Tag: families

James Hardie Revit 2013 content downloads

Luke Johnson

Direct links:
James Hardie Revit curtain wall files 2013.zip
James Hardie Revit basic wall files 2013.zip
JH_Product_Profiles_Archive.zip (CAD DWGs)

(you *may* have to use Firefox with Downthemall to properly download from these links)

To recursively extract all of the DWGs from the last link, use the method described here.

via ACCEL HARDICONTENT | JAMES HARDIE

Swapping your Families for different ones

Luke Johnson

A while back, RevitCat got me thinking about the rules associate with family swapping in Revit.  Here are a couple:

  • You can change the Category of a family (using Edit Family, Load into Project) with a particular name, and all instances of that family will also (obviously) change Category.  Obviously, there are certain restrictions to this process (for instance, you can’t switch to Mass category or from Mass category without some kind of hack).
  • You can swap a family of a certain Category for a totally different family of the same Category using ‘Reload’ in the Project Browser, or ‘Select All Instances’ and then just changing the instances in the Type Selector.

Unless you can reverse engineer this bug, you will have to essentially follow RevitCat’s advice – to change just a single Type of a Family to a different Category, I would probably Edit the Family (from the Project Browser), save/rename it, load it, Select All Instances of the Type you want to switch, change it to the renamed version, and then use the method from the first bullet point above.

In response to:
RevitCat: Changing category of just one type in a Revit family

Another interesting point from his post:
If you plan to change categories of a family, it will appear to wipe out the sub-categories – but actually they are still there, hidden away;  they may show up in the project listed under the old category in Visibility Graphics.

Andersen Window Studio is back (Revit content creator / plugin)

Luke Johnson

EDIT via Autodesk Forum

Revit 2014 was just released and an updated version of Andersen’s Window Studio is being tested right now.  Release date is expected in 7 – 10 days, but a pre-release version has been made available for current Revit 2014 users.  This is a 64 bit version of Window Studio 12.1 that has been recompiled using the Revit 2014 API.  Please report any issues you might run into (it is still undergoing testing).  I’ll remove this link when an official version is offered on andersenwindows.com..

Pre release of Window Studio 13.0 for Revit 2014

There are many new features exp>ected in the 13.1 release scheduled for late summer.  One of those features will be the inclusion of exterior trim as designed in Window Studio.  For the intervening months, the following advice might help anyone trying to create their own trim and group it with an Andersen Window.  Hopefully, this workaround will only be needed for a short time.

Since I last posted my last comment about trim, I was sent a generic trim .rfa file I’ve been using.  I was able to place the trim family on my host wall and change the parameters to “almost” match the native Andersen trim.  The model I was sent does not have any cornice,  drip cap, or brick mould so those features would have to be added using the family editor.  I wish I knew the original creator of this trim file so I could give him/her credit, but I’m afraid I did not obtain that info.

Here’s the file.  I took the RO measurements of the Andersen window to set the height and width parameters for this generic trim.  One limitation is that this works for single units only (without editing).  The authentic Andersen trim will render horizontals and verticals for an entire design with no editing needed.  Space between mulled units will either show a 3.5 or 4.5 board or the connecting strip for frame-to-frame joins.

Window Trim RFA File

Christopher Oace
Andersen CAD Support 

Go here to register and download:
http://www.comehometoandersen.com/servlet/Satellite/IQ/Page/awBrochureRequest/ContentServer

Direct link to 64 bit version:
Download

Active / current forum thread:
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Revit-Architecture/Andersen-Window-Studio/td-p/3499264

Rattling the Act-gsac-use nest over linked libraries

Luke Johnson

It wouldn’t be a BIM blog post without inventing some obscure, never-to-be-used again abbreviation would it?  In this case, actGSACuse stands for ‘active Graphisoft ArchiCAD users‘.

I tweeted this image last Friday (from ArchiCAD 10, file:///C:/Program Files/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 10/Help/Files/01_Configuration.2.24.html):

The tweet:

This sparked an animated discussion on Twitter that essentially boils down to this:
is it better to have all project components (ArchiCAD libraries, Revit families) living in the project, or is it better to have them residing in a central server location where they are regularly updated and reloaded?

Personally, I believe there are pros and cons to each method.  I think an important consideration is Control — if the library is Linked (ArchiCAD), do you have control over the program to say “hey, don’t overwrite this component, I like it the way it is.”  Similarly, if the components are all residing in a single project file (Revit), it would be nice to have the ability to one-click reload all updated families from a central Family RFA storage location.  I recall requesting this feature under some NDA project, but as yet, Revit can not do this without an add-in getting involved.

Along the lines of this discussion, I have created a new topic at BIMdebates:
BIMdebates: A central, live and linked component Library is better than static components in residing in a Project file

Why was I looking at an ArchiCAD 10 help file, you may rightly ask?  I was trying to upgrade an ArchiCAD 7.0 file and then export to IFC2x3.  However, I couldn’t open it directly in ArchiCAD 16, so I had to open it in ArchiCAD 10 first.  I then wanted to embed the libraries, but I think embedded libraries first came to ArchiCAD in version 14?  So I basically had to open in ArchiCAD 10, save, then open in ArchiCAD 16, then embed libraries.  Then play around with IFC2x3 settings to make things come to Revit ok.  I haven’t even looked at trying to open / upgrade / convert Plotmaker PMK files yet…

These PMK files are circa-2002.  Upon trying to open them in ArchiCAD 16, I get:
“You can only open files created by PlotMaker 3.0 or later.”

Tried same process in ArchiCAD 10 – same message.

Plan ahead when making a family

Luke Johnson

Sometimes, putting a bit of thought and planning into your family design well lead to far better results than simply ‘diving in there’.  The following post shows a list of such requirements.  Essentially, you write a ‘brief’ for your family, and then seek to meet the requirements of that brief.

Example at this link

However, at times I do things the complete wrong way about – like modelling them inplace, then converting them to component families and trying to figure out the origin and constraints later on – very messy and definitely not best_practice 🙂

 

Free utility that will sort all of your families by Category!

Luke Johnson

From time to time, I export all of the families in a project and add it to our Library as a ‘snapshot’ of where our families were at during that project.  However, Revit still does not export the families into folders by Category (there used to be an add-in that did this).

Happily, a new free tool from Kiwi Codes will take a folder and then sort all of the RFAs into folders by Category for you!

  1. Download (need to submit email as per image below). 
    You can also download it from Autodesk Exchange. (direct link)
  2. Install
  3. Run from Revit

    I did a test run of this on about 200 families – it sorted them in a couple of minutes.  If you don’t know how to export families from a Project, just go:

    1. File – Save As
    2. Library
    3. Family
    4. All families

    From their website:
    This tool takes all the families located in the specified folder and sub folders and organizes them into Category named folders in the target directory.
    via
    Family Categorizer | Products | Kiwi Codes Solutions Ltd

    Heads-up via
    Family Categorizer | AEC-APPS

    EDIT 2 – I have received confirmation from the Director of Kiwi Codes that the tool is “totally Free and not time locked …”

    EDIT – While the website clearly states ‘This tool is free’ (see image above), I received the following by email:
    Thank you for your interest in Family Categorizer and downloading the 21 day trial. We hope that you see the benefits that Family Categorizer will bring to your business like others worldwide are reporting.
     

    Railing families – November 2012

    Luke Johnson

    I recently downloaded the Revit (railing) files from Moddex Systems.  If you want to access them, go to the following page and follow the links to register:
    Moddex – CAD Support
    (you can also go direct to this registration page)

    These files do not yet take advantage of some of the advances made in Revit 2013, that I posted about last week.  However, Moddex are “looking into fast tracking the upgrade”.

    I also recently downloaded the free Railing families from BIMstore.  Again, these are not upgraded for 2013.

    Don’t forget to check out the online ‘master list’ of Revit content at Links to Revit Content online.  If something is missing, please register and add it to the page.

    A while ago, I posted some in-place and component Stairs and Railings.

    If you have any particularly great Railing families that you would like to share, feel free to reply using the comments!

    18000 free families from familit – Revit Family Library

    Luke Johnson

    While familit do have a browser / content manager add-in, this is a paid product (if you are looking for free family browser, check out tools4revit).  However, the family content itself at familit is free:
    At the moment familit.com offers 18.000 free families in English, German and French language.

    http://lumion3d.com/

    You don’t even need to register.  Just go to the following link and start downloading:
    familit – Revit Family Library