Family Templates?

[comical_wenger]

Hey guys, im trying to work out families and edited them from existing templates (which i asssume is what you do from my reading). The problem is I seem to have very limited amount of templates to choose from, where would I find more from? also when I try do download more families from the autodesk site can i only download the rfa file ones?

thanks

[iankids]

Hi C_W

All of the family templates are included OOTB with Revit. There are approximately 60 family templates from which every type of family in Revit are created.

If you are running Vista, they are located in Program Data\Autodesk\RAC 2010 etc

Cheers,

Ian

[comical_wenger]

thanks, they seem a bit light though, like are there cupboard ones or desk ones for example? if so what are they called?

[iankids]

It depends on how you want to host it, or indeed if you want to host it at all).

If you wanted a floor host desk, then one would use the Generic Floor Based rft. Likewise the Generic Wall based model etc for those families you wish to host to a wall.

Otherwise, for the desk, you could simply use the Metric Furniture rft & for the cabinet, the Metric Casework (or Casework wall based), as the case may be.

Ian

[comical_wenger]

oh ok so if i wanted to host it, that would be if it was touching a wall or floor (but would not all families touch the floor)? but if i just wanted a desk in the middle of the room just use anyone? so there will be no actual existing desk template?

[Scott Womack]

There is a furniture template. Isn't a desk a piece of furniture?

[comical_wenger]

ahah yes, i guess i am just a bit confussed, so the template only holds the properties that I will require rather than say an existing model of a desk that I can manipulate?

[jeffh]

ahah yes, i guess i am just a bit confussed, so the template only holds the properties that I will require rather than say an existing model of a desk that I can manipulate?

Correct. The template defines the category of the family and some basic parameters and behaviors. Very little geometry is in any of the template files. Most of the time you will only start with 2 crossing reference planes in the template.

[twiceroadsfool]

Templates are all blank, except for the placeholders for hosting elements. If you want to edit one already started, open one from the Imperial or Metric Library...

[comical_wenger]

OK thanks, im still a little confussed, what would be the difference in the family editor of say a piece of furniture, electrical unit and a door for example?

[iankids]

OK thanks, im still a little confussed, what would be the difference in the family editor of say a piece of furniture, electrical unit and a door for example?

Each family, if created with correct template knows what it is in Revit. A door created with the door template knows it is a door and will schedule accordingly. Likewise for windows and the other major templates. If you create a family using the generic template, you will need to set the category manually (create - family properties - Category and Parameters)

2010 has a very good Families guide in the help section & would be well worth a read to get your head around the concepts.

Ian

[comical_wenger]

yeah thanks, I am reading over the HELP files now. I am looking at the Help files just looking at families now, im at like page 44. After that I will be looking at the families in the main help file. Are families as pivotal to revit as it seems. I seem to have been reading hundreds of pages in the manual but dont really feel confident yet at making anything....

[chris.macko125036]

with a few exceptions you can make any type of family from the generic families. You can change the family type in the settings menu (famiily category and properties). This can be useful if you want something like an elevator door to not schedule and tag like a typical door or if you have some other special case. If you really want to become a revit power user, you're going to have to get familiar with the family editor. It really isn't as complicated as it seems at first. I think there are some decent tutorials on the subject too.