Revit Family Basics Videos

Hey all,

I finally got a chance to start creating some videos on the very basics of Revit Family creation. The first video Revit Family Basics #1 is for anyone who is just starting out and you need to know which template file to begin with, or you need to know where you are in the Revit family editor, how to save families, load them into a project, etc. I will be following this video up with others as I can make time to make them. Please feel free to add your comments so I can tailor these to meet your needs and implement any ideas you may have.

Thanks,
Wm

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Revit Family Basics #2 - Here's a case of an over detailed piece of Revit content that we can pretty quickly pare down and rebuild in Revit using model lines to depict the details that were originally modeled instead of just drawn with model or symbolic lines. This is a video you will want to point your manufacturers and vendors to so they can start to understand Revit designers HATE geometrically over-detailed content. We like simple looking content that is Informationally robust. Make the link to the content pretty & fancy, and make the content simple but accurate, and you (manufacturer) will be designed in!!  

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Comments

[David]

YouTube is not a great place to put videos, because many companies (including mine) specifically block YouTube, Facebook, etc.

A direct link to the video file from this site would be better.

[McQuay]

Regarding video #2 (great video, BTW), there were a few reasons we did the air cooled chiller bases the way we did. One was for an accurate footprint, mostly for structural reasons (though model lines could help with that).

But the other main reason was for collision detection for when the evaporator pipes are run. It is entirely possible the evaporator pipes could come up through the roof within the bounding box of the unit because the evaporator connections on these units are well within the bounding box of the unit.

By providing an accurate 3D model of the base tubing and support posts, any collisions between the base and the pipes being run into the unit to attach to the evaporator would show up on an interference check.

We turn off the visibility of some of those base details (and fan grill cylinders) in coarse view, as well.

It was the best compromise between functionality and geometric simplicity we could come up with.

[William Spier]

Thank you for the feedback David. So my bad here folks. As Dave adroitly points out, in their case with the chiller unit, if McQuay had used model lines to represent the base tubing and support posts in order to keep this family geometrically "light", it would have proved more detrimental than helpful. Users need to stay clear of the base tubing when routing piping up through the roof, directly under the unit, and they cannot do that accurately or check for interference without the McQuay actually modeling the tubing.

Thanks again for pointing that out Dave, and for keeping me honest!

Wm

[Blake Harrison]

I can't read the text on the buttons or what your pointing at in the project browser. Might want to chose a little better quality format. Great information! thanks for making these!

[William Spier]

Hi Blake - I did some work with the Camtasia team, and I think I got it nailed. Check out the latest "Autodesk's Revit Family Seekret" video I posted. Note that you can set the video to 720p HD, and if you select the resolution settings, you can permanently set the resolution to default to HD whenever you go to full screen. LMK if that looks better, and thanks for the feedback.

Wm