Change column appearance when rendered

[cargo33]

Is it possible to control how the top of a column looks when it is rendered?  I have columns, some attached to walls, some not.  I'd like the tops of the columns (when looking down into the building) to be darker than the rest.  I know I can control the look of the top by changing the core of the wall they touch, but what about the ones that are freestanding?  Is there a way to make them match the ones that are touching walls?

Thank you!

Using Revit LT 2017 and rendering in 3DS Max 2015

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @cargo33

This is an interesting question. Thanks for posting on the forum.

Yes, we can change the column appearance, but I have a few questions to better understand your requirement:

1. What is the type of column is it square, circular, corinthian etc?

2. Can you post a screenshot of the view?

3. Is this a daylight scene or interior column?

4. Are you rendering locally with native Revit materials, or on the cloud or rendering in 3dsmax?

Looking forward to your reply update.

Regards,

[cargo33]

Sorry, these are square columns.  Just the ones default Architectural ones that come with Revit.

This is an interior scene, but it's lit with sunlight (I'm open to other options, but this is the quickest).  

I'm exporting a fbx file and bringing it into 3DS Max to render.  

My main issue is that the top of the columns blend with the floor.  I like the floor light, and I'd like to change the columns to stand out a little more.  If I change their material, only the stand alone columns will change.  The ones connected to walls will take on the walls characteristics.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @cargo33

Great,thanks for getting back!

Square columns are easier than the designer columns, and are lighter in your model geometry.

Ok, now we are talking about blending the column into two materials - one half to match the wall and the other half/ quarter to match the floor?

Is that correct?

Do you have any specific materials or color choices for the column/ wall and floor?  Then we will start working with the custom materials. If so, send me the materials and screenshot of view to reproduce this and test for a workaround.

A few workarounds that we can try:

• Regarding the square column, we can try to break apart the column, created a specific family and load that into the project, or maybe try a split.
• Another option would be to create a custom material that matches the floor/ wall materials ina photo editing software and load that into the appearance library and apply it to the column faces.
• We can try assigning a light just to the columns to reflect this on parts of the columns like a light/dark appearance (I believe 3dsmax has more otions)

Sun light is fine for now, since you've posted an aerial view, I want to know if you have a 3d camera view in mind/ still image perspective? If you share your file, that wold help too. I can share a private folder if you'd prefer not to post publicly.

Looking forwrad to hearing from you.

Regards,

[cargo33]

Thank you for your quick reply. 

This is what I'm going for.  I need the top of the columns to be dark, even if they aren't attached to a wall.  

[cargo33]

I should add that these columns are clipped by the view range.  So to clarify, I'm concerned with how the core of the columns appears, and how to control that.  Presently, it seems to take on the attributes of the wall it touches, which is fine if all the columns are touching a wall.  But if there are some that aren't, then their core matches their outside.  

[Viveka_CD · Accepted solution]

@cargo33

Have you tried detaching the column and apply materials?

Can you post your view range settings? I will try to reproduce this issue.

Regards,

[cargo33]

I have not tried to apply materials.  Here are some files that are similar.

[cargo33]

Ok applying materials works! I've never used that, I've always done materials through the Edit Type button on Properties.   But if I want to change the family to have a certain material, I only have a small selection.  How do I get more materials to show up when I'm editing the family?  

[cargo33]

Edit - I spoke too soon.  In the column testing sample I uploaded, I can change the material of the top, but for some reason in my floorplan, it will not allow me to select the top face of the column (even though 'select by face' is enabled).  

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @cargo33

Thanks for sharing the files. Let me test and get back to you on this.

Regards,

[cargo33]

Thank you!  I think for this floorplan I'm going to have to delete and replace all my columns.  For some reason the one I created from the default refuses to change back to it's column color when it is detached.  So I'm going to replace them all, and detach them all  and hopefully that solves this problem. 

[Viveka_CD]

@cargo33 try putting the columns in a separate workset.

[cargo33]

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@Viveka_CDwrote:

@cargo33try putting the columns in a separate workset.

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I have LT.....it doesn't support Worksets.  

[cargo33]

I think detaching is going to be my best option.  Thank you for all your help!

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @cargo33

Thanks for letting me know that you use Revit LT

I'm sorry but with Revit LT, you can model in 3D and do cloud rendering.
In-product rendering is available only in Revit.

See the following comparison matrix to get more details on both products:
Compare the features of Revit LT vs. Revit

Let me test your file with Revit 2017 LT and see if there are workarounds before you export it to 3dsmax.

Regards,

[cargo33 · Accepted solution]

Actually, I got it to work using unjoin geometry. I had to replace some of my columns because they weren't working properly no matter what i did.  The new columns are detaching and staying dark, and not taking on the wall characteristics.

Thank you!