From the course: Cert Prep: Revit MEP Mechanical & Plumbing Certified Professional

Differentiate system and component families - Revit Tutorial

From the course: Cert Prep: Revit MEP Mechanical & Plumbing Certified Professional

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Differentiate system and component families

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- [Narrator] In Revit, everything you see is a family. There are two distinct different types of families in Revit. One is called is called a System Family, while the other is called a component family or a hosted family. What I'd like to do in this video is illustrate the difference between the two in how they interact. So let's take a look at the first type of family: A System Family. Now, a System Family can be walls, floors, roofs, stairs or ramps, or anything that's modeled within the actual model itself. To take it a step further, the other kind of family is called the Hosted or a Component Family. Basically all MEP families need some kind of host to exist. That host is going to be a system or a level. When we create a Hosted Family in Revit, it needs to be face based. It's the only way to host to walls, ceilings or floors. When you create a new family, you'll see choices to host to a wall, a ceiling, or a floor, but you can't host to a linked model using this. We used a Face based family to do this. Also, these families can be work plane based. So if they're not hosted to a linked model, they can be hosted to a work plane or a level. You think about wall sconces, light switches and receptacles, these are all face based type families. Ceiling mounted projectors and lighting fixtures also are face based families. Sidewall and ceiling-mounted air terminals are one more example of a face-based family. If we take a look at a Family Type, we'll look at basically a VAV unit. So what we see over here to the right, is we have one VAV unit parallel fan powered. Now this is a hosted family file that we load into our model. So in one family for a VAV unit, we can have a 6-inch inlet, 8-inch, 10-inch, or you can duplicate it, and make your own. That's what a family is, and that's how the two families interact in Revit. One thing I'd like to show you is actually by going into a model. The difference between the two is, I want to come in here and I'm gonna grab a lighting fixture. So on my electrical panel, I'm gonna grab lighting fixture. Now if we notice that our placement, we have three different methods of putting it in: vertical face, face or work plane. I'm gonna place it on a face. Notice that when I come into the ceiling, we can place it right into the ceiling, no problem. Now if I want to add an air terminal, we have a supply diffuser. But what I need to do is there's no choice to host it to a face 'cause this is hosted by a work plane. So I'm gonna set my offset to eight feet. Now I'm gonna put this into my grid right here. And I'm gonna hit escape. Now the difference is if I select this lighting fixture, you'll see that the host is our linked Revit model. If I select this diffuser, we'll see that our host is level one. So two very similar type families, but two different hosting methods. So I hope you can see the difference now between a system family, and a component family.

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