Introducing Revit Architecture 2010, BIM for Beginners:Chapter 1 - Types of Elements in Revit

3.28.10 8:25-9:05am
Introducing Revit Architecture 2010, BIM for Beginners
Chapter 1 ■ Understanding BIM
- Types of Elements in Revit

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Types of Elements in Revit
Every parametric object in Revit is considered a family. ...The categories are divided into two primary buckets: model categories and annotation categories."

"organizes all the data in the model using building industry-specific classifications. ...manages relationships among classes of elements as well as their graphical display. ...fixed list of categories...and a generic category to which unusual, nonstandard elements can be assigned. Every element...belongs to one of these fixed categories."

"Model categories include all physical object types typically found in buildings. All 3D families will use one of these categories...elements that don’t fit into the Revit categorization system, the generic model category can be used."

"Annotation categories are all the annotations, symbols, text, and other 2D data added to a view to describe how the building is to be constructed. ...annotations are view specific and appear only in the view they were created in."
"To view all the model and annotation categories, select the Manage tab and from the
Settings panel, select Object Styles. ...Below each category can be many subcategories. ...elements. you can add or remove subcategories when creating or editing families. The beauty of this system is that you can control the visibility and graphics of each subcategory independently. This allows you to use different line weights for different subcomponents of families.

Controlling the Visibility of Elements
"Instead of using layers, Revit uses object categories’ view-specific settings to control how a drawing looks. The Visibility/graphic Overrides dialog box,...lets you control visibility of categories on a view-by-view basis. For example, instead of putting door handles on their own layer so they show only in high-scaled detailed views, Revit has commands to control the visibility of elements per view. If you don’t want to show the fine-grained details of an element, such as door handles and hardware, you can change the level of detail for your view..."

"Families in Revit
Independently of whether it’s a model or annotation category, a Revit element (from now on, family) can be a system family, a component family, or an in-place family.

System Families
"Examples of system families are walls, roofs, floors, ceilings, stairs, railings, ramps, and mullions. To create a system family, you must be in the project environment (you will not be able to create system families in the Family Editor). To make new, additional types of these families, you need to duplicate an existing family of the same type and modify it. So, to create a new wall type, for example, you must duplicate an existing wall, change its name, and then change the properties of the wall."
"...you cannot save a system family to a shared library as a
standalone component, it is possible to transfer these families between projects. To reuse system families from one project to another, select Manage ➔ Transfer Project Standards, then choose the category you want to transfer."

"Component Families
Component families (sometimes called standard families) are created outside of the project environment — still in Revit, but in a specific environment called the Family Editor. Component families have their own file format extension (.rfa) and can be stored or edited as separate files independent of a model, and then loaded at any time into a project."

"In-Place Families
In-place families are custom objects that are specific to a certain context within the model. A complex railing fence on a site is an example of an in-place family. ...Avoid making in-place families if you plan to reuse the family, or have multiple instances of it in the project."