Working our way down the interface, the Design bar is split into 4 main areas. We’ll look at each one in turn. The first is the “general” area..

This is where you do your editing, set up Reference Lines and Planes, add dimensions and control Family Types. The next area is what I would term the “Import Area”…… 

This area contains the functions you need to create “Nested Components”. For example if you’ve already created a “Door Handle” family and you wish to bring this into the Door Family you are currently working on- you would select “Component” and select your Door Handle Family from the File Selector.

The next area is the “Sold & Void Creation” area. This two functions form the “bread & butter” of the Family Editor- certainly for 3D component creation. 

Separate articles and tutorials will cover the use of these functions.

The final area is a single function by itself: “Load into Projects”…

As the name implies, this function lets you load into a Project, the Family you have just created / edited. It is worth remembering that if you are editing a Family from your standard Library (ie a library external to a specific Project file), you have to SAVE the edited Family in the Library AS WELL AS loading it into the Project you are currently using it in. Moving back up to the Option Bar, you will notice a button named “Visibility”…

Clicking this button takes you to a panel that allows you control the visibility of the individual elements that you are creating as part of the Family. 

For example, you may the 3D door leaf (in your Door Family) to NOT appear in a Plan View (in plan views, you will draw a Symbolic representation of the door with 2D lines).

At the bottom of the drawing area you have the same familiar “View Control Bar” that you see in the main Revit interface.

From the above, you will see that the Family Editor has a number of differences when compared with the normal Revit interface, but the two share a common “rationale” in the way that they are organised.