What's the best way to transfer Families between projects?

[mhenderson]

I'm working on a project that is made up of several buildings in several .rvt project files. The buildings are for the same client and are developing concurrently with a lot of similar details and elements, and thus typically want to have the same families. Many of the families are developing and changing as we go (often detail components, but some model families as well). What's the best way to transfer families from one project to the other?

I have tried to copy/paste but that usually results in Revit automatically renaming the file being copied in, rather than updating the existing family.

I've also been using the "load into project" button and loading into both projects and then picking the "overwrite existing" option which works, but requires a lot of time if several families are being updated.

Is there a way to load and update many families at once?

I'm in RAC 2010.

[Dave Jones]

I'm working on a project that is made up of several buildings in several .rvt project files. The buildings are for the same client and are developing concurrently with a lot of similar details and elements, and thus typically want to have the same families. Many of the families are developing and changing as we go (often detail components, but some model families as well). What's the best way to transfer families from one project to the other?

I have tried to copy/paste but that usually results in Revit automatically renaming the file being copied in, rather than updating the existing family.

I've also been using the "load into project" button and loading into both projects and then picking the "overwrite existing" option which works, but requires a lot of time if several families are being updated.

Is there a way to load and update many families at once?

I'm in RAC 2010.

just highlight them all in Windows Explorer and drag and drop them into a Revit project

[mhenderson]

Yep, that will work, but it assumes that all new types have been saved back to the Family .rfa file.

Is there a way to move non-system families from project to project maintaining types, similar to the way you would move a system family via transfer project standards, or is maintaining the .rfa files the only way to accomplish this?

[Dave Jones]

Yep, that will work, but it assumes that all new types have been saved back to the Family .rfa file.

Is there a way to move non-system families from project to project maintaining types, similar to the way you would move a system family via transfer project standards, or is maintaining the .rfa files the only way to accomplish this?

firstly I'm pretty new at Revit so excuse what may be a stupid question...how does one revise a family in a project? When I have to make a change to a family I use Edit Family, make the changes in the rfa file, save the family and reload it. That would automatically keep your family files update no?

[mhenderson]

firstly I'm pretty new at Revit so excuse what may be a stupid question...how does one revise a family in a project? When I have to make a change to a family I use Edit Family, make the changes in the rfa file, save the family and reload it. That would automatically keep your family files update no?

There are several ways, here are two examples:
1) You can change the parameters of a type or duplicate and create a new type all from within the project. A good example is if I have a door family called HM Door whose dimensions are set as type properties. It has a type called "3'-0"x7'-0"". Now I need a type that's 3'-6" wide, so I duplicate the original type and add a new one with a 3'-6" dimension. I've just edited the instance of Family "HM Door" within my project but the HM door.rfa file has not been changed.

2) I can edit a family by selecting it within the project and clicking on the 'edit family button'. I've just opened the instance of that family that is loaded into the project I selected it from. I can edit it as much as I want and click 'load into project'. This has no effect on the .rfa if one even exists. You don't make any changes or create the .rfa until you hit 'save' or 'save as'.

If you're more familiar with AutoCAD, families are like parametric blocks. You can edit it all you want within the CAD file, but until you use WBLOCK and save it somewhere there's no saved version of it outside of the CAD file.

I'm no expert either but this is my experience thus far after 2yrs of experience using Revit. hope it helps.

[Dave Jones]

There are several ways, here are two examples:
1) You can change the parameters of a type or duplicate and create a new type all from within the project. A good example is if I have a door family called HM Door whose dimensions are set as type properties. It has a type called "3'-0"x7'-0"". Now I need a type that's 3'-6" wide, so I duplicate the original type and add a new one with a 3'-6" dimension. I've just edited the instance of Family "HM Door" within my project but the HM door.rfa file has not been changed.

2) I can edit a family by selecting it within the project and clicking on the 'edit family button'. I've just opened the instance of that family that is loaded into the project I selected it from. I can edit it as much as I want and click 'load into project'. This has no effect on the .rfa if one even exists. You don't make any changes or create the .rfa until you hit 'save' or 'save as'.

If you're more familiar with AutoCAD, families are like parametric blocks. You can edit it all you want within the CAD file, but until you use WBLOCK and save it somewhere there's no saved version of it outside of the CAD file.

I'm no expert either but this is my experience thus far after 2yrs of experience using Revit. hope it helps.

OK, I see what you're talking about. My question, without trying to be a SA is, why would you do it this way? Using your dynamic block example, why would one create DB's in a project drawing and not wblock them out into a library file for later use? It seems to me to be just as easy to open the door.rfa file and add the 3'-6" door then reload the family. Then it's there for future use.

[mhenderson]

I don't know if there's a real good reason not to save the family each time its edited, other than the extra management required and making sure everyone on the team is familiar with how to do it. To save out specific edited families we'd have to make sure we have a 'generic' family library (for office family templates) along with a project specific library. also means any families that come in with the template would have to be saved anytime someone makes the slightest change to it.

It still seems like there ought to be a unified way to transfer family elements from one project to another. System families HAVE to be transferred project to project because you can't save them as an .rfa file. So why not allow non-system families to be transferred in the same way? It's confusing to tell less versed project team members to edit and save the family everytime they make a type, but that they can't do it in the a myriad of instances (such as for walls,) This is the main reason I'm asking. Is there some provision that allows the a project to project trasfer of non-system families that I'm missing?

[Dave Jones]

I don't know if there's a real good reason not to save the family each time its edited, other than the extra management required and making sure everyone on the team is familiar with how to do it. To save out specific edited families we'd have to make sure we have a 'generic' family library (for office family templates) along with a project specific library. also means any families that come in with the template would have to be saved anytime someone makes the slightest change to it.

It still seems like there ought to be a unified way to transfer family elements from one project to another. System families HAVE to be transferred project to project because you can't save them as an .rfa file. So why not allow non-system families to be transferred in the same way? It's confusing to tell less versed project team members to edit and save the family everytime they make a type, but that they can't do it in the a myriad of instances (such as for walls,) This is the main reason I'm asking. Is there some provision that allows the a project to project trasfer of non-system families that I'm missing?

well, I was hoping that someone more knowledgeable than I would drop in and bail me out because due to my lack of experience, I don't have an answer to your question. Sorry...

but, I do enjoy the conversation

[mhenderson]

but, I do enjoy the conversation

Me too, and thanks for replying. Even though the answer you've given isn't quite what I was looking for, you've caused me to reconsider the strategy. So the conversation has definitely been helpful. Thanks for your input!