& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:04
After completing this lesson, you will be able to understand families, understand parameters,
00:10
configure family types, add a type and instance parameter, and work with subcategories.
00:16
The objective domains covered are: 2.1a, configure family types.
00:27
And, 2.1c, differentiate between various types of families.
00:33
Families are at the heart of any Revit project and form the building blocks of projects.
00:38
The families support the actual 3D components such as structural columns, walls, and beams,
00:43
but also support 2D annotations like dimensions, text, tags, and title blocks.
00:50
We can classify all Revit families into three different types: system families, loadable families, and in place families.
00:60
In most cases, system families are typically assemblies of multiple components and layers.
01:05
Any example of a wall you might have brickwork, a cavity, block work, and finishes all with different materials.
01:12
The floor again can be comprised of different materials such as concrete, steel decking, or screed.
01:19
Finally, the stairs are built up of runs, landings, supports stringers and treads.
01:24
System families are typically created within a project and can be embedded in project templates.
01:30
System families cannot be loaded into projects, but can be transferred from other Revit projects with the use of transfer project standards.
01:40
Loadable families form the largest area of content that is used in structural projects.
01:46
Typically, loadable content will be elements such as structural columns, beams, and foundations.
01:53
In place families are components that you create that are unique to a project and cannot be used in other projects.
02:00
In this example, you can see a pile cap with a notch to fit around an existing concrete element.
02:06
In place families can be problematic when trying to enforce beam standards,
02:10
as these types of elements are typically modeled without too much consideration for using current categories and parameters.
02:18
A parametric component can resize and be configured based on a set of rules and parameters that you create.
02:25
In the example below, a single structural framing family has different parameter values that allow the geometry and associated information to change.
02:36
Type parameters are used when a series of components needs to be created such as W-shaped beams.
02:42
Here you have one family with numerous types that the user can select and load into a project.
02:51
Instance parameters are typically used when each element in the project may have a different value.
02:57
A good example of an instance parameter is the length of a beam.
03:02
Below you can see the same family type, but with different lengths that are assigned to each instance.
03:09
Go ahead and open up the model 021-Managing family categories and types.
03:15
The model opens up in a 3D view.
03:19
Our first task is to create a new family type of pile cap and pile arrangements.
03:26
You'll see here that we have an arrangement of four piles in a pile cap and the same arrangement over here.
03:31
We need to create a new family type and increase the diameter of our piles.
03:37
Let's go ahead and select this pile cap here.
03:41
In the Properties palette, select "Edit Type".
03:45
Here you'll see that we're currently using a 68"x68"x35" deep pile cap.
03:53
Here we're going to duplicates this family type.
03:58
So we'll name this one, 84"x84"x36" deep and click ''OK".
04:10
Here we have a nested family within this pile cap.
04:13
So this is our pile family that we'd like to use.
04:16
Currently we're using a 16 inch diameter pile, let's increase that to 20 inch diameter.
04:23
We can then go through and create our foundation thickness.
04:26
So this is going to be 36 inches.
04:30
And then the length and width of this will actually be 7 feet, and here.
04:36
And we'll leave the clearance at 1 foot and 4 inches.
04:41
We can then go ahead and click ''OK'' to the Type Properties dialog box.
04:45
And you can now say that we have a new family type configured.
04:50
If we go to the type selector, you'll now notice that we have our two original pile cap families and our new pile cap family 84"x84"x36".
05:04
Next, we investigate subcategories.
05:07
Before looking at subcategories, this current view here is in a section box.
05:12
Let's remove the section box.
05:14
In the Properties palette, uncheck section box.
05:18
We now have the full model displayed.
05:21
You'll also notice that some floor slabs are hidden in view for the purpose of this exercise.
05:28
So here you can see that we have some beams on grade down here.
05:32
These are just structural framing elements.
05:35
However, if I wanted to be able to control these and differentiate between these grade beams and also the superstructure beams up here,
05:43
I would need to create a different subcategory.
05:46
For example, let's take a look at this in visibility graphics.
05:51
Select the View ribbon and then go ahead and select "Visibility Graphics".
05:59
Scroll down to structural framing, and then expand the subcategories.
06:05
You'll see here that we have subcategories for items such as girders, joists, bracing, and so on,
06:12
but I don't have a subcategory setup for grade beams.
06:15
We're now going to create a subcategory for a grade beam.
06:19
Let's click "OK" to the Visibility Graphic Overrides box.
06:25
We'll then go ahead and select one of our ground beams and select ''Edit Family.''
06:34
We're now in the family editor.
06:37
If we select our geometry, you'll notice in the Properties palette, we have a subcategory.
06:43
Currently, this is set to none.
06:46
We're now going to create a new subcategory and assign this geometry to that subcategory.
06:52
To do this, select the Manage ribbon and then select ''Object Styles.''
06:60
Here you'll see the object styles just for the category we're working with, which is structural framing.
07:07
Notice down the bottom of the dialog box, we have the ability of creating a new subcategory.
07:15
So here, we'll name this Grade Beams and click "OK".
07:22
So here, we can change the projection line weight of our grade beam and also the cut.
07:28
So here, we're going to match the same as our superstructure.
07:31
So we go into say a cut line weight of 4 and a projection line weight of 1.
07:36
Let's go ahead and select "OK".
07:40
We can then select our geometry.
07:43
And in the Properties palette, you'll note here that currently the subcategory is set to none.
07:48
We should now be able to select grade beams.
07:52
So we'll now use this particular ring beam family and I'll use it in the project.
07:56
It will automatically now appear in the grade beam subcategory.
08:01
So here, we can Load into Project and Close.
08:05
Here, I'm not going to save this.
08:09
The dialog box we can see now is informing us that the family already exists in this project.
08:15
And in this example, we want to overwrite the existing version.
08:22
So the grade beams have now been overwritten.
08:25
If we go into Visibility Graphics and we scroll down to structural framing again and expand structural framing,
08:33
you'll now notice that we've got a new subcategory that we didn't have previously, grade beams.
08:39
If I uncheck the visibility and click "Apply", you can then see just the grade beams are removed from the project view.
08:47
This is very useful. This means that I can overwrite the graphics of this grade beam.
08:51
I can change the coloration and control the visibility of this separately.
08:56
This can be useful when you want to map the grade beams to a particular IFC property.
09:05
Next, we investigate nesting families and also how to create some simple formulae.
09:11
We're going do this by taking a 2D detail component and utilizing that within our pile family.
09:18
To better understand why we'd want to do this, in the Project Browser, let's switch to lift pit's plan.
09:28
You will notice in the lift pit plan, we can see our pile positions.
09:32
However, generally in a structural plan, we might want to see a symbolic view for the pile,
09:37
which is going to be a simple cross representing the center of the pile and then a circle representing the diameter.
09:43
However, because this is a 3D component, we're actually seeing the physical section through the pile.
09:49
We can change this.
09:51
What we're going to do is edit one of these piles.
09:54
To do this, because it's nested into the pile cap, we will first need to hover and preselect one of the piles, press the "Tab" key,
10:02
and you can see we can then go ahead and select a single pile.
10:06
Let's select this and on the context ribbon, we can select "Edit Family".
10:13
The pile now opens up in the Family Editor.
10:18
In the Project Browser, let's open up the reference level for floor plans.
10:24
You can see here that we have our 3D model of our pile currently displayed.
10:30
What we're going to do here is go ahead and insert a 2D detail component from our exercise files.
10:36
To do this, I can select the Annotate ribbon, and then go ahead and select "Detail Component".
10:44
Revit informs us that currently no detail components are loaded, would you like to load one now?
10:49
So we'll say "Yes".
10:50
Browse to your dataset and then select Pile plan Symbol_2D.
10:56
Click "Open".
10:59
You'll now notice that we have our detail component placed on our cursor.
11:04
We'll go ahead and place this down over the top of our pile.
11:12
Let's review some of the properties of this new symbol.
11:16
Select the 2D symbol and then select "Edit Type" in the Properties palette.
11:22
You'll note here that we have two type parameters set up.
11:25
We have one for the pile diameter and another one for the line projection.
11:30
Of course, the pile diameter really wants to match the 3D detail component.
11:35
To help us understand this better, I'm just going to drag that detail component away from the 3D view.
11:42
On the Modify ribbon, if I go ahead and select "Family Types", I can see the type parameters controlled in the pile.
11:49
So for example here, you can see that I have a diameter for my pile.
11:54
So in this case, I'm going to reduce this to 12 inches or 1 foot.
11:59
You'll now notice that the 3D family updates but the 2D detail doesn't update.
12:05
We need to link these parameters together.
12:07
The process is called associating the family parameter.
12:11
To do this, in the Project Browser, expand Detail Items folder.
12:18
Here, you could see that we have our Pile plan Symbol_2D.
12:22
Let's expand that so we can see the family type underneath.
12:26
Here, I can right mouse click over this and choose Type Properties.
12:32
In this dialog box, you'll notice that the pile diameter can be set.
12:37
Instead of setting it here, we want to associate this to one of our parameters in our 3D pile family.
12:44
In this case, of course, it's the pile diameter, this one here.
12:51
We'd also like to draw the line projection of this symbolic view.
12:55
So again, I can associate this to a family parameter, but of course here, I don't have a suitable parameter set up.
13:02
So fortunately here, I can go ahead and create a new parameter.
13:07
So here, we're going to create a family parameter and it's going to be a type parameter.
13:13
I'm going to call this one, Line Projection.
13:19
We're going to group this under our dimensions.
13:22
We can then go ahead and select "OK".
13:26
Go ahead and select "OK" again to the Type Properties dialog box.
13:31
You'll now notice that our 2D detail symbol matches the diameter of our 3D family.
13:37
Let's return back to family types.
13:40
Notice here now that we have this line projection which is our new parameter that we just created.
13:46
To control this, I could set up a very simple formulae.
13:50
Over here, I'm going to make this equal to the diameter of the pile, multiplied by 0.75.
13:58
So really, that's going to make that three-quarters of the size of the pile.
14:05
Let's go ahead and select "OK".
14:08
And you can now say our symbol is configured.
14:11
What we now need to do is drag this over the pile and lock it in place.
14:19
We can then go ahead and load this into our project and close.
14:23
In this case, I'm not going to save changes.
14:28
And then I'm going to overwrite the existing version.
14:35
You'll now notice that all my piling is represented with my new 2D detail component.
Video transcript
00:04
After completing this lesson, you will be able to understand families, understand parameters,
00:10
configure family types, add a type and instance parameter, and work with subcategories.
00:16
The objective domains covered are: 2.1a, configure family types.
00:27
And, 2.1c, differentiate between various types of families.
00:33
Families are at the heart of any Revit project and form the building blocks of projects.
00:38
The families support the actual 3D components such as structural columns, walls, and beams,
00:43
but also support 2D annotations like dimensions, text, tags, and title blocks.
00:50
We can classify all Revit families into three different types: system families, loadable families, and in place families.
00:60
In most cases, system families are typically assemblies of multiple components and layers.
01:05
Any example of a wall you might have brickwork, a cavity, block work, and finishes all with different materials.
01:12
The floor again can be comprised of different materials such as concrete, steel decking, or screed.
01:19
Finally, the stairs are built up of runs, landings, supports stringers and treads.
01:24
System families are typically created within a project and can be embedded in project templates.
01:30
System families cannot be loaded into projects, but can be transferred from other Revit projects with the use of transfer project standards.
01:40
Loadable families form the largest area of content that is used in structural projects.
01:46
Typically, loadable content will be elements such as structural columns, beams, and foundations.
01:53
In place families are components that you create that are unique to a project and cannot be used in other projects.
02:00
In this example, you can see a pile cap with a notch to fit around an existing concrete element.
02:06
In place families can be problematic when trying to enforce beam standards,
02:10
as these types of elements are typically modeled without too much consideration for using current categories and parameters.
02:18
A parametric component can resize and be configured based on a set of rules and parameters that you create.
02:25
In the example below, a single structural framing family has different parameter values that allow the geometry and associated information to change.
02:36
Type parameters are used when a series of components needs to be created such as W-shaped beams.
02:42
Here you have one family with numerous types that the user can select and load into a project.
02:51
Instance parameters are typically used when each element in the project may have a different value.
02:57
A good example of an instance parameter is the length of a beam.
03:02
Below you can see the same family type, but with different lengths that are assigned to each instance.
03:09
Go ahead and open up the model 021-Managing family categories and types.
03:15
The model opens up in a 3D view.
03:19
Our first task is to create a new family type of pile cap and pile arrangements.
03:26
You'll see here that we have an arrangement of four piles in a pile cap and the same arrangement over here.
03:31
We need to create a new family type and increase the diameter of our piles.
03:37
Let's go ahead and select this pile cap here.
03:41
In the Properties palette, select "Edit Type".
03:45
Here you'll see that we're currently using a 68"x68"x35" deep pile cap.
03:53
Here we're going to duplicates this family type.
03:58
So we'll name this one, 84"x84"x36" deep and click ''OK".
04:10
Here we have a nested family within this pile cap.
04:13
So this is our pile family that we'd like to use.
04:16
Currently we're using a 16 inch diameter pile, let's increase that to 20 inch diameter.
04:23
We can then go through and create our foundation thickness.
04:26
So this is going to be 36 inches.
04:30
And then the length and width of this will actually be 7 feet, and here.
04:36
And we'll leave the clearance at 1 foot and 4 inches.
04:41
We can then go ahead and click ''OK'' to the Type Properties dialog box.
04:45
And you can now say that we have a new family type configured.
04:50
If we go to the type selector, you'll now notice that we have our two original pile cap families and our new pile cap family 84"x84"x36".
05:04
Next, we investigate subcategories.
05:07
Before looking at subcategories, this current view here is in a section box.
05:12
Let's remove the section box.
05:14
In the Properties palette, uncheck section box.
05:18
We now have the full model displayed.
05:21
You'll also notice that some floor slabs are hidden in view for the purpose of this exercise.
05:28
So here you can see that we have some beams on grade down here.
05:32
These are just structural framing elements.
05:35
However, if I wanted to be able to control these and differentiate between these grade beams and also the superstructure beams up here,
05:43
I would need to create a different subcategory.
05:46
For example, let's take a look at this in visibility graphics.
05:51
Select the View ribbon and then go ahead and select "Visibility Graphics".
05:59
Scroll down to structural framing, and then expand the subcategories.
06:05
You'll see here that we have subcategories for items such as girders, joists, bracing, and so on,
06:12
but I don't have a subcategory setup for grade beams.
06:15
We're now going to create a subcategory for a grade beam.
06:19
Let's click "OK" to the Visibility Graphic Overrides box.
06:25
We'll then go ahead and select one of our ground beams and select ''Edit Family.''
06:34
We're now in the family editor.
06:37
If we select our geometry, you'll notice in the Properties palette, we have a subcategory.
06:43
Currently, this is set to none.
06:46
We're now going to create a new subcategory and assign this geometry to that subcategory.
06:52
To do this, select the Manage ribbon and then select ''Object Styles.''
06:60
Here you'll see the object styles just for the category we're working with, which is structural framing.
07:07
Notice down the bottom of the dialog box, we have the ability of creating a new subcategory.
07:15
So here, we'll name this Grade Beams and click "OK".
07:22
So here, we can change the projection line weight of our grade beam and also the cut.
07:28
So here, we're going to match the same as our superstructure.
07:31
So we go into say a cut line weight of 4 and a projection line weight of 1.
07:36
Let's go ahead and select "OK".
07:40
We can then select our geometry.
07:43
And in the Properties palette, you'll note here that currently the subcategory is set to none.
07:48
We should now be able to select grade beams.
07:52
So we'll now use this particular ring beam family and I'll use it in the project.
07:56
It will automatically now appear in the grade beam subcategory.
08:01
So here, we can Load into Project and Close.
08:05
Here, I'm not going to save this.
08:09
The dialog box we can see now is informing us that the family already exists in this project.
08:15
And in this example, we want to overwrite the existing version.
08:22
So the grade beams have now been overwritten.
08:25
If we go into Visibility Graphics and we scroll down to structural framing again and expand structural framing,
08:33
you'll now notice that we've got a new subcategory that we didn't have previously, grade beams.
08:39
If I uncheck the visibility and click "Apply", you can then see just the grade beams are removed from the project view.
08:47
This is very useful. This means that I can overwrite the graphics of this grade beam.
08:51
I can change the coloration and control the visibility of this separately.
08:56
This can be useful when you want to map the grade beams to a particular IFC property.
09:05
Next, we investigate nesting families and also how to create some simple formulae.
09:11
We're going do this by taking a 2D detail component and utilizing that within our pile family.
09:18
To better understand why we'd want to do this, in the Project Browser, let's switch to lift pit's plan.
09:28
You will notice in the lift pit plan, we can see our pile positions.
09:32
However, generally in a structural plan, we might want to see a symbolic view for the pile,
09:37
which is going to be a simple cross representing the center of the pile and then a circle representing the diameter.
09:43
However, because this is a 3D component, we're actually seeing the physical section through the pile.
09:49
We can change this.
09:51
What we're going to do is edit one of these piles.
09:54
To do this, because it's nested into the pile cap, we will first need to hover and preselect one of the piles, press the "Tab" key,
10:02
and you can see we can then go ahead and select a single pile.
10:06
Let's select this and on the context ribbon, we can select "Edit Family".
10:13
The pile now opens up in the Family Editor.
10:18
In the Project Browser, let's open up the reference level for floor plans.
10:24
You can see here that we have our 3D model of our pile currently displayed.
10:30
What we're going to do here is go ahead and insert a 2D detail component from our exercise files.
10:36
To do this, I can select the Annotate ribbon, and then go ahead and select "Detail Component".
10:44
Revit informs us that currently no detail components are loaded, would you like to load one now?
10:49
So we'll say "Yes".
10:50
Browse to your dataset and then select Pile plan Symbol_2D.
10:56
Click "Open".
10:59
You'll now notice that we have our detail component placed on our cursor.
11:04
We'll go ahead and place this down over the top of our pile.
11:12
Let's review some of the properties of this new symbol.
11:16
Select the 2D symbol and then select "Edit Type" in the Properties palette.
11:22
You'll note here that we have two type parameters set up.
11:25
We have one for the pile diameter and another one for the line projection.
11:30
Of course, the pile diameter really wants to match the 3D detail component.
11:35
To help us understand this better, I'm just going to drag that detail component away from the 3D view.
11:42
On the Modify ribbon, if I go ahead and select "Family Types", I can see the type parameters controlled in the pile.
11:49
So for example here, you can see that I have a diameter for my pile.
11:54
So in this case, I'm going to reduce this to 12 inches or 1 foot.
11:59
You'll now notice that the 3D family updates but the 2D detail doesn't update.
12:05
We need to link these parameters together.
12:07
The process is called associating the family parameter.
12:11
To do this, in the Project Browser, expand Detail Items folder.
12:18
Here, you could see that we have our Pile plan Symbol_2D.
12:22
Let's expand that so we can see the family type underneath.
12:26
Here, I can right mouse click over this and choose Type Properties.
12:32
In this dialog box, you'll notice that the pile diameter can be set.
12:37
Instead of setting it here, we want to associate this to one of our parameters in our 3D pile family.
12:44
In this case, of course, it's the pile diameter, this one here.
12:51
We'd also like to draw the line projection of this symbolic view.
12:55
So again, I can associate this to a family parameter, but of course here, I don't have a suitable parameter set up.
13:02
So fortunately here, I can go ahead and create a new parameter.
13:07
So here, we're going to create a family parameter and it's going to be a type parameter.
13:13
I'm going to call this one, Line Projection.
13:19
We're going to group this under our dimensions.
13:22
We can then go ahead and select "OK".
13:26
Go ahead and select "OK" again to the Type Properties dialog box.
13:31
You'll now notice that our 2D detail symbol matches the diameter of our 3D family.
13:37
Let's return back to family types.
13:40
Notice here now that we have this line projection which is our new parameter that we just created.
13:46
To control this, I could set up a very simple formulae.
13:50
Over here, I'm going to make this equal to the diameter of the pile, multiplied by 0.75.
13:58
So really, that's going to make that three-quarters of the size of the pile.
14:05
Let's go ahead and select "OK".
14:08
And you can now say our symbol is configured.
14:11
What we now need to do is drag this over the pile and lock it in place.
14:19
We can then go ahead and load this into our project and close.
14:23
In this case, I'm not going to save changes.
14:28
And then I'm going to overwrite the existing version.
14:35
You'll now notice that all my piling is represented with my new 2D detail component.
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