Inserting Herman Miller Furniture and workspaces into a revit project

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've downloaded 3d models of some products such as office workspaces from hermanmiller.com.  These downloaded files are .rvt files.  I've only been using Revit for about 2 months.  I know how to load families and place those in my project, but I'm not sure how to handle the Herman Miller products.  I tried simply copying the workspace model to the clipboard and pasting it in and this worked.  However, it really slowed down my computer to the point of it not responding.   Is copy and pasting what I should be doing or is there a better way?  Is there a way to convert a revit project into a family?  I appreciate any help on this.  Thank you.

Michael

[L.Maas · Accepted solution]

Probably you have downloaded the typicals from HM. In the typicals, correct..these are rvt project files, they have assembled different products together to show off a....typical.

They also have a section named product category. In this section the single items (i.e. families) are categorized. In here you find the single families (chairs, desks etc). So maybe you better dowload from this section.

However you can still use the items from the typicals. In the project browser, in the 'Families' section, you will find all the families used in the project.

Most of the HM families can be found in the 'Furniture Systems' category. Select a family, right click. Then you have two options to proceed 'save' or 'edit'.

When you choose save you can place that family somewhere on you computer and load it from there in your project. Or you press 'edit', the family gets opened in the family editor and you can choose 'load into project' (this assumes your project is already open).

When you copy and paste from such a typical project it is possible. However most of the items are gouped so you tend to start copying several/many families which start to add up in your project. Further HM tends to lock and pin a lot of items together (something I normally do not do). Some people experience slowdowns when lots of things are locked and pinned in a project.

So in short, the disadvantage of copying and pasting from the typicals is that you quickly start copying lots of (unneeded?) families and that they are pinned and locked.

Better only load families that you will actually need.

Try to keep your projects lean, to keep Revit responsive.

[cpsatips]

Hey, do you still have these typical revit families. I have some but want to see if you have any more, please let me know. Thanks