Companies with the Best Online Revit Libraries

[Seychellian]

Since shifting my company to Revit 3yrs I have become committed to using the software to it's fullest and in doing so tend to specify products from companies that provide data rich Revit families for us to incorporate into our models for scheduling etc. It is always a headache when we are forced to specify a product where the BIM data is not available and we need to create the models ourselves at great time expense. Alternatively we are forced to use generic models which do not allow us any of the benefits of a product-specific model.

I am always hunting for companies that offer these resources. As an example i recently found this lighting company (Bega) which has a library with ~1800 data-rich revit families (2.5GB) downloadable as a single file (https://www.bega.com/en/service/planning-aids/). Finding these sorts of resources is like striking gold.

So with this in mind I would like to send out a call for information to this community to share resources like this which they can vouch for as reliable. I am not referring to websites like Revit City which offer user-built generic models, but rather actual companies. One other thing to bear in mind is the location of the company as there will implications in terms of availability and, of course, units (metric v imperial). We specifically are more Euro and Asia-Centric in terms of procurement and we use metric units, so maybe it's worth commenting on that when giving recommendations.

Hopefully we can pool our resources to build a database of companies together 

ps please also provide specific links to the revit library rather than the company homepage.

[a_meteni]

https://www.bimobject.com/en/manufactor/viewlogos

[RobDraw]

This is already being done by Autodesk's BIM Object. 

IMVHO, any list like this is very subjective to the needs of the company or user (which you've already hit upon). I don't think it's necessarily about who makes families that are suitable but more about the process to get what is needed for the project. There are companies that do not use manufacturer's families for a number of very valid reasons. One of the main ones being too much detail. They opt for using generic families and input the necessary information for the specified element in the project or create from scratch to the specifications of the device. There are third party apps that help with this workflow making it quite efficient even faster than vetting the third party content.

This list is going to be quite extensive too. There are just too many variables to account for, level of detail, shared parameters, ease of scheduling to name a few. It's also going to contain multiple manufacturers for what is essentially the same exact thing with or without a couple of minor differences. Even if you were to beak this list into trades and locations in the world, managing it would quickly become a full time job for many people.

I think your efforts would be better off put in the direction of developing a workflow for getting the families that are built in the way that you need them. In your case, where you desire very detailed families, your best source is the manufacturer of the product. These families are almost always going to need to be edited to suit your modeling environment, if they are even available. Knowing how to get appropriate families, how to adjust them to suit your needs, and how to create your own families and family library would be much more valuable than any database of manufacturers that supply "quality" families.

With that being said, there would be value to a list of manufacturers that is developed for use in your company as go to sources for families.

[norbert_szlezak]

I encourage you to check this website: https://www.archispace.pl/?lang=en

Around 95% of the models you find there are models created exclusively for the manufacturers or by manufacturers itself. Hopefully you can find there something for you or at least it might be worthy for you to check there some companies that own their files.

Just to underline, I work in this company. I don't mean to advertise it, just might be useful for you.

[HVAC-Novice]

I wouldn't choose a product based on what manufacturer gives me the easiest families. That would be a disservice to the client that deserves the best product chosen for the project. 

What you want sounds good in theory and would work if ALL manufacturers and ALL designers would agree on a standard and ALL manufacturers would actually create and update families based on that. In reality this isn't going to happen and the sophistication of manufacturers to create families varies a lot. Some of them seem to have hired a first-time user to create families..... 

For a varying reasons you want to create or edit your own families. Shared parameters have to be the same, and many manufacturers don't detail well, or too much, don't use the connectors right etc. and you will have to verify correctness anyway. In your example of light fixtures, I would have to verify they actually used an up-t-date ies file. Some families seem to be from a 5 year old Revitversion, while I hope their LED fixtures got a newer light engine since. So you need to manually download their ies files anyway. 

And once you have a 2x2 fixture of manufacturer A, you just copy that family, rename it to manufacturer B, and change the ies file, lumen, VA etc. to match the new model. That way the new manufacturer B fixture will work with your schedules etc. and you know it includes the correct engineering data.

The only reason i see where i want to use a new manufacturer family is if they have a very complex geometry that I need. For example, if it is important that the fixture diffuser looks a bit different. In most cases, this is not really important (overmodeling). But then you just use that manufacturer's family, and add your own parameters. 

[bdurao]

Hi all,

I am using BIMobject.com but no add-in for RVT 2023....

And when I import the furniture families they don't have smooth surfaces and corners (ex: a sofa). Does anyone know why?  Thank you

[RobDraw]

That's not really related to the topic at hand. Start a new thread and share the family.