Family Ownership

[STHRevit]

Hi all,

We were having a discussion with one of our clients during the week and discovered that they are quite concerned about Revit families being passed around the AEC community.

The main issue was who has ownership of these items and can the use of them be restricted in some way? I guess, can the be locked or frozen?

I don't really mind if my families get distributed by how do others feel and would there be a way for others to see families in a model but not be able to modify them?

Just curious.

[Scott Womack]

........would there be a way for others to see families in a model but not be able to modify them?

There currently is no way to "lock" them or make them "non-editable". This has been discussed extensively over the years in these forums, and others. There are a series of things that can be done to "strongly discourage" tampering, but very advanced family creation/editing individuals, can figure out what was done, and defeat it eventually.

You can use a custom assembly code - This prevents anyone from changing anything without changing the assembly code. You can create Hidden Shared parameters, you might be able to embed macros into the families (I think, not sure), you can create the family using some sort of API custom program, etc.

I understand a client not understanding the Revit process. One of things I like about this community is the more open atmosphere, where everyone helps and shares. This benefits the entire profession, versus the more protective older AutoCAD world.

[tcatana]

What are you trying to protect is the real question.

Copyright will protect your product, but not a simple family.

I personally like the fact that they are open, as I would hate to see everyone in the REVIT Community having to recreate the same families. Big waste of time.

As it is, I find myself recreating several, as I want them to act the way I want and not the way someone else wanted.

To Everyone in this community - Thank You - I have learned a great deal just reading.

[STHRevit]

I totally agree. The sharing of information and is paramount to learning. Like I mentioned previously, I have no problem with sharing families but my clients was concerned that they were paying us to generate content for their project and didn't really like the idea of others getting hold of them.

I was just curious if anyone else had this concern and how they dealt with it.

Thanks Scott. Great insight, as always.

Cheers