Revit: Parametric Curvature in the Family Editor

- Hello, my name is Paul F. Aubin and I'd like to welcome you to this course where we will discuss creating Revit families with parametrically controlled curvature. Now if you've worked in the Family Editor before, you probably have a good command of the basics, placing reference planes, adding labeled dimensions, flexing. But when the geometry you need to create is not rectilinear, flexing can become more challenging. This is the scenario that we will tackle in this course. We will discuss methodically how to make each curved form behave in the Family Editor.

We'll start with very simple curved forms like circles and ellipses. Then we'll look at curves that take a little bit more effort to control like open arcs, partial ellipses, and compound curves. We will explore several valid approaches. But we will see that in many cases, to get a curved form to flex as expected, we will need to introduce mathematical formulas. We'll look at both simple formulas that involve arithmetic and proportions and some more complex ones as well. After establishing a base foundation of skills, we'll explore the use of profile families within sweeps, to create more complex forms.

We'll learn to associate family parameters between nested families and how to create families that have fixed and variable proportions, all while ensuring that their curved forms flex as expected. So if you're ready to tame your unruly Family Editor curves, then you've come to the right place. Let's get started.