# Material · Rendering · Textures · Common Problems
Condensed English edition.
# Quick reference
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Material shows a red icon | Revit can no longer find the texture path | Red icon |
| Textures lost when sending the project to a colleague | Textures weren't gathered | Use "bitmap collect" |
| HD texture replacement stops responding | Known intermittent issue | Replacement not responding |
| Replacement type selection has no effect | Material isn't a default material ball | Must be a default material ball |
| "Replace fill pattern" is slow the first time | First-time load | Normal; fast afterwards |
| Material brush / random material don't respond | Material parameter isn't an instance parameter | Must be an instance parameter |
| Textures only visible in Realistic mode | View mode | Switch to Realistic |
| Very slow in Realistic mode | Realistic mode is extremely compute-heavy | Don't leave it on |
# Material shows a red icon
Meaning: Revit has lost the texture path.
Fix: use Add path and add every plausible location. When packaging, the plugin searches those paths in order.
Prevent it up-front
Run "bitmap collect" before issuing drawings — it gathers the textures used by the project, which prevents losing them in transit.
# Replacement not responding
Symptom: after replacing textures with HD textures, further replacements do nothing.
Workaround:
- Rename the texture you last replaced
- Manually swap the material's default texture for anything
- Use "Replace" again
Low probability. If it happens, report the texture name to the support group.
# The material must be a default material ball
"Replacement type" must be chosen correctly, and the material must be a default material ball —
WARNING
It cannot be a Revit-specific material such as a named wood or stone, or the replacement won't take effect.
# The material parameter must be an instance parameter
Always check this
Material commands (material brush, random material, etc.) require the material parameter to be an instance parameter, or they won't respond.
# Getting the most out of HD textures
Core idea: care about the surface quality first, forget about the texture.
- When assigning a material, keep a temporary texture on your desktop and apply it
- Tune only the surface appearance (roughness, metallic, etc.)
- Once the appearance is right and the texture is lagging, open HD textures and drag one straight onto the material — the texture swaps over
- Switch wood/stone freely without opening the material editor for each one
Key points:
- Switch to Realistic mode to see textures; it's very compute-heavy, so don't leave it on in large projects
- "Replacement type" defaults to diffuse (the base texture), which is usually enough
- Other types — glossiness, reflection, lighting, cutout, self-illumination, bump — replace whichever channel you tick, and the material must actually have that channel
- "Save" in the HD texture panel extracts a single texture to a local folder
# Other notes
- "Replace fill pattern" needs a few seconds the first time — that's not a freeze
- Component material brush and fill material brush act on component materials and fill colours respectively; mixing them up looks like "nothing happens"
- Decal Box maps onto surfaces and planes — mind its orientation
- To look up a material code quickly, use "quick material code edit"
- The two buttons on a material row in "material copy & rename" are "Copy" and "Name"
# Related
- Textures missing on families from the library → Family Library → Missing textures
- Sluggishness while issuing drawings → Speed & Performance
