Revit Content Ad nauseam???

It is minor but the groundswell has started. Yaay. Finally MFG's are not just using CAD Imports (those old Lazy asses!!!) as an excuse for Revit Families; now MFG's like A. O. Smith are getting on the Revit train and doing families right (mostly)...I say mostly because the hosted nature of many families goes against many (read as my) best practices.

Regardless of my thoughts on hosting, we do like "Firsts" and would like to congratulate A.O. Smith on their forward thinking and swift action, Many in the AEC world could use more of that!!!

From their site:
"A. O. Smith is pleased to be the first Water Heater Manufacturer to offer you 3D Revit models."

A special and personal note to everyone making families: STOP MAKING FAMILIES HOSTED UNLESS THEY REALLY (read as REALLY!!!) NEED TO BE. I know ADSK suggests (mandates?) that families be hosted but this is as flawed an outlook as making the size of a door be type driven. I know the door issue is arguable but a slab door is a slab door, is a slab door, no matter the size... Let's say my slab door is Type A1. why do I need a new Type that is for a 3'x9' and another that's 4'x9'? the TYPE of these doors (in reality) is the same...

Face based families will probably cause problems when the family forgets what face it was hosted to and falls on it's side, etc. I know hosted objects will move with their host but issues like this can (read as will) prove to be bigger than just simple location coordination!!! Especially since we can constrain families to a 'host' in other ways.

Has anyone ever had face based families lose their host when copies were pasted to other levels??? I have...

With all he MFG's creating content we now need wading boots, to navigate the ever expanding road of dissimilar Family & Type names, parameters, methods, modeling continuity, etc...

When does one break from the MFG conventions and align families with individual company necessities? ASATA... (As Soon As They Arrive)!!!

A Green Roof is a Happy Roof???

Are you going green and want to use a green roof? This nice little article may help.