Metal patterns and shader missing from materials when cloud rendering

[jennyidrobo]

I had to reinstall Windows, which led to reinstalling Revit 2018. I had project files with materials that worked perfectly when rendering in the cloud prior to the reinstallation. After reinstalling, every time I send a render to the cloud I get a message saying the following rendering appearance images are missing. These are all metal patterns, also even though I've taken the time to change the materials for some of them, the material simply doesn't change when rendering (I don't get the same warning when rendering locally).

On the journal files, I can see the metal pattern shader is missing, as well as the metal schema. I've never had a problem like this before, none of the materials show the textures are missing, but they also don't render properly. 

Is there any way to fix this problem? Not even new metal materials are working as they used to. 

[cbcarch]

check here:

-https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles...

-https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/rendering-forum/render-appearances-missing-only-in-cloud-render/td-p/...

[jennyidrobo]

Thank you, I've already tried this before, but it is still not working.

[cbcarch]

If you have a backup copy (local copy) that had the materials in it, try opening both files, and use Transfer Project Standards to copy the materials into your new file.

[jennyidrobo]

Cliff, 

Unfortunately, this is an error that I am finding in every project when I try to render in the cloud. I even tried rendering a simple project on the cloud and it gave me the same warning. Even on the previews on the material browser, I can see the textures are not what they used to be. Although, I've applied other materials and different properties the results haven't changed. 

[cbcarch]

Try doing a Repair on your Revit installation. Sounds like the material library may not have installed correctly when you reinstalled Revit after the Windows reinstall.

[jennyidrobo]

Cliff,

I've also given that a try. For some reason, the repair doesn't change anything. I keep getting the same warning.

Maybe I'll have to reinstall Revit from scratch. Any recommendations to avoid issues with the materials and content libraries?

[cbcarch]

At this point, it is hard to tell what the problem is.

-Did you find an old local file (pre-re-install) that has the correct materials in it?

-If so, did you try Transfer Project Standards>Materials?

[jennyidrobo]

Cliff, 

Unfortunately, I have already deleted all back-ups of the file. Also, this seems to be happening even with brand new files, as well as old files (always metal materials). I think I'll have to do a clean reinstallation of Revit, given that the repair didn't help either. I was hoping there would be a fix for this, but it seems that it might be the only way to get it to work like it used to.

I was wondering if you had any suggestions to avoid having issues with the installation, such as missing content/materials. I'm running Revit on a Parallels VM, and it had been working just fine. However, maybe there is something that is blocking the download of everything during the installation. Do you have any suggestions as to how to proceed with the reinstallation?

[cbcarch]

So,

-Mac ( laptop?) running Parallels on a VM (virtual machine). Any VMware package in the mix?

-Sounds a bit tricky and could be part of the problem, but I've never tried that setup,

esp. when doing an install.

-I've only used Windows PC on an hard-wired ethernet connection (no wifi! ) to a network/internet.

- I have seen instances where certain Libraries do not make it in the install, and either a clean uninstall/reinstall, or a Repair has fixed it.

-Odd that is only metal materials? Check R button>Options>Rendering>Additional Render Appearance Paths.

Perhaps place the material maps ther and try again?

[jennyidrobo]

Cliff, 

Yes, a MacBook Pro. I run Windows 10 through Parallels. Not sure what you mean by VMWare package. Before this issue, I had Revit 2017 and later upgraded to 2018. Both of them were working just fine prior to reinstallation. However, due to a license issue with my Windows 10 I had to reinstall it, and thinking that everything was working fine I deleted the Windows backup. 

I'll give your suggestion on the options menu another try, but the last time I tried it (I had seen this as a solution to another question in the forum), it still gave me the warning when sending a render to the cloud. If it still doesn't work I'll uninstall and reinstall. Hopefully, that will finally fix it.

Yes, it's definitely odd that it is only metal materials. I would understand if these missing images were custom materials, but they're all images from the Revit Materials Folder that are within the directories I listed on the options menu. 

Thanks for everything!

[barthbradley]

There is a Metal Folder at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Materials\2018\assetlibrary_base.fbm\Mats

Got one? 

[jennyidrobo]

Yes, I do and I also checked the Metal folder had files in it. It appears to be complete. The issue is that the warning comes up even though all those "missing" images exist. I've tried Cliff's suggestion of adding the materials paths through the options/rendering menu, and I still get the warning. 

[barthbradley]

What's weird is that you can render locally but not through the Cloud.  Maybe a permissions issue?  It's a stretch, I know, especially since you're talking one asset out of many. 

[ToanDN]

I haven't read all the replies but you could try to clear the computer's TEMP folder.

[jennyidrobo]

I cleared the TEMP files folder but I still got the warning when I tried rendering again. 

I was thinking, prior to reinstalling everything, I used to have Revit 2017. Could it be that when I started working with Revit 2018 it was still using materials from Revit 2017? And now that I only installed Revit 2018 it's trying to pull up materials from Revit 2017 since I started the project in that version. Is that a possibility? 

Thanks to everyone who has replied!

[jennyidrobo · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone, 

Thanks for all the replies. 

I seem to have been right. Since I created the file in Revit 2017 (then updated it to 2018, before reinstalling Windows 10), some materials were pulling from Revit 2017 Materials folder. While I had those files in my computer it continued to run perfectly when rendering on the cloud, but once I reinstalled both Windows 10 and Revit 2018, there was no library/folder/path for the materials that were still using files from the Revit 2017 Materials folder. It seems that this is not an error that you can find within Revit's material browser (no material has a missing image, the only warning is the cloud rendering alert). Fortunately, I was able to copy the Materials folder for Revit 2017 from a different computer, and everything seems to be running normally now.