Okay, For starters all standard revit materials will be automatically updated to their mental ray equivalent. You can tell which ones by checking Identity Tab - Comments. If it was updated it would be blank if not it will say "Rendering appearance not upgraded". Unfortunately this is the case for any non standard material. The Mental Ray system in Revit has been setup to simplify the process of creating materials for novices as much as possible. There is of course the risk of over simplifying to the extent where it frustrates those who are familiar with Mental Ray... Basically you will need to go through all you materials and update/recreate them. I've already done this process for our 2000 or so materials. Frustrating I know, but once its done its done and you can use transfer project standards to copy materials between projects or by copying objects with those materials applied across to get individual ones. (I know this is stupid, but apparently they are working on a better solution). The process works by selecting the most appropriate Mental Ray pre made material from the "Asset Library". You then manipulate this material to what you require. You cannot currently add to the "Asset Library". Once you've been through this process you are going to be very easily create Photo real renderings from within Revit. I posted one in the beta forums that had some great response, but unfortunately I am unable to post here as it is under NDA. Trust me when I say its definitely worth the hassle.
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Regards,
Chris.
Co-Founder | BIM Consultant | Software Designer  B. Arch)
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