Stuyvesant High School Architecture

Technology Department Residential drafting

Instructor: Mr. Arthur Griffith, Jr. And design

Understanding families in Autodesk Revit

There are a few key steps that you want to keep in mind when you're building a family in Autodesk Revit: 1. You need to know what you want your family to do. Do not create a family without a plan for its use. this may include: A. Take some notes B. Do a little sketching(what will the graphics look like when completed.) C. Make a decision what you want your family to do in a project. D. Decide on what type of behaviors your new family should have. 2. Use the correct templet file for the job: There are several templets comes with Revit each one has certain behaviors. Those behaviors will permanently become part of your families Functionality. So choose wisely.

3. Add reference planes: Reference planes set up the form and structure of the overall family and define its geometric limits and characteristics. This is a critical step: You should carefully consider how you want the reference lines to be laid out. This will determine how the geometry in your family will behave.

4. Add parameters and constrains: A parameters are the rules that govern how the user can interact with the object in relation to their given project.

A constraint is a locked in design intent. Meaning the user cannot change anything about the object. The object is not designed to be altered.

Once the project is complete you need to test everything to make sure it's behaving In a predictable manner, Autodesk calls this Flexing the Model: Flexing the model is when you adjust the parameter values, making sure that the reference planes to which you applied the parameter change accordingly. Flexing is a way to test the integrity of the parametric relationships. Flexing early and often as you create families ensures the stability of the families