Revit Family Editor

[Prospero Barela]

Im modeling a composite beam in the family editor and want to assign materials to different parts of the beam which is comprised mostly of extruded components. I have all the standard materials I need in my model which was set up from an office template but when I open the Material Browser in the Family Editor there is a much more limited selection (see the relative size of the scroll bar in each of the attached picture) and none of the materials I need.

I have tried right-clicking on the AEC Materials Folder > Locate Library > AECMaterials.adsklib but I get an error message that says "Located File Is Already In Used By Another Library. Please Select another file."

Assign Family Materials -- any Materials, doesn't matter -- to Material Parameters associated to Geometries in the Family, and then assign a Project Material to the Family's Material Parameters in the Project.

This is expected behavior. Materials available in the materials browser (the upper portion of it where you are taking about the scroll bar) are the materials available in the current project or family. Typically a project is going to contain MANY more materials than a family would. Family templates have only a handful of materials loaded. If you want to use a specific material and assign it in a family directly, you will need to search and load that material from a library. Looking at your screen shot it appears your libraries are not loaded/or the path to the library is compromised somehow (note the yellow triangles in the library section). If you can get the yellow triangle situation worked out either by getting default libraries installed or pathed correctly, then you should have not problem loading the material you want to use.

On the other hand, conceptual massing components are also families, but created in an entirely different way. Even the ribbon menu is configured in a different way (see Figure 3). They are also loadable and can also be created in a project (Massing & Site>In-Place Mass).

The Conceptual Massing Family Editor is a separate program within Revit, just like the Family Editor. It allows you to create massing components that can be loaded into a project and turned into building components (see Figure 4).

So far, there had been no major changes to the Family Editor interface since Autodesk implemented the ribbon menu. The Project and the Family Editor interface share similar ribbon tools. However, the Family Editor has fewer tools. The tools in the ribbon are specific to creating families.

When a family template is opened, there are two windows docked on the left side of the drawing area by default. These are the Properties palette and the Project Browser (see Figure 9). Each window can be pulled out from its location by dragging the top bar as shown in Figure 10.

The Properties palette and the Project Browser can be docked on the top, bottom, right and left sides of the drawing area, or left floating. They can also be placed side by side (see Figure 11), separately, or as one palette by dragging the top bar to any of the borders of the other palette. You also have the ability to dock the palettes in one window and combine them as tabs (see Figure 12). This is done by dragging the top bar of a palette to the top bar of the other palette. To separate them, simply drag the tab (located at the bottom) outside the window.

Type Selector: This area of the palette remains dimmed until an element is selected and there are other elements with the same type. It then becomes a Type Selector (see Figure 14) where the name of the selected type is displayed. Clicking the drop-down arrow displays other available types.

Properties Filter: This is a drop-down list (see Figure 15) containing the properties of the active view or the template being used. When an element is selected, it is added to this list by its category name. It is also a filter that displays the number of instances of selected elements. Choosing a category displays its properties while the elements remain selected.

Edit Type: When an element containing Type parameters (e.g. nested family) is selected, this button becomes active. Clicking Edit Type opens the Type properties dialog box of the selected component and displays its user-editable and read-only properties (see Figure 16). The type can then be duplicated and its values can be modified. Thereafter, the new type is added to the Type Selector. Alternatively, the Edit Type button can be accessed from the Modify tab>Properties.

In Figure 17, when the right side of a Material text box is clicked, a blue button momentarily appears (1). This is the Materials button. Clicking it opens the Material Browser. The little rectangular button on the right side of a text box is the Associate Family Parameter button (2). Clicking it opens the Associate Family Parameter dialog box where a parameter from the list can be associated to a selected component. A new parameter can also be created by clicking the Add parameter button (in the Associate Family Parameter window). After clicking OK, the rectangular box displays an equals sign (3). This is the Parametric Indicator. The text boxes under the Materials and Finishes heading (4) displays the materials of a selected component or nested family. Typing a material name in the text field is an alternative way of specifying a material, provided the material exists and typed as spelled in the Material Browser. Gray text (5) indicates a material associated with a material parameter.

The navigation bar is located at the top right of the drawing area in 2D views (see Figure 18). In a 3D view, it appears below the ViewCube (see Figure 19). It provides additional navigation tools including Steering Wheel tools and Zoom tools.

The Steering Wheel is a tracking menu that follows the cursor when the tool is accessed from the navigation bar (see Figure 20). It combines the common tools in the navigation bar into its interface. Depending on the current view, its appearance changes. To use it, the wheel is dragged over the model where the cursor is placed above the desired wheel command. Left-clicking and dragging the cursor over this command causes the wheel to temporarily disappear, replaced by a different cursor representing the command. Below this cursor is the name of the tool (see Figure 21).

Boring as it may seem, if you always keep in mind that Revit is the main software used in your livelihood, then invest time in learning it. BIM is here to stay and if you want to be part of the scene for the next decade or so, learn Revit!

Michael Anonuevo currently works for YWS Design & Architecture located in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a technical writer, published author, BIM modeler and musician who owns and runs www.littledetailscount.com. Founded in 2009, his website specializes in unique and highly detailed Revit families created in native Autodesk Revit Architecture geometry. Anonuevo is an Autodesk Revit Architecture Certified Professional. He is also an Autodesk beta tester for Revit Architecture. At ClubRevit.com, he regularly writes articles pertaining to Revit families. He also writes product reviews and is a contributing author at AUGIWorld, AECbytes, CAD Digest, revitcommunity.com and revitforum.org. He is a member of AUGI, Club Revit, UK Revit Register, Los Angeles Revit Users Group and Southern California Revit Users Group.

Success with the family editor is so much more than creating simple objects with flexible dimensions. This two-part session will dispense with the basics and jump right into the deep end of the pool! I will share with you several real content creation examples that I have built for my clients over the years. Each will explore family creation concepts that go beyond the basic box or simple flexible family. If you want to up you family creation game, join me for this information packed two-part session.

i have made and I beam ( toke 2 c-channel .. changed there size in family editor and added some extrusion around it - then loaded it to my project ) ... and it worked and i am having no problem with it .. until i started working on the second and the 3rd floor .... whenever i place that family i made... something weird happen ...

...( ex as shown in the attachment ) i made that column on the second floor .. and when i used it on my first floor (ground floor) .. i couldnt see the extrusion ... so i copied it out side the project to look at it in 3d and see what is going on .. it turns out that revit placed the I column on the first floor but the extrusion is on the same spot on the second floor ?!!

It just looks like you loaded an HSS column and placed it on the same level as the back-to-back C-Channel (which I agree with Mark is weird) which is why you couldn't see the columns. Usually, it's best to run columns from base Level up to the Top Level, instead of placing a column "level by level" as I think that's what you did. I "think" you did anyways, but not sure.

I cannot understand this "extrusion" you made in the Channel Family. I'd have to take a look at the Family itself to see how it was made before I judge it harshly, but it seems like you're stretching the functionality of this Family way too far.

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