When you start creating a column family, you see one of 3 views: a front elevation view of a lower reference level tag and an upper reference level tag with reference planes, a plan view with reference planes and 2 sets of equality dimensions, and a 3D view. The view in which you start creating geometry does not matter. You can define geometry in any of these views. You may want to add an overall width and depth dimension to the plan view and label it. This is useful if you are going to have a list of different-size columns.
When you create a column, Revit automatically adds a rotation control symbol to the lower left corner of the geometry in the plan view. You notice it when you add the column to a project. You can rotate the column in the plan view by clicking Modify, selecting the column geometry, and then dragging the rotation control arrow.
The following procedure is a general procedure for creating a column family. Your steps may differ based on design intent.
- Click
NewFamily. - In the Open dialog, select column.rft from the templates folder, and click Open.
- Create the geometry for the family. For more information on creating solid geometry, see Creating Solid and Void Geometry.
- If desired, label any permanent dimensions that you may have added. Place the cursor over the dimension text and right-click. Click Edit Label and enter a name for the dimension. This name appears in the properties of the family. You can modify the name to change all occurrences of that family type in the project or you can use it to create other family types with varying sizes.
- Set the reference planes and sketch lines properties for Defines Origin and Is Reference properties.
- Save the family by clicking Save. Revit saves the file with an RFA extension.