Open the Material Browser from Manage tab › Settings panel › Materials, duplicate a material close to what you need and set its graphics and appearance. Then assign it where Revit reads materials: a layer in a wall or floor type, a family's material parameter, or Object Styles.
Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to set a material across many types at once.
How to do it in Revit
Step 1: Open the Material Browser
Click Manage tab › Settings panel › Materials.
Step 2: Look for a close match
The top list shows materials already in the project. The lower panel shows the libraries you can copy from, including the Autodesk Materials that ship with Revit.
Step 3: Copy it into the project
If the match is in the lower panel, click Add at the right end of its row to copy it into the project.
Step 4: Duplicate it with its assets
Select the material in the project list. At the bottom of the browser, open the duplicate drop-down and choose Duplicate Material and Assets.
Choose Duplicate Material and Assets, not Duplicate Using Shared Assets. With shared assets, editing the copy's appearance also changes the original and every other material that uses that asset. Autodesk recommends duplicating over creating from scratch: a new blank material needs its assets added by hand (Autodesk Help: Create a Material).
Step 5: Rename it
Right-click the copy and choose Rename. Use your firm's naming convention, so schedules and keynotes read the same on every project.
Step 6: Fill in the Identity tab
On the Identity tab, fill in what schedules and tags read: Description, Keynote, Mark, Manufacturer.
Step 7: Set its graphics and appearance
On the Graphics tab, set the shading color and the surface and cut patterns that show on drawings. On the Appearance tab, set how the material renders. Click OK.
Step 8: Apply it where Revit reads materials
A material does nothing until something uses it. Revit reads materials from four places:
- Wall, floor, roof and ceiling types. Select the element, click Edit Type, then Edit next to Structure, and set the material for each layer (Autodesk Help: Edit Layers in a Compound Structure).
- Family material parameters. Loadable families such as doors, casework and equipment expose a material parameter, as a type or an instance parameter. Set it in Edit Type or the Properties palette. See create a family for adding one to your own families.
- Object Styles. A category's default material applies to elements whose material is set to "By Category".
- Paint. Modify tab › Geometry panel › Paint applies a material to a single face. It doesn't change the type, so the rest of that type stays as it was.
What to watch for
Graphics and appearance are separate. Most "my material looks wrong" questions come from mixing these up. Graphics controls drawings: the fill pattern in plan and section, the surface pattern in elevation, the shading color in shaded views. Appearance controls rendered and realistic views. A brick can render perfectly and still show the wrong hatch in a wall section, because the cut pattern lives on the Graphics tab. Check both before you call a material finished.
Adding one material takes a minute. The trouble is how many arrive on their own. Every family you load brings its materials, often under names close to yours but not the same: "Brick, Common", "Masonry - Brick", a manufacturer's own product name. Each duplicate made in the Material Browser adds a digit to the name, so "Brick 2" turns up too. After a few years a template can hold several versions of the same concrete, and schedules, keynotes and material takeoffs split across them.
Cleanup is slow because Revit has no merge. You reassign every type that uses the duplicate, then remove it with Manage tab › Settings panel › Purge Unused. The lasting fix is upstream: a firm template with one name per material, and Revit family management that marks which version of each family is the approved one, so the duplicates stop coming in. That's part of keeping firm standards current.
Or, just ask Mira to do it.
Mira is an AI thinking partner for Revit that automates the work you repeat and builds tools your team needs.
- Type this in Mira
Set the Material parameter on every Generic Model type to Concrete, Cast-in-Place.
Before it writes, Mira tells you how many elements and which parameters it will change, and warns you when the parameter is on the type. It reads each value back, and one Ctrl+Z undoes the batch. It sets material parameters, not the layers inside a wall or floor type.
How do I get materials into Revit?
How do I make a new material in Revit?
Where are Revit materials located?
How do I change the material on many elements at once?
Where can I download Revit materials?
Related Revit how-tos
- How to Create and Change Wall Types in RevitSelect a wall, click Edit Type, then Duplicate, and name the new type. Click Edit next to Structure to set each layer's function, material and thickness. To change walls to the new type, select them and pick it in the Type Selector. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to swap every wall of one type to another on a level.
- How to Add and Change Family Types in RevitTo add a type, select an element, click Edit Type, then Duplicate, and name the new type and change its values. To switch elements to another type, select them and pick the type in the Type Selector at the top of the Properties palette. Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to duplicate a type, resize it and swap your selection in one request.
- How to Create a Family in RevitClick File tab › New › Family, pick a template such as Generic Model, and set Family Category and Parameters. Draw reference planes, label their dimensions as parameters, lock geometry to them, add sizes in Family Types, then save and Load into Project. Or, just describe a simple family and Mira builds it and places it in your model.
Try it yourself.
Or bring it to the firm.
The download is free and takes a minute. The firm conversation is where your standards, your library, and your rollout get built. Start wherever makes sense.