Building

Revit Families
Saturday, September 21
9:00 a.m.-noon

Part 1: IntroducBon

Brandon Henson, PE
ASPE, CharloHe Chapter member
UNC CharloHe, BSME
Licensed Professional Engineer in NC
Worked with Revit MEP since release 08

What Are Revit Families?

Similar to MV Parts in AutoCAD MEP
Used as symbology and for specicaBon
informaBon
Can dene worst case size criteria for
equipment
Can be used for standard symbols

Why Build Your Own?

In early releases of the so[ware, there were
not a lot of manufacturers oering families
Out of the box Revit symbols dont match
company standards
Gives the designer more control over
constraints-design for ulBmate worst case

How Much Detail Can You Put In?

How much do you want???

Warning!!! Building Revit Families can take a
lot of Bme!!
They require planning, before drawing.

Safety Shower/Eyewash Combo

This was one of the rst families that I built with MEP 2009.

Gang Toilet
Local School System required black toilet seats

Architects Really Like This Stu!!!

Part 2: Basic Plumbing Family

We will now do a step by step walkthrough for
how to create a basic, usable family.
For simplicity, we will build a Lint Interceptor.

Select New Family

Select Generic Model.r[

 Main Revit Screen

Views Are Important

All views and elevaBons are used in creaBng
all families
Located In Project Browser:

Reference Planes
Families are built from reference planes
Connectors
Extrusions
Sweeps, etc..

Thinkhow is this part manufactured?

Basic Plane Setup

Start from the Front View

Create New Reference Plane

Use the buHon on the ribbon to create a new
plane

Draw a plane parallel to the Ref. Level Line

Draw it further out than the Ref Level As Red Green
says, Ill be referring back to that later.

Use the Align Command

Under the Modify/Reference Planes on the
ribbon, select align

Select the line, face, object , etc. that you

want to align the plane with rst. In this case,
select Ref. Level rst

Then click the plane

The plane will align with the Ref. Level and

you will see a lock

Well leave the lock, unlocked for now

Locking is for parameters which we will cover
later

Lets make an extrusion
Select the Create tab along the ribbon

Lets set the plane we want to work with

Click Set on the ribbon

The following dialog will appear

 Choose Pick a plane

Dialog box will disappear and were back to
the main Revit Screen
Select the plane we just drew

 Well Select Floor Plan: Ref. Level

This takes us back to the overhead view and
will allow us to draw the top outline of our
extrusion shape
Lets draw something simple
Start by clicking Extrusion in the ribbon

 Well then be taken to a new command

selecBon on the ribbon

Select the rectangle in the Draw box

 Now, draw a rectangle along the axes as

shown

 Lets dimension the rectangle, shall we??

Lets make the rectangle 3 x 3 by selecBng
each edge

 Click on the dimension and you will be able to

change it to what you want.

 Hit enter and the dimension will change

 Follow this step again for the other side

Now we have a 3x 3 rectangle, but how do
we align it so that the axes are centered???

 Click on the Annotate tab on the ribbon

Choose the Aligned Dimension OpBon

 Create an aligned dimension from le[ to right

by clicking the le[ edge and the right edge

Adding Constraints
This will set the overall dimensional criteria
Lets add some constraints
This will enable us to add more parameters
later

Select Aligned dimension under the
Annotate tab again and select the le[ edge of
the rectangle, y-axis line and the right edge

Hierarchy
Make sure the series of dimensions is under
the 3-0 dimension as shown

 Select the le[ edge of the rectangle and youll

noBce the dimensions will be enabled to be
edited

 Click on the dimension in the series and

change it to 1-6

 Repeat the previous step, except click on the

right edge to change the dimension

 Now, repeat for the top and boHom edges

and we will have a square thats centered on
the x and y axes

 Click on the upper series of dimensions and

youll noBce an EQ that is crossed out. Click
the EQ and this will lock the dimensions so
that they are always equal distance from the
center axis, i.e. a constraint

 When we are done adding these constraints,

lets set an extrusion height by changing
Extrusion End to 3-0 in the ProperBes
Browser

 Now click the green Check symbol in the

ribbon

This will nalize all basic criteria and create

the extrusion

 Lets look at our extrusion in 3D by selecBng

View 1 under 3D Views in the Project
Browser...

Basic Lint Interceptor

Were going to use the cube we just created
to build on for our family object which when
nished can be used for every project that you
have
Were going to talk more about planes,
parameters and extrusions

Lets add more planes

Go back to the Floor Plan View and as we did
previously, create new reference planes on
the le[ and right sides of our cube.

 Now we want to align these to the right and

le[ edges as we did previously

 Now, return to the Front View under

ElevaBons in the Project Browser and click
create Extrusion
Set the le[ work plane as we did previously
and choose ElevaBon: Le[ in the Pop Up

 This will set the view to the le[ side.

Choose the Circle under the Draw menu on
the ribbon

Now draw a circle with a 2 radius centered along

the y-axis

 Now draw a circle with a 2 radius centered

along the y-axis

 Using the technique we learned before, set

the height criteria for the circle at 2-1

More Constraints
Set the length of the extrusion to: Extrusion
End: -0-4 and Extrusion Start at 0- 0
Click the Green Check mark and return to the
front view

Inlet and Outlet

Now, as we just did, create another extrusion
with the same constraints, except create it on
the right side and set the height to 0-8

Connectors
Connectors will allow you to draw pipe from
our family and can be set up for any system
we have; waste, water, gas, etc
On the ribbon, go to Create, and Pipe
Connector

Remain in 3D View
Select Face In the ribbon

 Now select the outer face of the Outlet and a connector will
appear




Click on the connector and the ProperBes Browser will appear with
informaBon on the connector...

 Enter the following property informaBon

 Follow the same procedure and create

another connector for the Inlet.
For the inlet connector, enter the following
property informaBon

Now you see me, now you dont

Lets make sure that the family can be seen in
3D View within your project, but only a
symbol shown in oor plan view
Click on the cube extrusion, and uncheck the
Visible selecBon

Lets make it symbolic

Go to the Ref. level, and under the create tab,
select Model Line
Draw the model lines along all four edges of
the cube extrusion.

Visibility
Click on the inlet extrusion we made
previously and in the ProperBes Browser,
under Visibility/Graphics Overrides, select
Edit

 Uncheck the Coarse, and Medium opBons

under Detail Levels

This allows the inlet to be visible only under

ne detail level in your project. As most of the
Bme when youre working in 3D, youll be
using ne detail, and in plan view, youll more
than likely be using Medium or Coarse detail
level.

Almost there
Repeat this step for the cube and outlet
extrusions.
Lets make sure the family will be able to be
placed in your project model
Go to Family Categories and Parameters
under the ProperBes tab on the ribbon

 Once there, youll noBce Generic Models is

highlighted. Lets make this a plumbing
xture by selecBng Plumbing Fixture.
I know this isnt a xture but Revit doesnt
have Plumbing SpecialBes as a category

Making this a xture will allow us to drop it

into a project and move forward.

Parameters
Family Types tool allows total control over all
constraints

Further
We can build several dierent families within
one le by creaBng New Family Types.
The dimensions we created earlier can
become parameters by naming them in the
family editor

 This will show up in the Family Types Menu, in

this case, Length, Height and Depth have
been assigned 3-0 in the 100 Gallon Family
type.
Any number of constraints can be added
which will control all aspects of your family.
Remember when I said, these require
planning before drawing.?

Wrap Up
QuesBons? Comments?

Please email me with quesBons.
Contact info:

Brandon Henson, PE
bhenson@hshpc.com