Revit Family Editing

[Giraldo Allain]

Iam new to Revit from Autocad and I was wondering if it is possible to adjust a family like you can adjust a block in AutoCAD? For instance, I have a security camera I am trying to change viewing angles of once I place the family in the floor plan but can't seem to edit it without opening the editing window of that family and changing it. Thanks for any help provided.

Absolutely yes but what you can change is a function of the family. Instance and type parameters can be changed without editing the family. These parameters need to be written in to the family in order to be available.

Revit does not have a Edit In Place function like AutoCAD does. to physically edit a family, you need to open it in the family editor session by double clicking on it or opening it from the File Open options. once open you can make a change and Load to Project.

That said.... as @RobDraw & @s.borello have stated. if the proper parameter information is in the family from the start, you should only need to edit the instance or type properly of of the family. i usually recommend duplicating the type prior to making a "Type" parameter change. otherwise it will change all the families in your project of that same type.

Ok, so I created a Viewing Angle Instance parameter along with an extruded viewing angle piece that has the length and overall angle dimensions locked so they don't change. When I go to change the angle of the instance parameter I get an error. How can I rotate the viewing angle while keeping the length and overall angle of it the same?

Also, I placed a model text C in the center but I can't get it to show in this view, but it will show up in almost all other views. Is there a way to have the C carved out of the top extrusion and show up, I did not see it under Void Forms. Thank you again for any help.

I missed that the height dimension changes decided not to join me into the "Edit family" -mode. After hours of editing (and learning) I was satisfied and clicked "Load into Project and Close"...

Since I edited another height it looks totally wrecked as you can see. I do understand that it would require advanced hacking to make the details flow dynamically with different heights. But at least, can I change the dimension in the "Edit family" view so I can make it look good with just the specific height I need? I have tried to click around on the element without finding any dimension properties?

My personal suggestion (of you are going to learn the Family Editor) is to start with a blank sheet (ie Generic Model Template) and build some basic geometry. Trying to backward-engineer a complex ready-made Family can be infuriating.

Could this possibly be about editing TYPE Parameters and not INSTANCE Parameters? In other words, when you edit TYPE Parameters, every instance of that FAMILY TYPE in the Project inherits the same Parameter Values. Get my drift?

Hi! Yes I have made a copy of the family. Of course the correct way of learning would be to start from scratch. Probably you are right, I could stay in project environment and modify the custom window frame and then just duplicate that object as many times as I like.

Yes, while in project view I am editing the instance parameters. I would like to edit the family type parameters. When clicking edit family and browsing through the objects, I do not find such a parameter however.

Maybe this is not the way professionals do it - but its a quick way to take a completed family that looks OK, duplicate it and adjust some details for making it look "good enough" for i.e. a house-front drawing.

I'm fairly new to Revit and I'm having an issue editing or creating a new stair family. The company I started with a few months ago gave me the task of creating a stair the more closely mimics what we design and detail. We have a 7" rise and an 11" run. The part of the steps that are causing me issues is that the top tread needs to be 12" and the bottom tread needs to be 23". I have not been able to find a way to edit individual treads in the stair properties box or the "edit stairs" tool. I've tried adding landings to the top and bottom of the stairs but when I do that Revit throws handrail around the entire perimeter or the stair and landing and will not let me erase the sections of the handrail I would need to. I'd love to ultimately create a new stair family that just brings the top and bottom tread in as they should be, but I'm not sure if this is possible. I've been in the "Stair and Railing System Family Library" file but it doesn't seem like this is the base file for the different types of stairs. When I search through the file explorer in the Revit families folders the Stair family folder that shows up in the project browser with in Revit is not present in the file explorer for me. This is after I've "show hidden items" in file explorer. Anyway, I'm stumped and any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Revit makes a difference between loadable families and system families. System families are part of a project and can be only created by duplicating an existing one and changing parameters (or copying from a different project). So you will not find them in a folder.

You can first create a stair with fixed tread depth. When thet is ready you can convert it to a sketch based stair and the modify the tread depth of some of the treads. Or you can start with a sketch based stairs from the start

In several cases the stairs tool is not sufficient to get to the desired end result. In those cases you might need to (partially) create the stair with one or more loadable families or in place families.

Thank @L.Maas this gets me closer to what I'm looking for. So I now have the top and bottom tread the length I need them. Now is there a way to get the bottom of the stringers mitered as I have sketched in below, rather then cut as they are?

Thats what Im looking for! Thank you. One last request though. How do you model beams as stringers? Or model sloped beams? When I go to model a beam I have to select a reference level which then seems to lock it onto that plane.

Family Editor Interface is a simple tool which gives a more interactive way of creating or editing Family Content. It gives a more visual control over the Family Bone-Muscle-Skin paradigm through manipulating the existing parameters within the Family Editor. Only usable in Family Editor Mode, it will allow the user to change parameter values on the fly, thus receiving immediate feedback on their actions.

The tool will detect when new parameters are added to the Family Types dialog and has additional 'Refresh Document' button to detect when new parameters are added on the fly. 'Refresh Document' is also useful when toggling between several different Family Projects.

I have used this addon for over 2 years and i found it great. the latest updates have a pop-up screan confirming the action. In general very few people would read it and i think its an extra click wasted, especially when you want to randomly test the family by shiffeling the parameters/

this is a awesome tool, althoughI use a 'Currency' parameter as a issuing date, and having it filled out before i use the tool allows me not to use it because im outside a maximum number range. e.g 20170221.01. i can use it if i delete this value. cheers!

Dear Chris,I apologize for this ridiculously slow reply - I just saw your comment. There are a number of bug fixes that I am planning to roll out soon. The use of this plugin is still not optimal in Families with large number of parameters and when switching between projects, both scenarios of which are quite common. I'll let you know the moment the new version is out.Best Regards

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.

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