Material of nested family - again?

[jonathan.parsons1]

Hi,

Can anyone explain why the colour of the nested family in the attached only shows as white for part of the frame?

Many thanks

Jon

[loboarch]

That nested door panel also has a further nested side frame/hinge family. That family has a material assigned. The top, bottom, side, and middle frames of the nested door are just extrusions, but have no material assigned to them at all.

You need to edit the nested door family and assign materials to those extrusions.

[barthbradley]

Why don't you associate the Nested Families' Material Parameters to Host Family Parameters? Sure would make life easier. 

...Or, make the Nested Families SHARED. That way, you can edit them independently in the Project via TAB-Selecting on them or selecting them in the Project Browser. 

[barthbradley]

FWIW: "BYCATEGORY" Material means the Material is coming from the Object Style Material assign to the element's Category.  If none is assigned, Revit uses the "Default".  

[jonathan.parsons1]

Hi

So I edit the DoorLeaf JMP family from the Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC family

Select part of the frame extrusion

In Properties I select Material

Choose LeafMaterial

Open Family Types

See LeafMaterial is <By Category>

Change it to Plastic, Opaque White

Apply, OK

Door leaf changes colour

Load it into the Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC family

Overwrite the existing version

..... And nothing has changed!

What am I missing?

[jonathan.parsons1]

Hi

"associate the Nested Families' Material Parameters to Host Family Parameters" Can you tell me where I can do this?

"make the Nested Families SHARED" I have tried selecting Shared in the Properties/Other menu to no effect I can see.

Editing the extrusions in the ... AH-HA I needed to use Edit Type after selecting the DoorLeaf sub-family in the top-level family (without editing it) and apply the material again (is that three times?).

Not sure I fully understand what is going on but many thanks for your help, seems I can do it now.

[jonathan.parsons1]

Hmm. Still not working fully. I can get the DoorLeaf extrusions to change to Plastic, Opaque White in the top-level Ext Door Pennant dble half glazed UPVC family but when I load it into the project I am using it in it comes in with the DoorLeaf extrusions still grey.

Edit DoorLeaf JMP sub-family

Extrusions set to Material = Plastic, Opaque White

Other / Shared selected

Load into Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC family (looks good) (also project for good measure)

Load Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC into project

Select Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC 

Edit Type to check all Materials and Finishes are set to Plastic, Opaque White

OK

... DoorLeaf extrusions still grey.

I can see that in the door's properties, when it is selected in the project, include materials (Frame material and Finish) either not chosen or still set to Alu. These do not show in the Family Types schedule when I edit the Ext Door Pennant dbl half glazed UPVC so I don't understand where they are coming from.

[barthbradley]

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@jonathan.parsons1 wrote:

Hi

"associate the Nested Families' Material Parameters to Host Family Parameters" Can you tell me where I can do this?

---

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2021/ENU/Revit-C....

[ToanDN]

I fixed the frame.  You can follow the same steps to fix the panels if required.

[jonathan.parsons1 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your help.

Going through your example I was given the opportunity to assign a Global parameter, not a Family one.

That lead me to this:

"Note: If you need to modify the value of a newly-created global parameter, click Manage tab > Settings panel>(Global Parameters)."

See Help | Assign a Global Parameter | Autodesk

Don't know why it says "newly-created" but it worked!

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

Global Parameters have absolutely NOTHING to so with the original question you asked of us. 

You asked us why the color of the nested family only shows as white for part of the frame.  The reason it's white is because that Nested Family's Material Parameter is assigned to a Material that is WHITE; "Plastic, Opaque White" in this case.  A Project Global Parameter couldn't possibly affect this Material -- OR the Parameter value of this Nested NON-SHARED Family.  

There are three solutions that would work:

1.:  Associate Nested Family Material Parameters - at each level of nesting- to Material Parameters in the Host Family (the one they are nested into).  Then in the Project, assign a Project Material to the main Family's Material Parameter and - VOILA! - all the Nested Families inside the main Family will use that Project Material/Properties.   

2.:  Make the Nested Families SHARED Families.  This way you can assign Project Materials to the Nested Families Material Parameters inside the Project. 

3.: Modify the properties of the Project Material that the Nested Families are using.