Family organisation

[kathy71046]

What is the best way to organise my families within the project browser?

My annotation families are a big mess, and it would be nice if they could be grouped so that they have sub-families or something.

Should I be nesting my annotation symbols inside other annotation families, or is there a way to add sub-folders to the browser?

I'd like to try and implement something before truly beginning my next project, this first one is a big mess in the browser ;)

[aaronrumple]

First - name them in a general to specific format so they list in an organized format to start with. You might need more parametrics and types within your families. For instance - you can do dozens of different looking north arrows in one family.

[kathy71046]

If I had a clue as to how to do something akin to visibility states from Acad, then I'd probably be able to trim down my list of families to at least 1/5th of the amount I currently have listed.

I'd love to be able to combine my note tags, as I have about 6 similar tags that differ what fields they pull info from, but they are the same size, font etc, so really should be one family rather than six.

Site symbols combined in one family would cut down another 5 or 6, as would combining landscape symbols.

[Firmso]

.........you can do dozens of different looking north arrows in one family.
Mind sharing how to do that? I've been wondering about something like this lately but haven't got a clue how to.

TIA

[mruehr]

you nest other families into the first one
give a family parameter to the family
now you can change them
but i would do that only with an Instance parameter
as with a Type parameter you still end up with
the different types in the Type Selector as you would with different Families

[aaronrumple]

'There are a couple of ways to do this. The first has been mentioned and this is to nest families inside one "master" family and then use a family parameter to swap symbols.

The other is a little more direct and that is to use visibility parameters to turn on and off different parts of the graphic. This is nest for theme and variation changes. Where the first option is best for major switches of graphic styles.

[kathy71046]

Thanks for the ideas guys, now I just need to work out the how of doing it.

[rjcrowther]

My method is to use prefixes.

First is the CSI number. Then a prefix describing the family.

Example is a rectangular shower base with a detail component floor base nested in.

The family is named something like 22 GenModLin Rectangular Shower Base.

22 is the CSI prefix. It will therefor schedule as plumbing fixture (because that is my convention)
GenModLin refers to the component being a line based Generic Model. That tells me how it is used. If it were a PlmWll then that would mean a plumbing fixture that is wall hosted - so I would need to make sure there is a wall somewhere if I want to place it.
Rectangular Shower Base gives me a hint on the family.

The nested component detail is a 22 DetCom RectangularShower. That tells me it is a detail component. A detail component is a detail component so the 22 is purely for sorting in the browser.

These prefixes not only clearly define the family in the library but also self sort in Revits Browser.

Works for me.

Thanks,
Rob

[clog boy]

I just wish you could give families a project parameter, then group it as you would do with the view list.