We found that on one project, the Materials Browser would load very slowly when the ‘Appearance’ tab was activated.  If the dialog was closed and re-opened with the ‘Materials’ tab activated, there was no lag.

The Solution?  Purge your Render Appearance Property Sets (make sure you know the implications of this).

After purging these, the lag went away.  However, and it is a big ‘however‘ – this resulted in some of our renders no longer working correctly.

If I first went into the few materials that used property sets and set them to ‘By Property Set’ and not ‘Independent’, Revit did not purge the necessary data and the renders were still ok.

If you don’t have access to your Windows 7 installation media, perhaps these links will help.

NOTE – you still need to own a legitimate copy of Windows 7 of the appropriate type to activate these.
 
English
Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
SHA1:6071B4553FCF0EA53D589A846B5AE76743DD68FC

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
SHA1:6C9058389C1E2E5122B7C933275F963EDF1C07B9

Windows 7 Professional 32bit
SHA1:D89937DF3A9BC2EC1A1486195FD308CD3DADE928

Windows 7 Professional 64bit
SHA1:0BCFC54019EA175B1EE51F6D2B207A3D14DD2B58

Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
SHA1:65FCE0F445D9BF7E78E43F17E441E08C63722657

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
SHA1:36AE90DEFBAD9D9539E649B193AE573B77A71C83

via
Links for Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Microsoft’s official distributer | Raymond.CC Blog

I anticipate there will be a lot of posts about the changes to Materials in 2013, on such topics as:

  • Why did this happen?
  • “I am angry about Materials 2013 for xyz reason”
  • How do I use this?
  • Will this change again next year?
  • Just, Why?

In any case, if you are looking for the Identity tab for Materials in Revit 2013, look for the arrow.

Video below:

You want to know the product key for your Autodesk® Revit® 2013-based product. 

Solution

Autodesk’s 2013-based software requires both a serial number and product key to successfully activate.
Product keys are used to differentiate software sold on its own from those sold as part of a suite. Ensure that you select the correct product key in order to successfully activate your software.
The product key is provided along with your serial number in the following places:

  • If you received physical media, the product key is on the reverse of the package along with the serial number.
  • Emails from Electronic Fulfillment notifying you of your new serial number also include the product key.
  • Contract administrators can log on to Subscription Center to check for their serial number and product key.
  • The Autodesk Business Center (ABC) can provide this information. Their toll-free number is 800-538-6401.

Revit 2013-based product keys:

  • 240E1 – Revit Architecture 2013
  • 255E1 – Revit Structure 2013
  • 297E1 – Revit MEP 2013
  • 241E1 – AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite 2013
  • 256E1 – AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite 2013
  • 257E1 – AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite 2013
  • 765E1 – Autodesk Building Design Suite Premium 2013
  • 766E1 – Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate 2013

via
Autodesk – Autodesk Revit Architecture Services & Support – 2013: Where to find your Autodesk Revit 2013 Product key

You can download Revit 2013 trial version before it is available on the Subscription site for certain Suite users… go figure?

EDIT Go to this link if you want to avoid using Akamai at all and download Revit 2013 directly

If you are having any trouble downloading Revit 2013 trial, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Control Panel, and remove Akamai NetSession Interface
  2. Click on this link, download the installer and run it
  3. In Explorer, browse to: C:UsersYOUR-USERNAMEAppDataLocal
  4. Hold Shift, Right-click on the ‘Akamai‘ folder and click Open Command Window Here
  5. At the command prompt, type:
    admintool clearcache
    Hit ENTER
    (leave the command prompt open)
  6. Start your download from the Trial download link
  7. Keep this command window open, and type admintool at any time to get an update on your download (speed / bytes downloaded).  To do this, type:
    admintool info http://trial.autodesk.com/SWDLDDLM/2013/RVT/ESD/Autodesk_Revit_2013_English_Win_32-64bit.exe
  8. You need to keep the Trial download window open in your internet browser too…