Setting Up a Lighting Fixture Family Base File (5:51 min)

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MARTHA HOLLOWELL ORCUTT: Setting up a lighting fixture family

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base file.

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In this video, we're going to create a base file which

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is like a template that can be used

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to create multiple lighting fixture families.

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I'm working in Revit and I'm on the File tab,

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clicking New and then Family.

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And first of all, I want you to see

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that there are several lighting fixture templates

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but there are all either designed

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to be standalone, ceiling-based, or a wall-based.

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When you're working in linked files,

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you need to use a face-based family

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because face-based families can be placed

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on any surface, ceilings, walls, structural members, and roofs

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for example.

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So I'm selecting the generic model face-based.rft template

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file and clicking Open.

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Since this is generic, I need to go into the properties

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and click on the family category and parameters button

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as you can see here.

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And then I'm going to change this to a lighting fixture.

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I want to go ahead and select light source

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so I have a light source in here but I also

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need to have an electrical connector.

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So on the Create tab, I'm selecting Electrical connector,

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placing it on the work plane in this case, which

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is the ref level is where I want to put it to the first place

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and click OK.

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Now when I open up the elevations front view,

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you can see that the light source displays

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with the face on the ref level.

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This is typical of face-based families

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you actually create them upside down when you're

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working on lighting fixtures.

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The location and shape of the light source

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will be modified to fit the specific fixture later.

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At this point, we need to review the parameters.

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In the Create tab, properties panel,

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I'm clicking family types.

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Because this is a lighting fixture family,

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some of the built in parameters are

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included in the family from the beginning

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but they are not the only parameters that you need.

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So we're going to add parameters to make

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this a more useful family.

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In the family types dialog box, I'm

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going to click on New parameter.

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At this point, we could use a family parameter

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but it's better to use a shared parameter

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because we're creating a base file that

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will be used for multiple projects

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and we want those parameters to appear in schedules and tags.

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So I'm going to click the Select button

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and I have a shared parameter file right now already

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available that has a couple of parameters in it.

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I'm going to click Edit so you can see where those are,

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I've actually got this now in my data sets,

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it's a small Medical Center shared parameters.

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And I have two parameters that are in here

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so I'm going to click OK that was just

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to show you where it was.

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I want to use a parameter now, I'm

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going to select Load classification and click OK.

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It's going to be a tight parameter

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and I want to group that parameter under Electrical

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as you can see here, click OK.

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So pretty easy if you already have a shared file.

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You click New parameter, you click Shared parameter,

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select, choose the one you want, in this case ballast voltage,

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click OK.

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Assigned where you how you want it to be grouped and click OK

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again.

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Now, if I want to create a new shared parameter,

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it's actually pretty easy.

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I go into new parameter, click Shared parameter again, select.

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I'm going to put it in the same shared parameter file

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so I'm going to click Edit.

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And here it is, there's the parameter file

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I had before that I showed.

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You could also create a new one if you needed to.

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And I have already a parameter group called Electrical shared

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parameters and I'm going to come over and click New parameter.

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This one I'm going to name, ballast number of poles.

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The discipline is going to be Electrical and in this case,

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it's pretty easy.

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The type of parameter is also number of poles.

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You can see here I have that option

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and I'm going to click OK.

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I could, by the way, put a tooltip in.

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This one's pretty self-explanatory so I click OK.

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To use it, I now select that new parameter and I click OK.

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Make sure it's in here again, click OK.

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And then once again select where I want to group

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it In this particular family.

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So now I have my additional parameters

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and I'm ready to go ahead and start building a new family

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using this template as a base.

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So I've got my light source, I've

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got my Electrical connector, I've got my parameters,

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I'm going to click Save and I'm going to name this one,

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lighting fixture surface template

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because this is a template file for what

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I'm working on right now.

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And I'll save that and it will be

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available for the next project I work on.