How are you managing your Autodesk materials?
An often overlooked feature in the Autodesk design suites is the ability to save materials in an external library file. Autodesk material library files have an ADSKLIB extension and can be stored anywhere on your machine or network server. They are easy to create directly in Autodesk authoring applications like Revit, AutoCAD and 3ds Max. Once you have an ADSKLIB file, you can share it with other members of your project team to ensure a consistent palette of materials throughout the project or even entire organization. Here we’ll outline the steps to create one in Revit. But the process would be similar in the other software packages in the Autodesk suites. More importantly, a library created in one application can be shared and used by other applications. So even a library created in Revit, can easily be shared with AutoCAD or Max uses and vice-versa!
To start, access the Material Browser in Revit (on the Manage tab). Near the top, just below the search field, ensure that you are seeing the library pane by clicking the small icon to display it.
At the bottom of the dialog are three icons. The first two are drop-down icons to create and open libraries and create and duplicate materials. To create a new library, from the first one, click the drop-down and then choose: Create New Library.
Browse to a location where you want to store the new library and give it a name. It will now appear on the list. You can begin placing materials in this library, or optionally you can right-click to create categories. If you plan to add many materials to the library, categories can help keep it organized.
To add materials to it, just drag and drop from the Project Materials pane directly above. You can drag directly onto the library folder, or into any of the categories if you created them. Selecting the library will display all contained materials and selecting a category will show only the materials within that category.
While you are working on the library, it will display a small pencil icon next to it. This indicates that it is currently locked while you edit. To finish, you need to release the library. Do this by right-clicking on the library and then choose: Release Library.
Once you have released the library, it is available for anyone else to access in any Autodesk application that supports the ADSKLIB file format. If you want to see the process described here in detail and see how to load the and use the library in AutoCAD, check out this week’s tip in Revit Tips, Tricks and Troubleshooting.
Providing BIM to FM Solutions for Owner Teams, Cloud-based and On-Premise, Customized Dashboards
8 年I'm a little late to the conversation but enjoyed the article! One additional item which seems little known or used is the Asset Library provided within Revit. So many users try to go out and find materials to add to their library - yet if one selects the 3rd button from the left along the bottom, the Asset Library will open showing TONS of materials available, allowing users to sort , search etc and add to new materials or overwrite current materials. I've developed our material library extensively for our interiors department and this in conjunction with the scheduling features is awesome-sauce!! Thanks PA!
Studio Director, Senior Associate at RDC
8 年Good read!!
Senior Technical Product Manager - Unreal Engine at Epic Games
8 年You mention 3ds Max, but I can't seem to find ADSKLIB file import or save from 3ds Max. Do you have any pointers that I am not aware of?
Retired BIM Specialist
8 年Another totally priceless article. Thanks yet again Paul.
AEC Consultant & Adjunct Professor
8 年A brilliant topic especially for flooring #manufacturers to make it easier for #architects and #interior #designers to specify their products in #Revit