Each week Bradley clients; architects, engineers, contractors and facility owners contact our Revit-BIM Team with questions that ask;
“How are Bradley Revit-BIM families created?”
Here are the Top 10 Value Points that we share with them;
01) Extensive Division 10 & 22 Revit Library: Bradley’s Revit Family Library currently has more than 1000 Revit family components representing thousands of Bradley plumbing fixture and specialty equipment products.
02) Documented-Proven Modeling Standards: We initially used the Revit Model Style Guide from Autodesk SEEK.
However, based on 10 years of actual Revit-BIM project experience, I rewrote and tripled the size of the original document. Bradley’s new document better serves our clients’ and the industry’s evolving Revit-BIM project standards-practices.
Family Type Options | Cubby Locker pictured with optional top & end panels
03) Family Types: Bradley Revit family models represent thousands of Bradley products. Many Revit families include multiple variations of each Bradley product.
We define product variations for a single Revit family; one of two ways:
- When a Bradley product has 5-6 variations, we build the Family Types directly into the Revit Family.
- When a Bradley product has more than 6 variations, we create a Family Type Catalog (*.txt) for those Revit families.
04) Lean Revit Templates: Bradley Revit models are built from custom ”lean” Revit family templates that we have designed (200-250K file size)
05) Bradley creates each lightweight Revit family from scratch | Not Too Big
- The majority of Bradley’s Revit family file sizes are between 200k-750k, they meet and far exceed the Autodesk SEEK Compliancy requirements.
- Bradley does NOT import, translate or use solid modeling content from our manufacturing-engineering modeling systems in our Revit family models.
- Bradley Revit models do NOT include fasteners, washers, nuts or the typical sub-assembly content created within a 3D manufacturing design software.
- Small Bradley Revit Family File Sizes: Once a Bradley Revit family is built, we use two processes to further reduce file size. Both processes have helped us reduce larger family file sizes by 25-40%.
- Bradley Revit family components typically include 3 levels of detail; Coarse, Medium & Fine. They are tested against industry-standard drawing scales and visibility settings for the printing process.
06) Revit Families for Architects-Engineers-Contractors-Facility Owners
- Bradley Revit Family Models are designed to be used in both Revit Architecture and Revit MEP
- Hundreds of Bradley Revit Family Components are posted on Autodesk SEEK. Designers-Engineers-Contractors can download Bradley Revit families from within Revit Architecture and/or Revit MEP.
- Bradley Revit Plumbing Fixture Models Feature Multiple MEP Connections
Revit Video Bradley | Revit Toilet Partitions-Lockers-Lavatories
07) Bradley Revit Families are Render-Ready
- We have embedded default render-ready materials into every Bradley Revit family. Users may download Bradley Revit Material Catalogs that have been published for our Metal, Stone, Plastic and other man-made, eco-friendly materials.
08) Revit project performance of Bradley models is randomly tested within,
- 3 Revit design projects that were done completely in Revit and became “built facilities”. The file sizes of these Revit projects range from 50MB, 80MB & 120MB.
- a Revit WORKSET-configured project to verify visibility, project performance and coordination.
- a linked Revit projectto simulate the exchange process between architects, engineers & contractors.
Embedded Revit Clearance Box | Revit Interference Detection
09) Dimensional Testing – Interference Checking | Family & Project Files
- Every Bradley Revit family is dimensionally “flexed” by Bradley engineers; both in the Revit family editor and in a Revit project as a matter of quality control.
- Clearance Box objects are embedded into many Bradley Revit families. These 3D objects have associated visibility controls. They are designed to assist the designer-contractor with ADA, installation and service clearances.
10) Embedded Industry Standard Metadata
The necessary information for creating construction specifications, phasing of construction processes and linking cost estimates. The following metadata is embedded into each Bradley Revit family:
- MasterFormat Title & Number
- OmniClass Title & Number
- Assembly Code/Uniformat Classification Code
- LEED Credit / Recycled Content Parameters
- ADA / Barrier Free Certifications
- ANSI, UL….etc
Customer Experience | Bradley Revit Family Components
The architects, engineers, contractors and facility owners that are using Bradley Revit Family Components; provide feedback and suggestions for improved funtionality.
Join the conversation. Download and try Bradley Revit Family Components inside your Revit projects. Email Bradley your comments, suggestions and Revit project experiences.
Have you used Bradley Revit-BIM families on a Revit design project?
Autodesk has requested Bradley Corporation, one of the largest Revit Family suppliers (Division 10 & 22), to submit several client project stories that used Bradley Revit families.
Perhaps we could feature your company & the design project(s) that used Bradley Revit families in one of our regional, national or global client project communications.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss this opportunity.
Related Article(s)
What is your experience with leaving 3d elements on in plan? I have found this to have multiple impacts; on graphics and performance.
Graphically, it is nice to be able to not have ‘cluttered’ color fills when trying to show departments, room types, etc….. By only showing 2d in plan, we are able to have colored floor plans that read easier. I understand we could use view templates, etc…, but graphics are only part of the issue with 3d in plan.
Performance, by leaving 3d on in plan I have seen models start to drastically slow down in plan views. My firm often does ‘mega’ projects, so the scope of each plan sometimes can be pretty large. We have seen noticeable performance gains once the families are fixed to only have 2d on in plan.
We continue to emphasize the use of lines and masking for plans & elevations…as we go through the library again this fall, it will be emphasized especially on our bigger models and down through the rest of the inventory.
While the color scheme views are “on radar” the current priority has been production views, project performance and printing process.
I’ve worked with Autodesk for more than 25 years, so I probably pester them more and at a higher level in their organization with my wishlist items…like, visibility controls or options for masking regions within families…Everyone knows Revit likes “less line work”…its faster to mask out than draw lots of lines over modeled content…so now I want better visibility control on masking regions…even some type of easy “transparency” setting on the completed mask.
Our biggest emphasis & criteria has been family type stability and dimensional accuracy….the families are flexed to the extreme, run through projects, schedules, all views and we usually go through at least 2 review processes of the final model against our Tech Data Sheets.
Over the last 10 years, this has been THE single biggest Revit complaint from Revit users (Including Yours Truly) when they download families…so it has become our biggest focus.
Two of my Revit mega-projects are posted here: http://excel2bim.com/revitbim/?p=85
I agree with you, the small tweaks on these types of projects can provide big performance gains….especially in family visibility settings and workset management.
This is why I randomly test Bradley Revit models in the ‘actual” project environments I defined in the article.
Thanks again for submitting your comment. Have a great weekend.
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