Workflow: Loadable Families

For best results when creating a family, use this workflow.

Depending on the complexity of the family, the creation process can be time-consuming. If you can identify a family that is similar to the one you want to create, you can save time and effort by copying, renaming, and modifying the family to create the new family.

1. Before beginning family creation, plan your family. Identify requirements regarding family sizes, how the family displays in different views, whether a host is required, the detail level to be modeled, and the origin of the family. See Plan a Loadable Family.
2. Create a new family file with the appropriate family template. See About Family Templates.
3. Define subcategories for the family to help control the visibility of the family geometry. See Create Family Subcategories.
4. Create the family skeleton, or framework:
   • Define the origin (the insertion point) of the family. See Define the Family Origin.
   • Lay out reference planes and reference lines to aid in sketching component geometry. See Lay Out Reference Planes and About Reference Lines in Families.
   • Add dimensions to specify parametric relationships. See Dimension Reference Planes and Lines.
   • Label dimensions to create type or instance parameters or 2D representation. See Label Dimensions to Create Parameters.
   • Test, or flex, the skeleton. See Flex the Family Framework.
5. Define family type variations by specifying different parameters. See Create Family Types.
6. Add a single level of geometry in solids and voids, and constrain the geometry to reference planes. See About Family Geometry.
7. Flex the new model (types and hosts) to verify correct component behavior. See Test the Family.
8. Repeat previous steps until the family geometry is complete.
9. Specify 2D and 3D geometry display characteristics with subcategory and entity visibility settings. See About Family Visibility and Detail Level.
10. Save the newly defined family, and then load it into a project for testing. See Test the Family.
11. For large families that include many types, create a type catalog. See Create a Type Catalog.