First Time with Revit Kid

I know what you might be thinking. Don't let the title deceive you. 😝 Last Thursday, I had the honor to be a guest to present at the famous Revit Kid's BIM After Dark live show on YouTube channel. This is indeed my first time speaking/presenting on YouTube even though I have spoken at numerous national conferences in the past. 

2020 is going to be THE year to remember. A lot of what we do now have been shifted and they are being done virtually. Working, shopping, ordering your meal, attending conferences and even Happy Hours. 

Jeff Pinheiro (aka Revit Kid) has been writing on his blog for over 10 years. Over the years he also started his YouTube channel. Since the pandemic and the stay-at-home ordeal, he started doing the Happy Hours show every Thursday night. It was a coincidence that Jeff and I were catching up a few weeks ago. One thing led to another, I accepted this gig to speak on his show. 

It was one of my favorite topics: Revit Family Tips and Tricks. From the show, I talked about a few that I have posted here on my blog as well as a new one that dealt with manufacturer content. 

If you are new to my blog or simply want to read my old posts again, check out the links below. 

    Profiling - Part 1

    Profiling - Part 3

    Something Borrowed

Of course you definitely need to check out the recorded session from Jeff's channel there!

Practical Family Tips and Tricks

Profiling - Part 4 (Tapping OOTB Resource)

Revit OOTB (Out-of-the-box) beam family has an extensive library from concrete to steel to wood. Many of these families, mostly steel shape, are actually created as sweep using nested profile family in family editor.

Steel Angle Sweep from Nested Profile Family

Often time I have to create custom family using an actual steel shape (such as L shape steel angle) as a profile to make a sweep or swept blend. Instead of drawing the steel angle (profile) shape, all I have to do is to pull one from the existing beam family, select the nested profile family from the project browser and re-use it.

Once you edit family, you notice the steel shape actually populate all the parameters based on the steel manual (b, d, t, etc...)

One tip I would advise is always check the origin and make appropriate adjustment to the origin of the profile before using it in a new family. Stock profile tends to set the origin at the centric location in the profile.

Knowing how to tap into the OOTB beam family and use them as a resource can greatly save your time and be more accurate and efficient.

OOTB Steel Beam Family library

I can now create custom shape steel angle family on a fly.