Chapter 16 • Advanced Wall Topics 764 FIGURE 16.49 Changing the grid FIGURE 16.50 The new curtain wall Are You Experienced? 765 As you can see, we are just at the doorway of massing. Literally. There is no way to get into this little portico we just created. In the next chapter, we will discuss creating families and we will delve much deeper into the massing that comprises Revit Architecture 2010. Are You Experienced? Now you can… create custom compound walls by using the Edit Assembly dialog create stacked walls by joining compound walls together create sweeps in both the walls profile as well as free-form sweeps create curtain walls by using a predefined wall system and from a blank panel create vertically angled walls by applying a curtain system to a massing object CHAPTER 17 Creating Families As you are probably becoming acutely aware, having the right content will make or break a Revit project. I am sure you are also acutely aware that, other than the content that Autodesk has provided and the content you downloaded from this book’s web page, you don’t have anywhere near the amount of con- tent you need to start a project! That being said, it is time to buckle down and dig into how Revit works, and see how having adjustable, parametric families will turn you into a Revit fan for life. Creating a basic family Using a complex family to create an arched door Creating an in-place family Chapter 17 • Creating Families 768 Creating a Basic Family The first item we will tackle is how to create a basic family. We will start with the creation of a wall sweep, and then move into creating an arched doorway. As you become fluent with these two basic family types, it’s going to be like a ball rolling down a hill! Well, you have to start somewhere. To be honest, no good family is “basic,” but some are simply easier to create than others. The concept is the same, however. Essentially a family has three basic components: Reference Planes Yes, reference planes drive the family. Look at these as the skeleton of the family. Constraints Constraints are simply dimensions with a parameter associated with them to give the skeleton its flexibility. 3D Massing 3D massing is locked to the skeleton. We’ll call this the skin. Corny, I know, but it gets the point across. To get started, we need to figure out where to get started. Any family that you want to insert into a Revit model needs to start with a template. Choosing the correct template, as you will soon discover, will make your life much simpler. The objective of the next procedure is to start a new family by choosing a tem- plate within Revit. 1. Open Revit Architecture. 2. In the Recent Files screen, click the New link in the Families row in the middle of the dialog (or you can click the Application button and select New ➢ Family). 3. In the Imperial Templates folder (this is where the family templates are stored), select Profile-Hosted.rft, and then click Open. As mentioned earlier, first you will notice the reference planes. A good fam- ily starts and ends with these. Next you will notice some text. Revit adds some “advice” in each of its family templates. After you read the advice, you can delete it. We will do that in a moment, but first let’s add some reference planes to the family. Adding Reference Planes to a Family The one bad thing about creating a family is that you can get away with making a family without using reference planes at all. This is bad because a family made with no (or not enough) reference planes will be faulty at best. This author has Creating a Basic Family 769 learned that lesson the hard way. Although it may seem redundant to add refer- ence planes, I strongly advise you to use them and use them often. The objective of the following procedure will be to offset some reference planes to create the wall sweep. 1. On the Datum panel of the Home tab, select the Reference Plane button, as shown in Figure 17.1. 2. In the Draw panel, click the Pick Lines button. FIGURE 17.1 The Reference Plane button on the Home tab 3. On the Options bar, set Offset to 1′–0″. 4. Hover your cursor over the center, vertical reference plane. When you see the blue reference line appear to the right of the vertical plane (as shown in Figure 17.2), pick the center reference plane. You will now have two vertical reference planes spaced 1 ′–0″ apart. 5. With the Reference Plane command still running, pick the horizontal reference plane and offset it down using the same offset increment of 1 ′–0″. Your family should now resemble Figure 17.3. These two reference planes represent the actual body of the sweep. We will now add two secondary reference planes for more control over the family. The objective of the following procedure is to add two more reference planes to the family. 1. Set Offset to 2 ″. 2. Offset the top horizontal reference plane down. 3. Offset the left vertical reference plane to the right (see Figure 17.4). Chapter 17 • Creating Families 770 FIGURE 17.2 Adding a second vertical reference plane FIGURE 17.3 Adding a second horizontal reference plane downward With the reference planes in place, we can now move on to adding some dimensions to the reference planes. After we add the dimensions, we can then add actual parameters to those dimensions to make our family flexible when we add it to the model. Creating a Basic Family 771 FIGURE 17.4 Offsetting two more reference planes Adding Dimensions and Parameters to a Family We are now looking at one of the most outstanding features of Revit. Because you can create a parametric component easily, and then allow the end user to change the dimensions, you can put your company into overdrive in terms of pushing BIM through and having success with Revit in general. The first procedure involves adding dimensions to the reference planes we have already put into place. The second procedure will be to add parameters to the dimensions we have added. 1. On the Measure panel of the Modify | Place Reference Plane tab, click the Aligned Dimension button. 2. Add a horizontal dimension from the left reference plane to the right reference plane. The dimension should be 1 ′–0″. 3. Add a second dimension from the top reference plane to the bottom reference plane. The dimension should be 1 ′–0″. 4. Add a dimension from the left reference plane to the 2″ reference plane to the right. 5. Add a dimension from the top reference plane to the reference plane 2 ″ down (see Figure 17.5). Chapter 17 • Creating Families 772 FIGURE 17.5 Adding the dimensions to the reference planes The next step is to make this family come alive! Since we are in the Family Editor, when we select a dimension we can choose to add a label to the dimension. This label is tied to a parameter that can be modified. To add a label to a dimension, follow these steps: 1. Press Esc twice; then select the top, horizontal 1 ′–0″ dimension. 2. On the Options bar, click the Label field and choose Add Parameter (see Figure 17.6). FIGURE 17.6 Choosing Add Parameter on the Options bar Creating a Basic Family 773 3. In the Parameter Properties dialog under Parameter Data (as shown in Figure 17.7), type Width for the Name. NOTE When you add a name to the parameter, you are actually adding part of a formula. There is a chance that this name will be part of a mathe- matical expression. When naming parameters, be deliberate, and give it some thought. Also, the mathematical expressions built into the parameters are case sensitive. If you capitalize the first letter of each word, be consistent. 4. In the Group Parameter Under field, select Dimensions. 5. Click the Type toggle (see Figure 17.7). 6. Click OK. The parameter is now added to the dimension. 7. Select the 1 ′–0″ vertical dimension. 8. On the Options bar, click the Label field. FIGURE 17.7 Configuring the parameter 9. Select Add Parameter from the menu. 10. For the Name, type Height. 11. Group the parameter under Dimensions. 12. Make it a Type parameter. 13. Click OK. 14. Select the two 2 ″ dimensions. . Profile-Hosted.rft, and then click Open. As mentioned earlier, first you will notice the reference planes. A good fam- ily starts and ends with these. Next you will notice some text. Revit adds. simpler. The objective of the next procedure is to start a new family by choosing a tem- plate within Revit. 1. Open Revit Architecture. 2. In the Recent Files screen, click the New link in the Families. families and we will delve much deeper into the massing that comprises Revit Architecture 2010. Are You Experienced? Now you can… create custom compound walls by using the Edit Assembly dialog create