& 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
Learn how the the elements you add to your Revit model are organized into families.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
7 min.
Transcript
00:00
Every element in a Revit project
00:05
—walls, floors, doors, windows, structural members, mechanical equipment or plumbing fixtures,
00:13
and even annotation elements such as door and window tags, column grid lines, and elevation symbols—
00:21
are organized into families.
00:24
A family is simply a collection or group of elements
00:29
with a common set of properties called parameters,
00:32
along with a related graphic representation.
00:36
In the project browser, you can see a branch called Families.
00:41
All families in the project appear within this branch.
00:46
When you expand the Families branch,
00:49
you can see that families are organized into categories
00:53
such as annotation, symbols, ceilings, columns, doors, windows, and so on.
01:00
Each element in Revit belongs to one of these predefined categories.
01:05
Some family categories may have subcategories.
01:10
For example, when you expand the Doors category, you see subcategories for double flush and single flush doors.
01:18
Similarly, when you expand the Furniture category, you see subcategories such as desks and chairs.
01:27
Each of these is a unique family.
01:30
You cannot create or delete family categories,
01:34
but within a given family you can create new types.
01:39
To illustrate this, in the project browser, when you expand the single flush door family,
01:45
you see multiple sizes.
01:48
Each size is a unique type within that family.
01:52
In this case, each type includes type properties that give each door its specific size.
01:58
But type properties are not limited to size.
02:01
Type properties could also determine the material or appearance of a specific type of door.
02:08
Again, while you cannot add or delete family categories,
02:12
you can create and delete family types as needed.
02:17
When you place an element such as a door into a Revit model, you create an instance of that element.
02:25
In other words, if you place 20 36-inch by 84-inch single flush doors in a model,
02:31
each is simply an instance of that specific type of door.
02:36
Each instance would have its own unique instance properties, such as its door number or sill height,
02:44
but all would share the same type properties such as the size.
02:49
Thus, if you were to change an instance property of a particular door, such as its sill height,
02:55
only that one instance of the door would be affected.
02:59
But if you were to change one of its type properties, such as the width of the door,
03:04
every instance of that door would immediately change.
03:08
There are three classes of families within Revit: System families, Loadable families, and In-Place families.
03:18
System families form the basic building elements such as walls, roofs, floors, ducts, and pipes
03:27
that would typically be assembled at a construction site.
03:31
System families are defined directly within the Revit project file.
03:37
Again, although you cannot create or delete system families, you can create multiple types within a system family.
03:47
For example, in the project browser, when you expand the Walls family,
03:52
you can see that there are Basic Walls, Curtain Walls, and Stacked walls.
03:57
And when you expand Basic Walls, you can see that there are already a number of wall types.
04:05
If you create a new type within the Basic Walls category,
04:09
that new wall type will only exist within the current project,
04:14
but you can copy that new wall type into another project
04:19
or save it as part of a project template file
04:23
so that it will be available for use in other projects.
04:27
Loadable families are used to define building components such as doors, windows, furniture, plumbing fixtures, and so on
04:36
that would typically be purchased as a finished component
04:41
that is then delivered to a construction site and installed within the building.
04:45
Because of their highly customizable nature,
04:48
loadable families are the families that you most commonly create and modify in Revit.
04:54
Unlike system families, loadable families are created in external files with a .rfa file extension,
05:03
which must then be imported or loaded into a project.
05:07
As you have already seen, some of these families, such as doors,
05:12
may be preloaded as part of a project template
05:15
so that they are already available for use when you begin a new Revit project.
05:21
To use a component that has not yet been loaded into the project, you simply load its .rfa file.
05:29
Autodesk provides a cloud-based library of loadable family files.
05:35
You can also download ready-made family files from various sources
05:40
including the websites of many building component manufacturers.
05:45
Since these .rfa files are created using the Revit Family Editor, you can also create your own custom components.
05:55
In-place families are unique elements that you create when you need to create a unique component that is specific to the current project.
06:04
You can create in-place geometry so that it references other project geometry,
06:10
resizing or adjusting accordingly if the referenced geometry changes.
06:16
When you create an in-place element, Revit creates a family for the in-place element which contains a single family type.
06:26
You can then place multiple instances of the in-place family.
06:30
Creating an in-place element involves many of the same family editor tools as creating a loadable family.
06:38
The in-place family initially only exists within the current project,
06:44
but you can copy an in-place family into another project or save it as part of a project template.
Video transcript
00:00
Every element in a Revit project
00:05
—walls, floors, doors, windows, structural members, mechanical equipment or plumbing fixtures,
00:13
and even annotation elements such as door and window tags, column grid lines, and elevation symbols—
00:21
are organized into families.
00:24
A family is simply a collection or group of elements
00:29
with a common set of properties called parameters,
00:32
along with a related graphic representation.
00:36
In the project browser, you can see a branch called Families.
00:41
All families in the project appear within this branch.
00:46
When you expand the Families branch,
00:49
you can see that families are organized into categories
00:53
such as annotation, symbols, ceilings, columns, doors, windows, and so on.
01:00
Each element in Revit belongs to one of these predefined categories.
01:05
Some family categories may have subcategories.
01:10
For example, when you expand the Doors category, you see subcategories for double flush and single flush doors.
01:18
Similarly, when you expand the Furniture category, you see subcategories such as desks and chairs.
01:27
Each of these is a unique family.
01:30
You cannot create or delete family categories,
01:34
but within a given family you can create new types.
01:39
To illustrate this, in the project browser, when you expand the single flush door family,
01:45
you see multiple sizes.
01:48
Each size is a unique type within that family.
01:52
In this case, each type includes type properties that give each door its specific size.
01:58
But type properties are not limited to size.
02:01
Type properties could also determine the material or appearance of a specific type of door.
02:08
Again, while you cannot add or delete family categories,
02:12
you can create and delete family types as needed.
02:17
When you place an element such as a door into a Revit model, you create an instance of that element.
02:25
In other words, if you place 20 36-inch by 84-inch single flush doors in a model,
02:31
each is simply an instance of that specific type of door.
02:36
Each instance would have its own unique instance properties, such as its door number or sill height,
02:44
but all would share the same type properties such as the size.
02:49
Thus, if you were to change an instance property of a particular door, such as its sill height,
02:55
only that one instance of the door would be affected.
02:59
But if you were to change one of its type properties, such as the width of the door,
03:04
every instance of that door would immediately change.
03:08
There are three classes of families within Revit: System families, Loadable families, and In-Place families.
03:18
System families form the basic building elements such as walls, roofs, floors, ducts, and pipes
03:27
that would typically be assembled at a construction site.
03:31
System families are defined directly within the Revit project file.
03:37
Again, although you cannot create or delete system families, you can create multiple types within a system family.
03:47
For example, in the project browser, when you expand the Walls family,
03:52
you can see that there are Basic Walls, Curtain Walls, and Stacked walls.
03:57
And when you expand Basic Walls, you can see that there are already a number of wall types.
04:05
If you create a new type within the Basic Walls category,
04:09
that new wall type will only exist within the current project,
04:14
but you can copy that new wall type into another project
04:19
or save it as part of a project template file
04:23
so that it will be available for use in other projects.
04:27
Loadable families are used to define building components such as doors, windows, furniture, plumbing fixtures, and so on
04:36
that would typically be purchased as a finished component
04:41
that is then delivered to a construction site and installed within the building.
04:45
Because of their highly customizable nature,
04:48
loadable families are the families that you most commonly create and modify in Revit.
04:54
Unlike system families, loadable families are created in external files with a .rfa file extension,
05:03
which must then be imported or loaded into a project.
05:07
As you have already seen, some of these families, such as doors,
05:12
may be preloaded as part of a project template
05:15
so that they are already available for use when you begin a new Revit project.
05:21
To use a component that has not yet been loaded into the project, you simply load its .rfa file.
05:29
Autodesk provides a cloud-based library of loadable family files.
05:35
You can also download ready-made family files from various sources
05:40
including the websites of many building component manufacturers.
05:45
Since these .rfa files are created using the Revit Family Editor, you can also create your own custom components.
05:55
In-place families are unique elements that you create when you need to create a unique component that is specific to the current project.
06:04
You can create in-place geometry so that it references other project geometry,
06:10
resizing or adjusting accordingly if the referenced geometry changes.
06:16
When you create an in-place element, Revit creates a family for the in-place element which contains a single family type.
06:26
You can then place multiple instances of the in-place family.
06:30
Creating an in-place element involves many of the same family editor tools as creating a loadable family.
06:38
The in-place family initially only exists within the current project,
06:44
but you can copy an in-place family into another project or save it as part of a project template.
All the elements you add to your Revit model are organized into families. This includes walls, doors, structural members, mechanical equipment, or annotation elements such as elevation symbols, door tags, and column gridlines.
A family is a collection of elements with identical use, common parameters, and similar geometry. For example, although you may have different sizes of desks, all the sizes can belong to a desk family. If you look in the Project Browser, you can see a branch called Families.
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