Importing Max to Revit, UV Coordinates not transfering

[TannerJohnso1]

This is kind of a 2 part question both relating to the same thing.

I've had several projects where the client would like to see complex models imported into a scene in Revit to define the scene more realistically (instead of bringing the Revit model into Max as I'm one of a few that has Max installed and knows how to use it). I've tried to import my model I created in Max of a train into a train station scene in Revit only to have the train show up grey. When I try to apply a material, it's as if the UVW coordinates don't transfer over and the customized texture map just tiles over the surface. Is there a way to allow Revit to properly read UV coordinates?

I have another project underway that has several fare vendors and using the text tool in Revit complicates the scene and dramatically adds render time. If it's possible to recreate the fare machines in Max, unwrap the UV's, create a texture for it in Photoshop, and re-import it into Revit with correct UV's, that would be a great time saver both for rendering and modelling little details that could show up in the texture only. Note that I have already unwrapped and textured the fare vendor.  I've tried every file type and played with the material manager for hours with no progress.

Thanks in advance for any help 🙂

[kathryn.langan]

Because the typical workflow is generally Revit > Max, I think you might find more suggestions from the Max end than in Revit - I'd suggest posting this queston in the 3ds Max group!

[TannerJohnso1]

Thanks for the reply, and I know the typical route is Revit to Max, but I'm only working on materials and there's 5 others still building the central file in Revit and don't know anything about Max.  I have imported it into Max, and update the model regularily but it doesn't help my team when they don't have the ability to render UV'd textures on certain things in Revit.

[rosskirby]

You're going to find that the material editor in Revit leaves a lot to be desired, especially when it comes to complex materials mapping situations.  Remember that Revit is designed primarily for buildings made up of discrete homogeneous components (walls, roofs, floors, etc.), most of which exist solely in one plane (XY, XZ, or YZ), and thus only have simple materials that can be applied at a component level.  And since those are building materials (rather than fabrication materials, as in your train model), they tend to consist primarily of some combination of horizontal and/or vertical elements, with very little actual complexity (think brick wall vs. rusty locomotive smokestack or spoked wheel).

The short answer is "probably not" unless there's some way to bind the material to the object in max before you export.  Even then, you're gonna have a helluva time trying to get those material maps to stay situated in Revit.  Sorry I don't have a better answer, but your workflow is kind of reversed from the typical, so taking information from a "complex" system to a "simple" one (in terms of material mapping) is probably going to end badly.

I'd love for someone with more experience with 3ds Max to jump in and tell me I'm wrong, but I think you're going to be better off doing your renderings in Max, at least of the train, and then combining that in Photoshop with the rendering of the building from Revit.

[TannerJohnso1]

Thanks for the help.  I wanted to ask just to be sure as I've spent countless hours between the two programs trying to make it work but it doesn't.  Anyway, I do have the option to access UVW options sometimes when I edit the source image in Revit but it often disappears when I go back to try a different route. Oh well, I guess I'll have to teach 3ds Max to a couple colleagues in the meantime 😛

If any autodesk revit admins are looking at this thread, it would be nice to have an option to link between 3ds Design and Revit, similarily to linking Revit to 3ds Design, even if the community for that kind of thing is small.