Workflow - Creating a Loadable Family

Depending on the complexity of the family, the creation process can be time-consuming. If you can identify a family that is similar to the one you want to create, you can save time and effort by copying, renaming, and modifying the family to create the new family.

For best results when creating a family, use the following workflow.

1. Before beginning family creation, plan your family. Identify requirements regarding family sizes, how the family displays in different views, whether a host is required, the detail level to be modeled, and the origin of the family

2. Create a new family file with the appropriate family template.

3. Define subcategories for the family to help control the visibility of the family geometry.

4. Create the family skeleton, or framework:

- Define the origin (the insertion point) of the family.

- Lay out reference planes and reference lines to aid in sketching component geometry.

- Add dimensions to specify parametric relationships.

- Label dimensions to create type or instance parameters or 2D representation.

- Test, or flex, the skeleton.

5. Define family type variations by specifying different parameters.

6. Add a single level of geometry in solids and voids, and constrain the geometry to reference planes.

7. Flex the new model (types and hosts) to verify correct component behavior.

8. Repeat previous steps until the family geometry is complete.

9. Specify 2D and 3D geometry display characteristics with subcategory and entity visibility settings.

10. Save the newly defined family, and then load it into a project for testing.

11. For large families that include many types, create a type catalog.


Source: Autodesk site