Thread: 2013 Materials UI woes

Thought I would sit down and try to get my head around the new Materials UI and at the same time build up and tidy out my old materials library.
Now after hours of I understand the UI to a point, but am having issues understanding "Categories" and "How to assign Categories" and how Revit sees categories.
In the default Autodesk Material and AEC Materials Libraries the categories are basically the names of the sub folders. When in the Materials Browser (Manage Tab/Materials) you can sort by (filter) by, name, "category", material color. Looks easy !!!
So understanding this I started my own Library, structured in a way I can understand, Folder and Sub Folders (sub folder names being "Category" and the way I want to filter them)

BTW I use to filter up till now using "Material Class", which is no longer available.

So I started my test Library, then found that when I pushed custom materials from my test library up into the Materials Browser all was good the material was there and the "category" (sub folder name) was there as well. All good.
Closed Material Browser and then reopened it and my "material category" had changed to Metal (i have no idea where the metal comes from)

How do we suppose to assign "Categories" to custom materials and filter ? I sure am missing something !!!

Another issue, when you activate the paint tool "All Materials" including the ADSK materials have no categories assigned, but in the drop down box you can select filter by "Category"

Does anybody have the correct work flow happening for custom library.

On further investigation in trying to understand seems "Material Types" run the "Catagories" , no matter what you name the sub folders (catagories??).
There dosn't seem to be anyway to add or change "Types" in list.
Totally confused as there is some materials that hold their catagory even though they are not in list.
Help, anyone from the Factory out there ??????

Yeah, its pretty much a mess.

Just went back to Beta Forum and read through Material UI feedback (Material UI was something I didn't test much on Beta) and seems ADSK was made well aware of all these issues I have talked about, and yet they still all exist ???
This UI is almost a deal breaker on weather or not to change over to 2013. Subscription $$$ well spent.

Surely this is not going to be my next project???

Originally Posted by KiwiCodes

Surely this is not going to be my next project???

I certainly hope so. I want to see a UI that fails to suck before 2015! I wonder how much material stuff is exposed via the API?

Gordon

Originally Posted by Gordon Price

I certainly hope so. I want to see a UI that fails to suck before 2015! I wonder how much material stuff is exposed via the API?

Gordon

.... enough.....

Hey Phillip you reckon by Monday maybe ???

Originally Posted by mark b

Hey Phillip you reckon by Monday maybe ???

Well I have a small matter of a Product launch tomorrow and then some small apps to do for you don't I?? Ele renumber and sheet counter???

Originally Posted by KiwiCodes

Well I have a small matter of a Product launch tomorrow and then some small apps to do for you don't I?? Ele renumber and sheet counter???

Yeah, but that still leaves Sunday after you count the sheep.