Change a Family's Category

Most of the time we can change a family's category. We can open the family, click Family Category and Parameters and choose a different category.

An exception to the rule is when we attempt this with a family that is already assigned to the Structural Framing category. Revit will let us think we've succeeded until we try to use the family in a project or reload it.

The special Revityness of structural framing prevents this transition. If you've already loaded and created an instance of the family in a project Revit will generate an error and invite you to delete the family type(s). The moral of the story is "don't because you can't".

Dept. of Bugs - Revit Framing Does Not Play Nice

Avan Amalsad wrote to me today asking me if I could corroborate her observations and those of one of her clients, she works with Microdesk and specializes in Revit Structure. She was asking about that version but I had Revit Architecture open. The two applications share these features so if it happens in RST I expected it to happen in RAC, it did! Okay okay...what is it?

If you have a grid, column and framing layout and adjust the position of a grid by a value of around six inches or less (150mm) you'll find that the framing doesn't follow the grid.

If you change the spacing by a value greater than six inches (150mm) then it seems to wake up and follow the grid. If you keep changing it by small increments the framing may not wake up until you've move it enough that it does again. Odd foible. Avan's client says that they saw a larger increment of failure back in Revit 2009 so it is better now. I guess we have to define better loosely? I recorded a little video to demonstrate it to make it easier to see.

3rd Party Applications - Eagle Point and Tools4Revit

There are a growing number of companies creating specific products intended to expand or enhance working with Revit.

Building Framing and other Utilities:
Recently Tools4Revit made their work available to me and I've been slowly working through their pretty comprehensive set of tools. I plan to post about some of their tools as soon as I feel competent to do so.

Site and Land Development:
I hope to get a chance to see the latest development from Eagle Point Software called LANDCADD for Revit. LANDCADD is hardly new but support for Revit is brand new, new enough that there isn't much information on their site yet. The release is tentatively scheduled for October 2009. You can read their press release HERE.