topic Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting in Revit Architecture Forum

Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

lshannonEQEBT — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 22:13:02 GMT

So I am stumped. We have some exterior walls that are all the same wall type, that all have the same wall reveals placed onto them. On some of the walls (East and West facing coincidentally) the reveals divide the wall surface up into different parts that can all be painted with different materials. The same wall types (North and South facing) with the same wall reveals do not divide up the surface, so if you try and paint a material you can only select the entire wall. Any idea why this would be?

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

ToanDN — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 22:29:22 GMT

@lshannonEQEBT wrote:

So I am stumped. We have some exterior walls that are all the same wall type, that all have the same wall reveals placed onto them. On some of the walls (East and West facing coincidentally) the reveals divide the wall surface up into different parts that can all be painted with different materials. The same wall types (North and South facing) with the same wall reveals do not divide up the surface, so if you try and paint a material you can only select the entire wall. Any idea why this would be?

Create Parts after placing reveals and change parts material.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

barthbradley — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:02:01 GMT

Split Faces and Paint?

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

lshannonEQEBT — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 21:58:09 GMT

@ToanDN @barthbradley

I'm really trying not to need to do anything different, just curious as to why it would be working with some walls and not others. We could split the face, but any ideas why it would automatically be splitting the face on some walls at the reveals and not others? Is there a way to see if someone had already split the face on some of the walls manually and we just don't know about it? (there are multiple hands in this project)

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

lshannonEQEBT — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 23:06:22 GMT

I jus tried doing the split lines just to see, and since there are reveals in place, you can't actually place a split line because the geometry is already split. We could fake it, but if the geometry is already showing as split due to the reveals, then why can't I select them individually? Pulling out my hair haha

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

barthbradley — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 23:07:39 GMT

@lshannonEQEBT wrote:
@ToanDN @barthbradley

I'm really trying not to need to do anything different, just curious as to why it would be working with some walls and not others. We could split the face, but any ideas why it would automatically be splitting the face on some walls at the reveals and not others? Is there a way to see if someone had already split the face on some of the walls manually and we just don't know about it? (there are multiple hands in this project)

What I was suggesting was a possible explanation of how the walls were colored that way. If it wasn't done by Painting Split Faces, then I'd have to examine the file to see how it was done. Post the file here if you want.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

ToanDN — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 23:11:21 GMT

@lshannonEQEBT wrote:

@ToanDN @barthbradley

I'm really trying not to need to do anything different, just curious as to why it would be working with some walls and not others. We could split the face, but any ideas why it would automatically be splitting the face on some walls at the reveals and not others? Is there a way to see if someone had already split the face on some of the walls manually and we just don't know about it? (there are multiple hands in this project)

I don't think it would be working with any walls unless you split face the wall prior to placing reveals.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

lshannonEQEBT — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 20:00:16 GMT

So a new development. On the wall that was automatically splitting the face by the reveals there was an extra revel near the base and we deleted it. Once it was deleted, all of the automatic split faces reset to a single face, and even if we put it back, the wall face is now not split. #stumped

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

ToanDN — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 20:01:40 GMT

@lshannonEQEBT wrote:

So a new development. On the wall that was automatically splitting the face by the reveals there was an extra revel near the base and we deleted it. Once it was deleted, all of the automatic split faces reset to a single face, and even if we put it back, the wall face is now not split. #stumped

Yes. Another reason to use Parts.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

MaryGrayson.Roberts — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 22:34:57 GMT

Were you able to find solution to this issue?

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

mgabrielaAUFSM — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:15:52 GMT

I was looking for exactly the solution to this issue, it was quite nerveracking... and finally a team member gave me the answer! I am posting in the hopes of helping anyone still battling with this issue.
You have to use the split face tool. The thing is, you dont need to use it in every place where you want to change materials, only once per wall does the trick! After that, the paint tool recognizes all of the different parts created by the reveals. In our case we made one line very close (0,0005m) to one of the reveals on each wall and that was it.
And that was probably the thing that was letting you paint the parts in some walls and not in others.

My mind was blown... What can I say, Revit wants what Revit wants...

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

kevinpo — Wed, 07 May 2025 18:31:31 GMT

Thank you for the tip!

I was struggling with this same problem. You can split the wall but once you add the reveal it deletes splitting objects. Now I just find an inconspicuous place to split a thin section and the rest works.
thanks!

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

jordanlatta — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 14:39:26 GMT

I found in another thread that you can simply make a tiny diagonal split line in one corner of the wall face, like a 1/16" right triangle. This tricks Revit into making all surfaces of that wall into individually paintable faces. Not sure why Revit does not have a tickbox or something for this behavior, but this is the workaround I've been using.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

bmurrayNY8WS — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:50:00 GMT

This split line at the corner unfortunately did not work for me. However, offsetting 1/32" off the edges of the reveal did work, but it was a tedious workaround to do that for aproximately 30 tiles

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

ABR_Kate — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:39:46 GMT

I'm not involved in your specific project, but in my opinion, it’s actually a classic case of overlooked System Hierarchy.

Here is the thing: Revit has its own system hierarchy for intersections — yes? So, we need to set these priorities before you even start building the wall... or fix them after 😉

By correctly defining "Layer Priorities [1-5]" in the Wall Structure and "Wall Join logic" at the corners — you get exactly what you need: the ability to divide the wall surface into different parts that can all be painted with different materials.

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

lauri_barnhart — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:59:28 GMT

Hello, @bmurrayNY8WS,

Did the information provided by @ABR_Kate help you and answer your question?

If yes, please click on the "Accept Solution" button. This will assist other community users in finding and benefiting from this information.

If not, please do not hesitate to give an update in this thread so all community members receive an update on the progression of your question, and can suggest next steps that may be helpful for you to achieve what you're looking for.

All the best,

Lauri | Community Manager

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

bmurrayNY8WS — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:05:22 GMT

No. I am aware of the modeling hierarchy and very particular about model standards, however....often times you are at the mercy of the person who started the model. In my particular circumstance, I inherited a model that is horribly put together, and for me to get it to where it would need to be would require a complete redo. Even changing or cutting a wall at this point throws off all of the manually placed reveals. Nightmare...

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

ABR_Kate — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 05:35:19 GMT

I completely understand your situation - 200%. Inheriting a "nightmare" model where every small change breaks the geometry is incredibly frustrating.

My advice - just keep in mind that any future changes will take a lot of extra time and effort with these manual reveals. Right now, managing expectations (yours or the client's) is just as important as fixing the model itself.

Hang in there!

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

gabbyHVCVX — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:34:32 GMT

I really appreciate you coming back to share your solution.

You just saved our firm a huge amount of time and heartache!

It feels like a glitch...hopefully developers don't 'fix' it!

Re: Wall reveals don't divide all walls in to sections for individual material painting

samar_attarchiT8MLE — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:21:55 GMT

Thank you very much! It was great help.