greater control over the display of the wall components for plan and elevation views in Revit.

The wall object styles are very limited to how they are displayed, and find them not much better to define than stairs.

Also, if I am correct with the above, then why is there the option to create more Wall Object Style sub-categories if you can't assign them? :?

beegee
2003-10-05, 11:36 PM
Jeffrey McGraw wrote :- I've had good luck with exporting Revit models via DXF to Viz, Truespace, and Radiance formats. However if AutoDesk adds a 3DS export to the next version of Revit, it will help this process greatly, for the DXF exporting doesn't allow to export things grouped by what material they are (only grouped by layer), which 3DS does/would allow. This would save a huge amount of time.


There is a White Paper (www3.autodesk.com/adsk/files/2436357_Revit_VIZ.pdf) on this which makes interesting reading.

From a quick persual it appears that what you want to achieve may be possible -

Once the drawing is in VIZ, it’s very easy to create materials and assign them to specific
color IDs. This is where the Layer Export File comes into play. Looking specifically at the
door example provided earlier, a multi/sub-object material can be created for a door and
applied to the design.
Since the Revit door now appears in VIZ as a 3D block with multiple components, a
Multi/Sub-Object (MSO) material can be applied to it for rendering. Simply create an MSO
material, assign it to an object and choose which of the sub-materials in the MSO material
are assigned to the selected entity.
In Autodesk VIZ, the MSO material interface has been improved to make MSO materials
easier to manage. Sub-material IDs no longer depend on the order of the list. You can type
in new color ID values.

But I really know nothing about Viz, so you'll need to delve into this a bit.

Chad Smith
2003-10-06, 12:12 AM
I've read the white paper before, although I don't agree with some of its techniques, but that's another story.

In the second quote, it explains an example with a door object. This is fair enough since when you define the door family you assign object styles to the components, thus allowing you to create a Layer Export file with correct colour ID's.

But... when it comes to walls, they aren't created in family files, and you can't assign wall components to object styles, so you don't get the same flexibility you get with just about every other Revit object.

Now forgetting completely about VIZ, it would be nice in the Revit environment to be able to have walls that have different line thicknesses.
Lets say I have a steel framed wall which I want to shown in thick lines, but would like to have a thin line on the outside for the wall sheeting.
In the assembly dialogue for a wall, in the layers section, maybe it could go 'Function, Material, Thickness, Object Style'.

:idea: Or why not remove the Material heading from the Object Styles dialogue and put an Object Styles section in the Material dialogue. Lets face it, every object (in the real world) has a material assigned to it, so why not make it the same i the Revit environment. The material would then define Render Material, Surface Pattern, Cut pattern and the Object Style (which defines line thickness'). Just an idea.

Deep breath in and out...

I guess what I am trying to say, is that wall objects need improving significantly, and I hope this has been attended to in R6.0.

beegee
2003-10-06, 12:31 AM
I think thats fair comment and a reasonable wish list posting also.