Autodesk Response

Paul F. Aubin, is a skilled writer and teacher when it comes time to explain the tectonics of the Revit platform. To be completely honest, I have been confused with the terminology, and the coding that goes alongside Revit, an aspect of the program, one must master if they have hopes in using Revit for the future. (Families, systems, components, etc,) and the fact that these terms are broad terminology which can be dissected into various levels is very intimidating. I learned Categories are pre-defined in Revit and cannot be added deleted or renamed. Categories are split into Model and Annotation. Model including: walls, doors, floors, stairs, and beams. Annotation including: text, dimension, and tags. Families in Revit, referring to a collection of like items sharing the same overall look and behavior is broken up into two categories: System Family and Component Family. The difference between the two types of families is their coding.  System Families behaves in a linear path, while Component families behave through a means of an origin.

                      System = Linear                                   Component = Origin

               System families include walls, floors, roofs, and stairs, while Component families are loadable, and can be created in Family Editor. The third type of Family, is the“In Place Family”. In Place families share similarities with component families, but also offer variety in specific functions which make the two very different.

 I had to keep on making diagrams to understand the two types of families and the similarities and differences they had to fully understand what I was reading. I found Aubin’s explanations to be very clear, even though it took me several times to read over to keep my mind on the material and not other things. With our Probe #4 assignment, I now know why we have to use the In Place Family for elements in our project. “In Place Families therefore prove effective for modeling unique existing conditions or very specialized and unique design scenarios.”

               Looking at the Revit Elements Tree was a bit overwhelming. This program is very intimidating with all the terminology, but once you parse the words and really understand what the program is trying to do, it all begins to make sense. Aubin then goes on to describe the differences between System and Component. System Families are pre-defined geometries with unique characteristics, and behaviors which cannot be changed by its users. S.F. cannot be created or deleted and are preloaded into your project template.  Component Families are pre-defined geometries with unique characteristics, and behaviors which can be changed and edited by its users. With components, you can use the Autodesk seek website to Google search components which you then can load into your project and edit to your specifications.