The FBX import/link or 3ds Max does not create layers based on the file content.

Run this script on freshly imported Revit models via FBX.  It will move all objects on a Layer that corresponds to the Category and Family as illustrated:

It will also restore original Meta data into Parts which are imported without Categories Names, Family Names and Family Types Names.

This script is not a plugin and does not save data in the scene.  You only need to run it on demand.  Note that some entities imported via FBX do not contain meta data from Revit (this is a bug on the Revit side).  Those entities, typically railing posts, lights and parts will remain untouched and left on their original layer.

Note: this assumes that the meta data is available after the FBX import or link. In other words, using Combine by Material will get rid of the Meta information about families (because objects get combined togheter).

Click here to download the script

Or what about listing the type of object as well as its material name and type?

This can be done with a relatively simple MAXScript that you must install  under the \Scripts\Startup directory of your 3ds Max installation.

By doing so, the script will execute each time 3ds Max is launched and will  instruct the Scene Explorer to fetch data about your objects and create new columns that you can drag and drop in place:

• Material Name
• Material Type
• Object Plugin Type
• Layer Name

Save Target as… to download the MAXScript

Save Target as… to download the SceneExplorer.ini file that you can load from the Tools > Manage Scene Explorers dialog.

The measured color palettes can be exported from the Color Munki software as *.CxF files and read back in 3ds Max with the help of a plugin now provided by Xrite.

The plugin can be downloaded here.

The map plugin will work with mental ray and iray as well!

This group maintains a database and publishes this data via a program called Optics 5. From Optics 5 you can then export a Radiance Material (*.rad file), which can be interpreted
as mental ray A&D Material parameters.

To convert Optics 5 data into A&D Material suitable for lighting analysis, export a glazing or glass definition as Radiance (*.rad) from Optics 5. You will find this command under File | Export to Radiance File.

Once the file is exported on disk, open it in Notepad and search for a section that looks like this:

void BRTDfunc B530_front
10
0.245 0.281 0.340
0.169 0.197 0.187
0 0 0

The color coefficients (RGB) for the ideal specular reflection corresponds to 0.245 0.281 0.340. The color coefficients for the ideal specular transmission corresponds to 0.169 0.197 0.187. Those values will need to be used as a basis for the mental ray A&D Material.

How to use the provided Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to convert to the mr A&D Material.

To correctly convert specular reflection and transmission from a Radiance material to a mr A&D Material, we need to take into account internal energy conservation methods that are built in the mr A&D Material that are not factored by the Radiance material. In other words, numbers can’t be “plugged-in” as is.

To help you with this task, we developed a Microsoft® Excel® software spreadsheet that will let you do this precisely. The spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

Limitations:

• The Radiance Materials exported from the Optics 5 database does not take into account angular dependency: A Fresnel falloff curve is assumed so metallic-coated glazing systems may be less precisely simulated.
• The Optics 5 database contains optical data measured spectrally. The exported Radiance materials and the A&D materials use RGB colors which are a crude approximation of the visible light spectrum. Therefore, lighting simulations are done within limitations of RGB colors.

It will also control Text objects to display the current Time and Date of the Daylight System:

Here is a video demonstrating its usage:

You can download the tool here.

This usually happens when you changed your Desktop Resolution and re-launched 3ds max.

What causes this problem?

The root of the  problem comes from the fact that last used dialog positions are stored in the 3dsmax.ini file.  Unfortunately,  none of theses dialog are coded in a way that they check if they are restored in a visible portion of the desktop, resulting in many cases as “out of reach” locations.

How to resolve the issue?

Until this bug get resolved in 3ds Max directly, there is a neat little utility that you can use to bring back “missing dialogs” in the visible portion of your screen:  SnapWindows.  Just run it while running 3ds Max to reset the  location of floating dialogs.

Click here to download the Wordfile.txt file for UltraEdit (Right Click | Save Target As…)

Install it in your UltraEdit installation folder:

When opening a mi file you should see something like this:

To get rid of those edges, you can hide them from the editable mesh panel:

Or better, use a Maxscript tool that will let you hide them all at once.

Click here to download the MaxScript

Usage: Select all your EditableMesh objects and execute the script. The script will only affect selected EditableMesh objects so the selection can contain lights, lines, cameras: they won’t be affected by the script.

The result:

Special Thanks to Chris P. Johnson who helped improving the speed and stability of the script on large models containing several instances.

MacroScript files for 3ds Max Design 2009 created to improve the workflow of lighting analysis projects.