Freeware Family Creator

[jsteinhauer]

I was just bouncing an idea around the cube farm, and maybe some of you might be interested in this conversation as well. Do you think that AutoDesk would release a Freeware Family Creator for Revit? My thought would be that anyone could download this Revit software, create and save only families with it. It would, in my opinion, create a lot of content for the Revit community. You wouldn't/shouldn't be able to create projects or plans, and would create a great tool for people to get excited about Revit. I know I would download it at home, and create content there. Probably have it save back to the web, so people couldn’t squirrel content anyway on their personal machines, and not share with the world. Credit would be given to the content generators, and people in the community could rank useful content. Maybe a highlights page could be built to display the top 10 families of the week.

Please let me know what you all think of this idea.

Jeff S.

[rmejia]

I think it's a great idea !

[Scott D Davis]

Great idea, but I do like to test my created content in a real projet before using it in production. It would be great if it would be a full version of Revit, with the family editor "unlocked" and the main Revit program to remain in "demo" mode so that those that could create content would be able to test in a project environment.

[jeffh]

Great idea, but I do like to test my created content in a real projet before using it in production. It would be great if it would be a full version of Revit, with the family editor "unlocked" and the main Revit program to remain in "demo" mode so that those that could create content would be able to test in a project environment.

I agree. Testing in a project environment is important. There are some problems that just don't rear their heads while flexing the family in the family editor. They only show up once the family is loaded into a project.

[luigi]

In terms of labor though, it would still work. A single Revit Architecture (or S., or MEP) and tons of Free Revit Family Editors would allow a practical economical solution. Or in our case, we may hire some people to work on families for us (using this editor) and we place them in a family to test them, comment and critique the quality, etc...

I love the idea for a Free Revit Family Editor....

I agree. Testing in a project environment is important. There are some problems that just don't rear their heads while flexing the family in the family editor. They only show up once the family is loaded into a project.

[jsteinhauer]

I agree. Testing in a project environment is important. There are some problems that just don't rear their heads while flexing the family in the family editor. They only show up once the family is loaded into a project.

This is true. I have had some families that work great in family editor, work great in a test project, but when loaded into a real working project it crashes. It's an idea AutoDesk should think about though.

Have a great weekend!!!

Jeff S.

[Brandon_Pike]

Isn't that in a way (somewhat) what Revitcity has? They have a download section where users can upload and download families, hatch patterns, etc as they wish.

[Anthony.d]

What a wonderful idea.

Now if Autodesk would only agree.

[nole]

I agree, it's a great idea.

[rjcrowther]

I think you do not 'tick off' the family until it is put into service and seen to work.
Until that is done it not a family but a collection of model parts that flex (or not depending).
In view of that I think a family creator has limited value.