Revit Libraries...

[Calvn_Swing]

My Firm is organizing it's Revit Content (What we've made ourselves) and are looking for some input on what others have found successful. Our current structure is as follows:

Template Files (which include title blocks, viewports, annotation symbols, materials, etc...)
System Families (Walls, Roofs, Etc...)
Component Families (Doors, Windows, etc...)
Profile Families (Profiles)
Detail Component Families (Our Revit 2D Details.)

We're wondering if this is a tenable strategy for subdividing the various things that will eventually be in our library. For instance, some things which can be modeled in component families can also be modeled in system families I think. There may be a better strategy that we haven't thought of yet.

Also, is anyone aware of a list of things that are common In-Place/System Families? There are the obvious ones, but I'm sure I haven't crossed them all. A list would be helpful in terms of setting up Best Practices for Revit in the office.

Thanks for any input!

Adios

[mcuevas]

Don't know if you have seen this (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=24325&highlight=library+structure) thread yet, but it should give you some info on what you are looking for.

[Michelle Gibson]

We have our library broken down into folders, but the most important folder organization for us is the COMPONENTS folder, which houses all our families and is subdivided by divisions based on the national master specification (canadian, eh!). We have a separate folder called DETAIL COMPONENTS that is broken down into material types suitable to the type of construction we do, ie. wood, steel, fasteners, etc...

[TroyGates]

A process that I've started implementing is to use a few project files to store types of families. So one project file will contain all the types of doors, another will have all the types of walls, another windows, etc. I then create a legend with a plan and elevation view of each type and label it.

Users can then open up one of these files, browse visually through the legends, select a family and copy it to the clipboard. Then they can open their project and paste the family in.

I find this to be much more user friendly than browsing through tons of folders and tons of files that have obscure names. I even suggest doing this with typical details. Create a few detail projects and put all your drafting views into it. You can then import these into any other project down the road.

[Calvn_Swing]

Thanks!

We're doing that with System Families, but not with Component Families. That isn't a bad idea at all though, especially when there's a lot of combinations and obscure names.

[rjcrowther]

I too am converting to the project file type approach to have a visual choice rather than a name and a file.

Names make sense at the time you make the family but are surprisingly obscure 3 months down the track when you want it again.

Rob