Concepts
Creating a Family from scratch can be daunting the first few times. Because you are attempting to create and use parameters that will allow multiple Types of each family when working in a project it's necessary to:
  • set up the geometry in terms of reference planes
  • apply dimensions between reference planes
  • create the parameters that you will later "flex" to create your types
  • apply those parameters to the dimensions
  • Create the bounds of your element, for simple objects often using the extrusion tool
  • constrain (lock) the boundaries of your object to those reference planes
    • If you're extruding a prismatic element you'll constrain the boundaries in two steps
      • the prism while you're sketching it
      • The height after you've extruded it

Be prepared to make several mistakes. Starting with a really simple object such as a cube can save a lot of time.

A good example of this in process is this 2013 video of creating a bookcase. Hopefully keeping these steps in mind will help you understand this fast paced video.

A few practical notes:
  • Revit has made it easy to start by providing many family templates - using one is usually the first step
    • The furniture family, for instance, identifies the object as furniture and provides four prepared views (WT to see them)
  • When dimensioning something like the height, work to the reference plane
    • e.g. in elevation make your first click on the reference plane at the top of the object and your second on the floor reference
    • If you go the other way your object will flex in the wrong manner - eg. the bottom will come off the floor.
  • Not all parameters can appear in schedules. There are two types available.
    • Family Parameters (the ones used in the video) are not able to appear in a schedule
      • The dimension in the furniture family of the video, for example, cannot be seen in a schedule
        • If you check the properties of furniture families built into Revit you'll see that dimensions are not properties
    • Shared Parameters can appear in a schedule
      • They are more complex to create and use because they reference an external text file (one per project)