Autodesk 256B1-05A761-1301 - AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite 2010, User Manual

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Revit Families
All of the elements that you add to your Revit projects – from the structural members, walls, roofs, windows, and doors
that you use to assemble a building model to the callouts, fixtures, tags, and detail components that you use to document
it – are created with families.
By using predefined families and creating new ones in Revit Architecture, you can add both standard and custom elements
to your building models. Families also provide a level of control over elements that are similar in use and behavior, allowing
you to easily make design changes and manage your projects more efficiently.
For complete information about creating, modifying, and working with families, download the Revit Architecture Families
Guide, which contains detailed conceptual information, tutorials, and information about best practices. For more
information, see
The Families Guide on page 418.
Families Overview
A family is a group of elements with a common set of properties, called parameters, and a related graphical
representation. Different elements belonging to a family may have different values for some or all of their
parameters, but the set of parameters (their names and meanings) is the same. These variations within the
family are called
family types or types .
For example, the Furniture category includes families and family types that you can use to create different
pieces of furniture, like desks, chairs, and cabinets. Although these families serve different purposes and are
composed of different materials, they have a related use. Each type in the family has a related graphical
representation and an identical set of parameters, called the family type parameters.
When you create an element in a project with a specific family and family type, you create an instance of
the element. Each element instance has a set of properties, in which you can change some element parameters
independent of the family type parameters. These changes apply only to the instance of the element, the
single element in the project. If you make any changes to the family type parameters, the changes apply to
all element instances that you created with that type.
For complete information about creating, modifying, and working with families, download the Revit
Architecture Families Guide, which contains detailed conceptual information, tutorials, and information
about best practices. For more information, see
The Families Guide on page 418.
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