Nested Door Families

[harrisbrett]

Hi,

So i've been developing company standards and starting to implement Revit. Right now i'm maknig all the door familes (Frames, Panels).

What i've been doing is Drawing all the different frames (roughly 12) as well as the different panel types (about 9). I've properly nested the panels within the frame families.

Is it good practice to make Type library for each frame that has all the panel choices. This would make 108 (12x9) type choices in the dropdown. Seems excessive.

How are you guys handling your doors?

[cbaze]

I'm doing this right now... using action for the family name (single swing, double swing, pocket, etc.). Type names are size in the format: door width" x door height" x wall thickness". Panel type, frame type, threshold type, and hardware group are all shared instance parameters.

[saeborne]

I would recommend a different approach.

Nested families are great, in that they help you expand the capabilities of a single component family. The downside, is that they have the potential of becoming very difficult to edit, for someone who is not a power user.

For example, what if Project X needs a door with a glass vision panel, but they want to change the shape of the glazing? They would have to dig into two levels of nested components to make the change. Sure, it's doable, but do you want to have to sit there and guide each person through it, because they can't figure it out?

So I would recommend making the vision panel a separate component all together, to avoid future confusion.

[Scott Womack]

Here are a couple of other threads on door families. Both of these contain families with nested portions in them.

Good Luck!

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=89467&highlight=Doors
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=102295

[jspartz]

Are most people nesting all their door types into one family? I just think 100-200 types in a pulldown is way too much to start out with, when you only need 10-12. I keep the doors as separate families with shared parameters and type catalogs.