Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Groups VS Nested Families

JHectorne

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Joined: Thu, Sep 13, 2007
42 Posts
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RAC 2008

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving.  I am in the process of getting commonly used components together for quicker model building, and I was wondering what are the pros and cons of using groups over nested families and vice versa.  I'm not really seeking a definitive answer, just looking for opinions.  I have made both, and the biggest difference I can see (with my limited knowledge) is that editing a nested family opens a new window, whereas groups are edited right there in the model.

Thanks for your input, and don't eat too much tomorrow.

Jim

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"You've got to remember that we are just simple operators.  We are people of the web.  The common clay of the new millenium.  You know...Newbies." 

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mtyp

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Joined: Mon, May 5, 2008
33 Posts

nested families are really good for family components.  They can lead to scheduling woes if they aren't managed.

A good example of that would be a door family with 3 other door families nested in (door leaf, jamb and hardware) 

Groups can have system families (walls, etc) that will interact with objects outside the group.  And yes they edit in place.  

One of my new favourite techniques when working with groups is to select and temporary isolate the group then work on it, gives you the best of both worlds.  the interacting and islotated elements.  My other favourite is Copy to Clipboard then Paste Aligned -> Select Levels by Name.  Instant service cores, lifts and stairs.

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KingRevit

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Joined: Mon, Oct 15, 2007
321 Posts

rember groups effect the performance a lot of your modle i try not to use them unless there is a lot of time savings as in hospital design as you have so many standard rooms.

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JHectorne

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Joined: Thu, Sep 13, 2007
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Thank you for your responses.

We do custom residential design.  We are looking into creating basic kitchen and bathroom cabinet layouts; since most of our work is residential there won't be a great deal of repetition inside a single project.  We just want something we can pop into the model and edit fairly quickly.  Adding each piece of cabinetry, countertops and appliances, all one at a time, is very time consuming.

We're just looking for a quicker way.  I have seen some nested families, such as the Kitchenette, on the Adesk Web Library, and it seemed to work ok.  Is this the best solution to our situation?  I do like grouping as I said before, because you can edit it right there without going into another file.

Anyway,  just wondering.  Thanks again.

Jim

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"You've got to remember that we are just simple operators.  We are people of the web.  The common clay of the new millenium.  You know...Newbies." 

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WWHub

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dfitzladdy

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Joined: Tue, May 27, 2008
49 Posts

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