by John Flanagan
I sometimes get asked the following question: How do you apply a colour pattern to cut surfaces in Revit? In this blog you will learn how to use the course poche material parameter in Revit to modify the rendered appearance of elements cut by a section box in a 3D view.
A section box will actually crop the 3d model (only in the view). This is not to be confused with Crop View and Scope Box which only crop the view, not the model.
Make sure that the extents of the section box are cutting the model where you want - drag the shape handles. The following image shows a lounge bar 3D view cut by a section box at a coarse level of detail, where the Coarse Poche Material is defined as solid blue. As a result, all cut elements display as blue. Note: by default, the poche material has a dark blue shading colour (RGB 13 00 255).
You can hide the section box in 'Visibility Graphics', but don't uncheck the box in the view properties.
Change the Poche
Before changing the Coarse Poche Material type property, it is recommended that you duplicate your 3D view type, unless you want to apply it to all 3D views. To change the appearance/colour of the poche material click edit type in view properties.
When you click on the value for the property, it will automatically default to the "Poche" material.
Select the Poche material (or some other material). Duplicate it, rename it and then change the appearance. In this example the poche colour has been changed to mid-grey. OK out of the dialogue boxes to apply the change.
The poche material now displays as solid grey on the wall and slab faces and the section box has been hidden. You can hide the section box in 'Visibility Graphics', but don't uncheck the box in the view properties.