From the course: Revit: MEP Families (2016)
What is a Revit family? - Revit Tutorial
From the course: Revit: MEP Families (2016)
What is a Revit family?
- Let's get started by explaining what a Revit family actually is. For you AutoCAD users, it's a block that you insert into a drawing. Basically, a group of objects that form a building component such as a desk or a window or a VAV. Oh, but this is no ordinary block. See, in AutoCAD, we had to insert a block, explode it, stretch it, and put everything back on the correct layers. Not a family. Revit families are the cornerstone of BIN. When you insert a family into a model, you get a fully parametric data-rich 3D object that can adapt to whatever is actually hosting that family. For example, if I insert a window family into a wall, I don't have to tell the family what size the wall is. It just knows. Better yet, when I change the wall, the family automatically flexes with the wall. That being said, there are a few different types of families I'd like to explore. To get started, we'll look at some of the categories. The first category would be a system family. Now, system families are going to consist of walls, floors, roofs, stairs or ramps. If we look at another category type, we can see that we have hosted families. Now, hosted families need a system family to exist. Basically, all MEP families need some kind of host to exist. When we create a hosted family in Revit MEP, we want them to be face-based. A face-based family is the only way to host to walls, ceilings, or floors. See, if we use a wall-based or a ceiling-based or a floor-based, it won't host to a link model, which is 100% of what you're going to be doing. You're going to be hosting to a link architectural model. Also, we can have work plane-based. A work plane-based family is basically hosted by a floor plan or a level. A few face-based families are wall sconces, light switches, receptacles, or maybe ceiling-mounted projectors and lighting fixtures. Also on the mechanical side, sidewall and ceiling-mounted air terminals can be considered face-based families. Now let's get a look at family types. If we take a look at the VAV Unit, we have, over to the right, we'll see we have VAV Unit - Parallel Fan Powered. But underneath that, we have multiple sizes of that family. We can have a six inch inlet, an eight inch, a ten inch, or basically, you could make your own. By duplicating the family type, what we're doing is recreating a new type within the family itself. Each family can have multiple types. And the last thing that we'll look at is the fact that they're parametric. They're not just 3D. Families in Revit are adjustable based on size. As we'll learn throughout this course, we're going to see that we have all kinds of different parameters that we can add to our families. We'll make our families be able to flex to any situation, automatically or manually. They are parameter driven. And they are definable. You can redefine a well-made family by duplicating its type. And they are data rich. Building information modeling starts right here with families. Okay, now let's start making some families.
Practice while you learn with exercise files
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Contents
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What is a Revit family?3m
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Anatomy of a family1m 49s
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Family parameters2m 27s
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Connectors in families1m 11s
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Understanding reference planes4m 28s
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Constraining with dimensions5m 10s
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Creating parameters5m 18s
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Creating extrusions7m 52s
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Creating sweeps7m 4s
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Creating blends7m 1s
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Understanding connectors9m 25s
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