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.
- 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.
- Create a new family file with the appropriate family template. See About Family Templates.
- Define subcategories for the family to help control the visibility of the family geometry. See Create Family Subcategories.
- 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.
- Define family type variations by specifying different parameters. See Create Family Types.
- Add a single level of geometry in solids and voids, and constrain the geometry to reference planes. See About Family Geometry.
- Flex the new model (types and hosts) to verify correct component behavior. See Test the Family.
- Repeat previous steps until the family geometry is complete.
- Specify 2D and 3D geometry display characteristics with subcategory and entity visibility settings. See About Family Visibility and Detail Level.
- Save the newly defined family, and then load it into a project for testing. See Test the Family.
- For large families that include many types, create a type catalog. See Create a Type Catalog.