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Describe Revit categories and the three types of families.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
3 min.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:03
In order to understand Revit families, you also need to understand Revit categories.
00:11
Categories are the main organizational structure for families within Revit.
00:17
Think of categories as high-level classifications of elements you find inside buildings.
00:23
Categories include walls, windows, doors, ducts, pipes, structural framing, structural columns, to name a few.
00:32
They are the individual objects you might find at a construction site.
00:36
Note that the list of categories in Revit is preset, so you cannot create or delete them.
00:43
Revit uses categories to group families.
00:47
A family is a collection of elements that share the same properties, behavior, and physical characteristics.
00:54
Every element in Revit belongs to a family, and there are three kinds of Revit families:
01:01
System families, loadable families, and in-place families.
01:07
System families are preset within a Revit project or project template.
01:12
In other words, the system family is already defined within that file.
01:17
System families typically represent non-unitized components.
01:22
Some examples of Revit system families are walls, roofs, floors, ducts, and pipes.
01:30
Loadable families are defined in Revit family files, also called RFAs.
01:37
These files are created and modified in the Revit Family Editor,
01:42
so they are considered external files or external to Revit project files.
01:47
RFA family files are called loadable families,
01:52
because they must be loaded into the project before they can be used to create your building information model.
01:58
Some examples are windows, doors, columns, beams, air terminals, plumbing fixtures, and lighting fixtures.
02:08
Finally, in-place families are used for unique components that are specific to one project.
02:16
In-place families are like creating a loadable family right in your project.
02:22
In-place families are rarely used in the context of document production.
02:27
Understanding Revit categories and families is vital to working with Revit projects.
Video transcript
00:03
In order to understand Revit families, you also need to understand Revit categories.
00:11
Categories are the main organizational structure for families within Revit.
00:17
Think of categories as high-level classifications of elements you find inside buildings.
00:23
Categories include walls, windows, doors, ducts, pipes, structural framing, structural columns, to name a few.
00:32
They are the individual objects you might find at a construction site.
00:36
Note that the list of categories in Revit is preset, so you cannot create or delete them.
00:43
Revit uses categories to group families.
00:47
A family is a collection of elements that share the same properties, behavior, and physical characteristics.
00:54
Every element in Revit belongs to a family, and there are three kinds of Revit families:
01:01
System families, loadable families, and in-place families.
01:07
System families are preset within a Revit project or project template.
01:12
In other words, the system family is already defined within that file.
01:17
System families typically represent non-unitized components.
01:22
Some examples of Revit system families are walls, roofs, floors, ducts, and pipes.
01:30
Loadable families are defined in Revit family files, also called RFAs.
01:37
These files are created and modified in the Revit Family Editor,
01:42
so they are considered external files or external to Revit project files.
01:47
RFA family files are called loadable families,
01:52
because they must be loaded into the project before they can be used to create your building information model.
01:58
Some examples are windows, doors, columns, beams, air terminals, plumbing fixtures, and lighting fixtures.
02:08
Finally, in-place families are used for unique components that are specific to one project.
02:16
In-place families are like creating a loadable family right in your project.
02:22
In-place families are rarely used in the context of document production.
02:27
Understanding Revit categories and families is vital to working with Revit projects.
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