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Introduction

On real-world projects, the list of materials can grow quickly, making it hard to find the ones you need. The Material Class helps solve this by grouping materials into practical categories such as Concrete, Glass and Masonry. The Class parameter is found in the Identity Data tab of each material and can be used to filter large lists of materials in the Revit materials browser. Revit’s default templates include 21 common material classes, but you can also create your own. Material Browser in Revit, showing Identity tab.

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Classes in the Kinship library

Kinship uses the Class extracted from materials as the primary way to organize materials in your library. When you upload a material to the library, the Class will be extracted from the Identity Data. You can then change the Class through any material listing or the material’s item page.

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Creating Classes

As you add new materials to the library, classes extracted from their Identity Data will appear in the classes list. Materials Library in Kinship, showing Material Classes page with Create Class button. Administrators can also directly add new classes in the library page and assign materials to the new classes by clicking Create a Class on the Classes page. Kinship provides a list of suggested classes based on the Revit defaults. You can also create customised Class names to suit your team and projects.

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Merging Classes

Administrators can merge classes to combine the materials from multiple classes into a single Class. To do this:
  1. Click the Select button to enable selecting classes
  2. Select two or more classes you want to merge
  3. Click Merge
  4. In the dialog, select whether you want to merge the materials into one of the selected classes, or create a new Class to merge into.
The other classes will be deleted once the merge is complete.

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Deleting Classes

Administrators can delete classes that are no longer needed. To do this for a single Class:
  1. Select the More menu button button next to the Class
  2. Click Delete
  3. Select whether you want to delete the materials it contains, or move them to another Class.
To do this for multiple classes:
  1. Click the Select button to enable selecting classes
  2. Select two or more classes you want to delete
  3. Click Delete
Materials from deleted classes can either be deleted (default behavior), moved to another Class, or unassigned (shown as Unassigned Materials and available in the Unassigned page).

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Unassigned Materials

Materials that are added to the library from Revit with a blank Class parameter will be designated to the Unassigned class. Materials in the Unassigned class can be re-assigned to any other class by administrators.

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Recommendations for Classes

We recommend that you adapt the use of classes to major categories of materials used by your team. Classes should generally be grouped by the material type, e.g Concrete, Glass and Wood. To further categorize materials, e.g. sector (commercial, residential), lists may be more appropriate - however there are no fixed rules and you can configure classes to suit your needs.

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Learn more

Materials Overview

Understand how to use Kinship to build, organize and search within your library of Revit materials.

Managing Materials

Learn how to manage materials in your library, including bulk actions, editing material properties, and organizing your content.

Material Item Page

Learn about the rich information provided for each material and how to use it to inform selection and comparison.

Appearance Asset Types

Learn about appearance asset types in Revit materials and how they’re organized in Kinship.