Model in place - families

[aRcHiTeCt.JM]

How many model in place families, elements do you use in your projects?

How many do you think will be too much?

I’m asking because I have been using a lot … really a lot!!

I don’t find ok to keep creating complex families that you will probably use once for a specific project/view.

What do you think?

[Alfredo_Medina]

It becomes too much when your model becomes slow to respond. Revit performs better with families than with model in-place elements, because model in-place elements are unique. Notice that even when a model in-place is copied, each instance is unique. If you modify one, the other instances are not updated. So just for keeping a good performance of your model, you should make objects as families instead of model in-place. The time involved in making an object as a family is the same time it takes to make it as a model in-place, but you will save time in performance of your model if you make it as a family.

[Corsten.Au]

1. If the family is simple rectangular which can be created using default family templates ( Door, Window, repeat details, wall based plumbing fixtures etc ) or can be created using few changes to existing ( default ) families, then one should create them as simple families.

2. Advantage for those families are you can give custom parameters specially like Materials, Offset from levels,

height, width etc.. 

3. Another advantage is you can save those families ( right click on family in project browser and save all in one folder for further use )

4. In place families are great only if they are one off.. you cannot use them in different project cause revit doesnt allow copy and paste it into new projects..

5. inplace families are little hard to schedule.. ( like extracting their diemnsion parameters , also applying material is requires editing them all the time , and if you have multiple instances of inplace families, its hard to apply same material to all of them in one go for example... )

so its a users call usually whether to create in-place families.. but generally, if you are investing time in creating them anyways, why not use default templates for families and create them... 

trick is also you can have nested families... ex.. create a wash basin which is not wall based..but then you can insert that was basin family into another wall based family... and then load in the project..

best luck..

[Anonymous]

hi. I have been using too many as well

I think if you need to do it why not? right

[aRcHiTeCt.JM]

... yeah right....

I have become very efficient creating in situ/ in place families...

so why not..?? 

... and yes, it's difficult sometimes to get those into schedules... but.... do what you need to do 

[barthbradley]

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@aRcHiTeCt.JM wrote:

How many model in place families, elements do you use in your projects?

How many do you think will be too much?

---

1. As little a possible

2. More than a little

[aRcHiTeCt.JM]

... oh oh ... I've just counted like a 100 model in place families to get to this result...

... but I guess its fine if you show a good result ... and have a nice pc 

[Alfredo_Medina]

I think you don´t work in a team that have to comply with BIM execution plan´s rules, do you?

[barthbradley]

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@aRcHiTeCt.JM wrote:

... oh oh ... I've just counted like a 100 model in place families to get to this result...

... but I guess its fine if you show a good result ... and have a nice pc 

---

Is that yours? Sweet! 

[aRcHiTeCt.JM]

... no... 

... well.... sometimes... depending on the project

... but even with complex projects there are always a lot of model in place families

[loboarch]

You really only want to use in-place families when you are modeling something that requires "context" to make sense or make easier. If you can model the element without the building context and then place it as a component family it will be better.

In most cases I think you can model things without context. I would suggest avoiding the use of in-place models as much as possible. Think long and hard about if this model could be made without looking at the building around it. Why does this element NEED to be done in-place?  I will agree it is usually easier to just model something in place as it does not disrupt your workflow as much, but it is generally a good idea to minimize their use as much as possible.

[M_Perez]

I think it is more difficult to decide when to use a In Place Family as when not to use them.

I would say you should avoid using a In Place Family if:
-You use it more than once (even if it just twice)
-You can reuse it with a few parameters
-You need to schedule something more than "1 unit"

Don't forget that you can always build families that have no parameters at all if you don't need them.

If you need context, you can open/create an In Place Family and draw reference lines or whatever you need and then copy them to a family.

[loboarch]

It is funny, the responses are all basically saying it is a good idea to LIMIT the number of in place families as much as possible, yet the 3 marked "solutions are basically responses to that advice saying, "yes but...."

Just adding here for the benefit of other reading this thread. It is generally best if you LIMIT the use of in place families as much as possible in your projects. It will be better in the long run  

[Base12]

Maybe this is a good thread to answer this question that I've never fully understood.

In place Elements vs Families, but both are actually Components... ???

When you "model in place" in Revit (2017 - 2021 anyway), the menu tab you click is Architecture --> Components, where you can either add an existing one, or create one in-place.  Everything I read about "modelling in place" seems to use the three terms interchangeably, but really seems to be referring to modelling components (per the GUI).  Can someone clear this up for me? Am I missing something incredibly basic?

[Anonymous]

Everything has some process. If you will follow that process you will get a better result in the future. You have to think widely, your model can be used for asset management as well facility management and these operation needs all elements as family.
Hence rather than do poop in a sleeping posture do it in a sitting posture, what generally we are doing.

[Anonymous]

Everything has some process. If you will follow that process you will get a better result in the future. You have to think widely, your model can be used for asset management as well facility management and these operation needs all elements as family.
Rather than do poop in a sleeping posture do it in a sitting posture, what generally we are doing.

[XXalessio.amodioXX]

Hi. 

I NEVER use model in place family. So my answer is "0"