Monday, May 14, 2012

Family Naming Simplified


Revit is an open system - the naming of files and family components is completely up to the user. Practice has shown there is much to be gained by adopting a naming convention or guideline. 



In Revit Architecture there are 21 external family categories, whose purpose includes the behavior of components including visibility, line weights, etc.

Assigning a keyword to each category facilitates sorting and results in grouping of content of similar categories within the pull-down menus.

Hosted objects
For most objects the default host is assumed or apparent. A ‘location’ keyword is useful when the method of hosting is variable or not the default(CB) ceiling based; (FB) face based; (FLB) floor based; (LB) line based; (RB) roof based; (WB) wall based.

When naming external families, it's a good practice to proceed from general to specific. Sub-categories to be considered include Type, Description, Use, and Manufacturer. Use the suffix ‘2D’ to indicate families composed of symbolic linework or detail components. Otherwise assume the family is modeled 3D geometry.

Examples:
GEN_WB_Sign-Oval-36
PRO_Tile-SpanRake-Base
WDO_Multi-Panel Recessed
SPEQ-FB_Seat Cover Tissue Dispenser- Surface Mtd - Bobrick B-3479
SPEQ_Grab Bar-2D

2 comments:

  1. Hello Mr Allen,
    I am trying to make our road map for our organization workflow, and you know better it is not a simple thing to do, and your idea of making a suffix is something that i was to implement, but while doing that i noticed you only included the Categories inside Revit Architecture and Structure Only. now it's 2016 and the categories accumulated 30.
    From BIM Management perspective i think this list should also include categories from MEP as well, so it would be a comprehensive list from the only BIM Manager in a company.

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