Download Free Revit Families-Components-Updated List

The majority of these websites provide free Revit Families-Components for download.

I've ranked them based on my current usage of them for my client Revit projects. There's a direct link to the download websites.

The list continues to grow as users, manufacturers and content distributors provide an enormous amount of free Revit families and component content.


Revit User/Community Web Sites

RevitCity - Revit Users Community - Revit Family Libraries

RevitCity has more than 40,000 registered users. Users have created more than 4000 free Revit families-components for download. User tutorials and technical forums provide additional daily resources for this global Revit community.

Pros: RevitCity provides a global vision to newcomers on how Revit users are "really" using Revit software for "real world" projects. Check out the Revit project galleries submitted by this global community of architects, engineers and designers.

Cons: Not all of the free Revit family downloads and/or technical solutions content have the same level of quality and usability. Not all RevitCity users have taken formal training. Therefore, not all submissions represent best practices for creating Revit content and/or for profitably-properly implementing Revit software within a BIM design process.

Manufacturer Sites

Woodwork Institute Casework Design Series

Free downloads of 3D casework component library in Revit Family (RVT), AutoCAD Blocks (DWG) and AutoCAD (DXF) file formats. Download this 32-page casework PDF catalog to view-reference the free 3D parametric Revit cabinet families.

100 Series = Base Cabinets without Drawers

200 Series = Base Cabinets with Drawers

300 Series = Wall Hung Cabinets

400 Series = Tall Storage Cabinets

500 Series = Tall Wardrobe Cabinets

600 Series = Library Cabinets

700 Series = Movable Cabinets

BIMWorld + BIM Library - Manufacturer's Revit Family Libraries

BIMWorld features BIMLibrary Revit Family Components for designers & architects looking for manufacturer-specific product content. It is available free-of-charge and approved to be technically accurate by their product partners. Your models and construction documents take on a new level of specificity without incurring the costs of content development.

USG Design Studio - Revit Wall Families

Download predefined Revit wall families created by USG. The download "Revit walls" button is in the lower left corner of the web page. Wall families have embedded sound and fire ratings data in their parameters. The site features a "Design a Wall" wizard for creating and downloading custom wall, partition, chase, shaft or furred masonry wall systems.

VISA Lighting - Revit Lighting Families

Visa Lighting offers a comprehensive BIM product library (397MB download). Their BIM files contain meta-data to assist in energy, sustainability, and photometric calculations.

Autodesk Revit Content / Community Sites

Autodesk-Web Library - Download Free Revit Families-Components

This Autodesk server can be accessed to download hundreds of free predefined Revit families, Revit blocks and Revit components. This enormous library compliments the library that's installed from your Revit software installation DVD.

Revit MEP Extensions-ENGLISH

The Revit MEP Content Extension provides new content for Revit MEP users. Both Imperial and Metric versions of the content are available for download below, in ZIP format. After download, users can then uncompress the file to the desired content location.

Extensions4Revit: Revit Structure

Revit Extensions are a series of easy to use applications that extend the capabilities of Revit Structure 2008 in various key areas, including structural analysis and reinforced concrete drafting.

On January 15 2008, Autodesk completed the acquisition of Robobat who develops these Extensions. To find out more about this acquisition read the press release.

All Extensions for Revit Structure formerly developed by Robobat, both fee and free, are now available through the Autodesk Subscription Program.

Visit the Autodesk’s Subscription page under Services and Support to find out more about this service and becoming a member.

Revit Structure Subscription customers can login to the Subscription Center and download the Revit Extensions at no additional cost.

Revit Architecture & Structure 2008 Web Updates Now Available

Autodesk updated the Revit Architecture 2008 and the Revit Structure 2008 product download sites.

Revit Architecture
Web Update SP2 build (20070810_1700):
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9408083

List of Revit Architecture 2008 updates.

Revit Structure
Web Update SP2 build (20070810_1700):
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9281007

List of Revit Structure 2008 updates.


There are two separate downloads; one for the single Revit product and one for the Revit Suites products (those products that come bundled with AutoCAD). Choose the correct product based on the product type you purchased.

Important Revit MEP 2008 Update

There are 19 reasons you may want to download and update your Revit MEP 2008 with this new build. ( 2007_0615_1700) Most noteworthy is a fix for product activation. The other 18 are listed on this (English) Revit MEP 2008 download page.

Important Revit Structure 2008 Update

There are 20 reasons you may want to download and update your Revit Structure 2008 with this new build. (20070607_1700) Most noteworthy is a fix for product activation. The other 19 are listed on this (English) Revit Structure 2008 download page.

Choose this page to select your language:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9339705

Important Revit Architecture 2008 Update

There are 10 reasons you may want to download and update your Revit Architecture 2008 with this new build. (20070607_1700) Most noteworthy is a fix for product activation. The other 9 are listed on this (English) Revit Architecture 2008 download page.

Choose this page to select your language:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9262388

Revit Structure 2008: Analysis Partners Resource Websites

More than eleven hundred Application Specialists from North America finished their fourth and final day of Tech Camp on Thursday. My last day was spent training on the new features and process improvements of Revit Structure 2008.

Here are the company websites whose analysis programs link to Revit Structure.

ADAPT

http://www.adaptsoft.com/revitstructure/

RISA

http://www.risatech.com/partner/revit_structure.asp

ROBOBAT: Download and use these free extensions for Revit Structure

Robobat features a bonus site of free extensions for Revit Structure you can download and use immediately

http://www.revit.robobat.com/n/revit

http://www.extensions4revit.com/

MIDAS

http://eng.midasuser.com/revit/overview.htm

I'll continue to add other analysis suppliers as their products come online for Revit Structure 2008.

Download Revit Architecture 2008-Revit Structure 2008-Revit MEP 2008

As we prepped our laptops today for next week's Tech Camp in Orlando, we used the new Autodesk download sites for Revit Architecture 2008, Revit Structure 2008 and Revit MEP 2008.

I downloaded Revit Architecture and Revit Structure that were about 250MB. Once you download and select the EXE file, it will take another 20-30 minutes to complete the installation. It downloads some pretty large CAB files from the Autodesk site to complete the software installation. So you'll need a broadband Internet connection for a couple hours.

As these are 30 trials, they'll give you the opportunity to create, edit and save Revit 2008 files until you replace the demo s/n with your own s/n.

Be sure to download their Feature Summary, What's New? and Installation Instructions PDF files at the bottom of the download page.

Engineering.com Provides 1GB Free Web File Sharing

A simple free registration on Engineering.com currently provides you with 1GB of free web-based file storage. Rather than emailing those large Revit project files, CAD drawings, image, specifications or spreadsheet files; simply post them to your Engineering.com project site.

Next step, provide your clients, staff, consultants, contractor or reprographics vendor with free permission-based access to your project site. Let the collaboration begin.

Engineering.com features engineering calculators, a university directory, national-international job postings, free downloads, library articles, job listings and a free engineering.com toolbar.

Feeddigest Links My Building Design Media Sources

I'm testing a web service called feeddigest to link the content I write for my company's
Architectural Solutions blog into this, my personal Revit JobCaptain blog.

My ASB blog content is posted on Revit JobCaptain main page, in the right margin of this screen; under Architectural Solutions Blog.

I posted a follow-up article to my original Our Home In Revit blog post; titled Designing A Greener Home With Revit on our company blog. I'll be taking this blog post's outline, photos, videos and Revit data I've created on the road soon as a "green educational" event.

A little about Feeddigest. If a web resource has syndication capabilities (xml/rss/rdf), take that link and enter it into Feeddigest. It creates javascript, vbscript or php source code that I can place into a webpage. As my syndication sources update, they update my html webpage.

I can blend several syndication sources into one feed. If I have two blogs, I enter both syndications URLs and Feeddigest creates a single feed from two blogs. I can also set key words/phrases and create a feed from multiple resources on a specific topic. So far, it's been pretty cool in my testing phase. It's free for 30 days and about $1 a month for an annual subscription.

I'm updating my Revit JobCaptain Lens and Home Planning and Design lens weekly with volumes of research and resources that eventually tie into my blogs. When I first started my 15 lenses, there were less than 5,000 lenses. At last count there are more than 100,000 Squidoo lenses.

A single page blog has limitations. Hopefully, my other web media sources will help you find content I've created or use that may be specific to your building design application.

Cheers!

Conceptual Design: Bumwad and Bubble Diagrams

Here's a concept that I've used to bring the "willing" conceptual designer and/or principal into the project team that's using Revit. Typically they've used pencils and markers to draw on bumwad, flimsy, onion paper or sketchpads. I'm not discounting hand sketches. However; our studies clearly show there is a time in the latter half of the coneptual phase where this technique is more productive than using paper. The project team can access the designer's work digitally for presentations, analysis, and printing. Thereby retaining the designer's decisions-design intent as the project flows into schematic stage.

This concept uses Revit's Room Separation tool. It creates spaces using linework and not walls. It's a simple, intuitive yet intelligent 2D sketching tool. The Room Separation toolset includes lines, circles, elipses, rectangles, splines, arcs and more; all from one small menu. Grip editing provides the designer with simple pick'n pull moving, copying and resizing of linework.

The enclosed areas can be tagged to display "total area" of the space both on the tag and in the space schedules. The designer gets immediate feedback from editing spaces in the design process. As the project progresses, the production team can trace over the linework with walls. Revit linework file can also be linked into another Revit project.

Here's a DWF project file that features the bubble diagram, concept and analysis drawings. I also incorporated a space planning schedule and KEY SPACE schedule on the conceptual page.

Revit Placeholders: Key to Smooth Project Development

A placeholder is an object that you place into the building model; realizing that you will eventually revise, replace or remove it. I kick off many of my projects with a set of standard, conceptually-detailed placeholders. This will include doors, walls, window, tags, dimensions, equipment and data schedules. Placeholders may be 2D or 3D; they usually have simple graphics with some simple data attached to them. We usually name them as a Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, etc doors, windows or walls.

As the project progresses, we revise or replace the "Type" placeholders with descriptive family named components; "Single Flush" door, "Double Hung with Trim" window, "Exterior - Brick and CMU on MTL. Stud" wall.

From concept placeholders to final component families, BIM Standards should be reviewed and maintained throughout the project. In the elevations image below, I encountered problems as I replaced window types. Notice how the window head heights in Step B and D do not match the windows families in Steps A and C. I should have reviewed them against my BIM standards before I released them into the project.

To globally revise, edit or replace a placeholder; we must find and select every occurence of the object family in the project file. First, select an object, right click and pick "Select All Instances" from the shortcut menu. This selects all occurences of that object family on all levels.

Now you may have two or three choices for editing. All choices exist in the Options Bar above. Working from left to right, you can either pick the the Family Properties pull-down menu and change the family type. Or select the Properties button and revise the object's Family types in the Element Properties dialog box. Or you can choose the "Edit Family" button.

BIM placeholders that are properly created and managed willl cut the labor costs and project time. Thereby allowing the designer to do more with less effort.

Our Home in Revit

My wife, Georgene and I are "patiently" waiting for our county to provide us with our building permit for our new house. Since Revit Version 4.5, I've designed 3 variations of homes before we received bank loan approval a couple weeks ago.

This was last year's home design model. It's a tri-level home plan that we ran through the estimating and preliminary construction review process. However, it didn't make it to final production so its not complete. However, using copy and paste I created a ranch version of this design in only a few hours which will be built this summer-fall.

We're experiencing the benefits of design-build and working with a contractor that has embraced 3D modeling (BIM) throughout the design and production process. (BTW, our builder has been building homes for 30 years) The BIM process with our builder has incorporated cost effective construction processes into the final design. When he arrives at our home I usually connected my laptop to the TV and conducted the meeting using Revit. Here's a 3D DWF file of the tri-level home

As I look back over the last few years of design, the following items stood out as the main Revit features to help me design a house that could be constructed cost effectively, provide a level of sustainability and incorporate a little universal design. Yea...we're getting old and I'm sounding like a commercial. So here they are...

Visualization and Analysis

1. 3D people figures to assist with scale of space in 3D views and sections.
2. 3D isometric and perspective views for the builder, bank, bank appraiser, Georgene and anyone else that wanted to see it.
3. Design options for the porch, kitchen cabinet layout and master bath & closets
4. The sun shadows feature to design the soffits and landscape to the final project
5. We used the gross area analysis tools to define and manage gross square footage and thereby manage budget.
6. 3D Revit floor plan furniture, equipment and casework libraries helped verify space and traffic patterns.
7. I created animated walk-throughs and sometimes exported them to video playback files (AVI)
8. 3D DWF files for communications with builder, kitchen designer and Georgene.

Production & Design

1. Whole house modeling that immediately updated my plans, elevations, sections, and schedules.
2. Live building and wall sections to design the stairs, roofs, cathedral ceilings and structure.
3. Creating data (take-off) schedules for doors, windows, sheet index and space efficiency analysis.
4. Locking dimension values on our design decisions.
5. Auto tagging the doors and windows types in plans and elevations.
6. Sloped slabs, cathedral ceilings and roofs.
7. Sweep profiles for footings, railings, soffits, fascia boards and gutters.
8. Using the pre-built Anderson window and Kohler plumbing libraries.
9. Revit sheet set (page) management for documentation and printing.
10. Export 2D DWF files for printing bid sets. My reprographics vendor just loved getting one file with all of the pages inside it....BTW, they used a KIP 6000 to print the DWF files.
11. Designed in-place families to create custom countertops footprints complete with backsplashes and bullnoses.
12. Revit callouts (enlarged plans) of the kitchen and building sections.
13. The split face tools for adding corner boards and porch fascia to the building elevations.
14. The underlay feature to coordinate floor plans features between each floor.
15. Reference planes to coordinate interior and exterior alignments.
16. Auto-create interior & exterior elevations that auto-update as changes are made.
    
    Revit's 3D site topology around this home design actually became the brake that "shelved" this design for our building site.

I'm sure there's more you'll find as you look through the construction document set and 3D DWF file posted above. Remember, in the 2D set created by Revit 9 you have two options in the DWF viewer.

First, if you use the "arrow" (select) tool in the viewer, you can now pick a window, door, or any object and it will tell what it is and the parameter information assigned to it. I find it fascinating that if you select an object it will highlight in all of the views on the sheet. Make sure you set this feature in the EXPORT to 2D DWF dialogue box under OPTIONS.

Second, if you use the "hand" (pan) tool in the viewer, you can pick on section, elevation or level tag to navigate the sheet set. Usually these links are blue. Make sure you set this feature in the EXPORT to 2D DWF dialogue box under PRINT SETUP button.

Get the Free DWF Viewer to view these DWF files.

Related blog posts I've written:

Residential Design: Revit 2D Sketch Tools Define 3D Curb Appeal for Homeowners

Residential Designers-Builders Sell Their Projects Using Revit Design Options and Whole House Modeling

Free DWF Movie Download

Revit JobCaptain Lens

In February, I created my Revit JobCaptain Lens on the Squidoo website. Since then, I've compiled a list of Revit resources I've found; download libraries, other bloggers, tools and utilities on this page. I've created almost a dozen lenses that store ideas and links I may use in the future on my Revit JobCaptain blog or my Autodesk Architectural Solutions blog. I've placed a Squidoo icon on the right side of this blog where you can access my lens.

Take a chance...create your own Lens!

Family Editor - Free Web Training

This is a free online audio-video webcast training session from the Autodesk Archives. While this session uses Revit 7, "The Family Editor" is still valid to the current version of Revit.

Become a power-user! This webcast is for customers who want to create or modify components using the Autodesk Revit Family Editor. When working with a building model, your design intent often requires a specific component that may not be readily available. Using the powerful and versatile Family Editor feature, you can modify existing components or create new components to meet your precise needs. In this web session, learn how to work with the Family Editor to create new geometry, add instance and type parameters, use formulas such as conditional statements, and use visibility parameters to control the visibility of specific elements in a project.

Happy Father's Day Download

This Happy Father's Day download is courtesy of our friends at LEGOs Digital Designer website.

New Version 1.6!
Version 1.6 of LEGO Digital Designer offers many improvements and great new features, including:

* New brick assortment
* Support for train elements
* Animated trains
* Backgrounds in view mode
* Sound effects
* Minifigs and decorated bricks
* HTML building instructions
* Copy, Cut, Paste, Select All
* Ldraw exporter
* New “Check Price” button
* Mac version runs on Intel Macs

In case you need HELP, press here.

Free DWF Movie Download

It's been said that...Humor has educated more human beings by catching them at their weakest moment..."in the middle of a chuckle". This video provides a humorous educational view of the collaboration process between the designer, his digital project documents and the rest of the project team.

The movie file is titled "Waiting for Those Large Format Printers to Finish Can Drive a Man to Drink...Toner" ...its about 21Mb.

I highlighted Revit 9's new DWF capabilities in the closing paragraph on my company blog titled; Building a School? Designing a School? There is a link to a 2D DWF sheetset and a 3D DWF model I created for a Revit design-build training session I conducted.

Printing DWF Files:
Last week I sent a single Revit 9, 2D DWF file that included 8-pages in the sheet set to my reprographics vendor. They use a KIP 6000 plotter and my plan set was printed without any problems. The size of the DWF file was about 555K. It included plans, elevations, schedules, sections and several 3D views of our house for my builder ...the Revit home plan file was about 38MB. Revit's 3D capabilities and DWF have been two major components I've used to communicate my design intent with our builder, his subcontractors, my banker, his appraiser and to our county and township.

Autodesk Service Patch for Revit 9 Download

Here's the site to download the service patch for Revit 9 Building and Revit Building Series.

Subscription customers if the email link that Autodesk provided you does not work or simply goes to a product page, use this link.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=7142518

Autodesk issues Tech Bulletin: Service Issues Affecting Revit 9-Based Software

Before you install your Revit 9-based product from the DVD, Stop. Please review before you proceed.

Autodesk has discovered service issues that affect Autodesk Revit Building 9, Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series--Building 9, Autodesk Revit Structure 3, and Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series--Structure 3 software products.

A conflict within Revit-based files utilizing Links has been found to impact overall application performance. In addition, an issue within cascading network licensing for the AutoCAD Revit Series products was discovered when only the Revit-based product was installed from the Series bundle--a condition found to prevent license access.

To correct these service issues, Autodesk has created new builds containing corrections for each software product and will be available for download midweek.

To download the new builds by end of business on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 go to:Autodesk Revit Building 9:
www.autodesk.com/revitbuilding Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series--Building 9: www.autodesk.com/autocadrevitseries-building Autodesk Revit Structure 3: www.autodesk.com/revitstructure Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series--Structure 3: www.autodesk.com/autocadrevitseries-structure select Data & Downloads, and follow the instructions.

Free DWG Viewer-Revit-AutoCAD Users

Autodesk has updated their Free DWG TrueView & TrueConvert software tools. As DWG files are part of the collaborative process for Revit projects, these free tools allow everyone on the project team to work together digitally.

DWG TrueView—View and plot DWG and DXF™ files, and share full fidelity AutoCAD® drawings easily and accurately with DWG TrueView™. Then publish them as DWF™ files for quick review and markup in Autodesk® DWF™ Composer.

Download or research DWG TrueView here.

PODcast Library-AutoCAD-Revit-ADT-Civil3D

Ok iPodders.... are looking for something to download to your iPods. Something to listen to on the train, bus or during your drive home? This site features 5-7 minute downloadable podcasts featuring outtakes from my Taylor Tech architectural blog and my co-blogger Doug Benoit P.E. civil engineering blog.

If you don't have an iPod, simply play the audio file online or download the MP3 file....play it in your MP3 player or Windows Media Player.

We've been producing PODcasts for almost year; so bookmark this site and drop by regularly for new audio feeds.

Then again, what's a PODcast?

And what's an iPod?

Free Online Revit Training - The Basics

This is a free online audio-video webcast training session from the Autodesk Archives. While this session uses Revit 7, "The Basics" is still valid to the current version of Revit.

In this web session, new or prospective users can discover the basic concepts of project design with the Autodesk® Revit® building information modeler. Learn how to create and modify basic components of a building model, such as walls, curtain systems, doors, and roofs; apply constraints to the building model to capture design intent; and make changes to the building model that are applied projectwide to all views, thus ensuring consistency, improving productivity, and boosting profitability.

One of the benefits of transferring my data to a new computer is finding all the bookmarks and favorites I've gathered from the last 2 years. Looks like there will be more to post.

Stop by my Revit 9 / AutoCAD 2007 Resource Page

Free 3D Revit Downloads of Detailed Components

When you use the Revit OPEN command, make sure you visit the WEB LIBRARY located on the button in the upper right corner of the OPEN dialog box....tons of furniture, equipment, with a high level of detail.

or use this link Revit WEB LIBRARY

Tip: On each page of components, there is a filing cabinet icon in the upper right corner of the webpage. If you pick the filing cabinet button, you can download a zip file that contains all of the objects on that page...some zip files are 16MB - 26MB in size...tons of realistically detailed architectural components.

In the Revit Web Libray you will find this link to the Woodwork Institute which has a ton of downloadable 3D cabinet libraries in Revit (RVT), AutoCAD (DWG) and AutoCAD (DXF) format. Upper cabinets, base cabinets, corner cabinets, full height cabinets, utility cabinets with a wide variation of cabinets with doors, drawers and shelving.

The Revit family editor is pretty cool as a parametric solid modeler....it allows you to create dimensional variations of your furniture or equipment in one file...rather than creating multiple files.

We sometimes use contract furniture manufacturers' 3D furniture blocks from their websites/CD and "Revitize them" from AutoCAD 3D blocks into Revit Families. The benefit of turning it into a Revit family is I can add parameters (attribures) that allow me to create Revit schedules (furniture, equipment, ) based on the parameters assigned to the component.

I've posted some other suggestions on my company's blog site:

Revit Architecture-AutoCAD Architecture Class Handouts

I have an Archive button at the bottom of the main blog page.

Chcck out these other sites for potential, free Revit components that you can download.

www.augi.com
www.revitcity.com

Cheers!

Whitepapers: Revit, BIM Standards, Collaboration, LEED, Green & Sustainable Design

Daniel Hughes - Building Solutions Blog

I would like to thank the following organizations that have invited me to present either educational events and/or business-focused educational whitepapers for their members. A special personal thanks to AIA Wisconsin convention staff and the more than 14 years of working together with your team of professionals.

AIA Chicago
AIA Illinois
AIA Iowa
AIA Minnesota
AIA Wisconsin
Association of Licensed Architects
Construction Specifications Institute-Chicago
Young Architects Forum-Chicago

Based on association requests, I've created (2) 90-minute accredited educational presentations titled "The New Client Deliverables: Building Information Modeling (BIM)" and "Collaboration Strategies for Today's Progressive Design Firm".

I just completed a third whitepaper for the Young Architects Forum. It focuses on the emergence, interdependence and interoperability of sustainable design (LEED) and Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Contact a Taylor Technologies Account Representative or TTI's Marketing Department for your free copy. We will be posting them on our TTI Revit Source Page.