Forums >> Revit Structure >> Technical Support >> Color of Materials in Renderings

pwdarrah

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Joined: Wed, Sep 30, 2009
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Hello, Since I've updated from 2009 to 2012, I've been unable to alter colors of a material as I had in 2009. For example, I used to have a rendering of vinyl siding and was able to alter the color relatively easily. Am I missing something, or are we unable to do this now w/ our seperate rendering software? I would like to easily change colors of siding materials. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated....

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pwdarrah

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Joined: Wed, Sep 30, 2009
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Correction: "w/ out separate rendering software"

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itsmyalterego

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Joined: Thu, May 28, 2009
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I don't have a strong memory of 2009... but in 2012, there are a variety of ways to manipulate materials.  I'm unhappy with the material manager in 2012--it's completely counter-intuitive, and I have NEVER--despite daily work with revit--felt I understand the interface or understand why some options are available for some materials, and not for others. 

So, to answer your question as best I can--  Maybe.  Lol..

But obviously you can change the color of a material like paint with a click.  Bam.  Your paint is now purple.  However, if you have, say, a standing seam metal roof... no.  The image file of the standing seam roof is GREEN.   And then, like many materials, you have an "image fade" slider bar that blends the image file with the RGB palette.  The downside of this is that the more you "fade" the image into the RGB color you've selected, the fainter the image becomes.  So the green standing seam metal roof can fade between gray, brown, and teal. 

Your vinyl material might fall into the category that has an image file.  You could trying using a solid color and a bump pattern, or... a black and white siding image with image fade. 

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Tinman867

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Joined: Mon, Dec 26, 2011
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It is possilble to go directly to the material image buried in the RAC files, copy it to Powerpoint 2010 (or other photo editing software) , recolor it, resave it as a  new .jpeg file (can't save back to the RAC file if it is installed in Program Files) in a new folder, and import it into your part just as if you were changing colors.  You will have to browse a bit more to do this, but if you can navigate the PC veins, you will be fine.  The downside to this is: if anyone opens the file on another PC, the custom color image is not there.  It doesn't move with the .rvt file if it is sent to another PC. They must be attached as images, and the other party must know the in's and out's of this.  This process is good for single use situations where you are creating very specific renderings, etc.  Be careful of file size also.

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pwdarrah

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Thanks for this. I will try both....

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rod23

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Joined: Wed, Dec 2, 2009
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The material editor had major overhauls done every release since 2009.  If you have an image assigned to the material, you cannot change the color without changing it in an image editing program as suggested above.  The trick is to not have an image assigned under 'Generic', but to get the desired effect by using an image for the Bump or Cutout. 

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