How do I change the geometry of this revit family?

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am very new to Revit although in my group I was tasked with creating a Bi-fold parametric window shade. I found the exact one I want online although we want a metal mesh (Like the gaurdrail file) for the exterior shade, not the louvers.

Attached is the Guardrail that has the material I want the shading device to have.

also attached is the parametric shading device.

[barthbradley]

Select the Family in the Project and assign Project Materials to the Family's Material Type Parameters. 

[barthbradley]

Just to be clear, your Family has Material Parameters under its Type Properties.  When you use this Family (or any Family)  in different Projects, you need to associate A PROJECT MATERIAL to these Material Parameters.   The Family Materials may differ from the Project Materials - and the Project Materials RULE.

For instance, if your Family is using a Material named "Aluminum" from the Family's Material Browser that is Red, and the Project that the Family  is loaded into has a Material also named "Aluminum" but it is Blue, then the Family will be Blue in the Project.   

[Anonymous]

Perfect, thank you Bradley. Now my issue is that we actually dont like the profile of the aluminum on the gaurdrails. (The alumnum panels with the holes)  and we would rather just have it as a flat plane that i can create a material/bitmap that will manipulate its holes sizes and placement.

How do I do this? I tried to edit it as a family but it doesnt give me the "edit family" option in the modify tab.

[barthbradley]

Are you talking about the perforations in the railing panels? Those are not coming from a Material. Those perforations are part of the geometry of the panel. The panel is modeled with all those perforations.  Maybe I'm reading you all wrong.  Can you clarify?  

[barthbradley]

Construction_Railing_WelandALU_Baluster_SheetMetal_Plate_StandardH.rfa

[barthbradley]

Go into the Rail Properties and look under "Baluster Placement". There you will see how the perforated panel is made part of the pattern.  You can swap it out for another via the drop-down selector under "Baluster Family".  

[Anonymous]

Whew, seems like I might be in over my head here with editing these families...

Thats very helpful, I think to clarify I would like the shades to have just a flat panel instead of the louvers and I will apply a material to them that makes it a metal mesh(Ill find the material online).

But we wanted the railings perforated aluminum panels to be a flat panel as well, so that I can apply that same material to them so they match the shades.

[ToanDN]

Using a material for the perforation is a good approach. Edit the shade family baluster panel family and remove all the voids, then give the geometry a material parameter. In project you can add a perforated material (get the asset from Revit Material Appearance Asset) and assign it to the material parameter above.

[Anonymous]

Gotchya, Sorry very new to Revit. I've understood everything so far. Now the step I'm stuck on and don't know how to ask correctly is how do I remove those voids? Could you do a step by step? or what can I search for in googs for the correct tutorial?

I notice that RT202: standard, and RT202: Fill: Standard are the two profiles I need to delete the voids out of but I don't know how to do that.

[ToanDN]

Example: edit a baluster panel family, do a window select around all the holes and delete them.

Result: