Video: Create and Document Assemblies

Combine multiple elements into a single assembly to be independently scheduled, tagged, and filtered.

This video demonstrates the following:

  1. Create an assembly with a structural column and two corbels.
  2. Change the Type Name or Naming Category.
  3. Place instances of assemblies within a model.
  4. Add or remove assembly elements.
  5. Create isolated views for an assembly.
Note: This video was recorded using Revit 2012. When using a newer software release, you may notice differences in functionality and user interface.

Transcript

In Revit, you can combine multiple elements into a single assembly that can be independently scheduled, tagged, and filtered.

For example, your model may require multiple instances of a structural column with a corbel on each of two opposite sides. To create an assembly from these three elements, select them and then click the Create Assembly tool. If no matching assemblies exist in the project, the New Assembly dialog displays an editable Type Name, which is automatically assigned based on the currently selected Naming Category. When more than one element of a category is included in an assembly, you can select a different one to use as a Naming Category. In this case, you could select the Generic Models category to which the corbels belong. To accept the default category of columns, click OK. Notice that the assembly type Columns 01 is added to the Project Browser under Assemblies.

If you now select an identical combination of column and corbels, click Create Assemblies again and select the same Naming Category. Revit recognizes the assembly as a second instance of the type you just created. So the Type Name in the New Assembly dialog is now read-only.

After creating the assembly type, you can place instances of it in the model as you would with any Revit element. You can disassemble a selected assembly at any time. Its component elements remain in the model and other assemblies of the same type are unaffected.

When you edit an assembly by adding or removing elements, or by changing the dimensions or position of an element, Revit automatically creates a new assembly type, assuming the resulting configuration is unique within the project.

To create isolated views for an assembly, select it in the drawing and create views. Assembly views can only be created for a single instance of an assembly type, so this tool will not be available if views have already been created for another assembly of the same type.

In the dialog, make sure the views you want are selected. Adjust the scale and title block values as needed, and then click OK. Note that the new assembly views are added to the Project Browser under the assembly type rather than under the Views node. Now you can open the sheet view and drag the other assembly views onto it as needed.

Use assemblies to identify, classify, quantify, and document unique element combinations in your building model.