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Let's start with one of the most required families that we need when modelling a civil or infrastructure network (external MEP). It is assumed that you (readers of this article) are already familiar with the basics of Revit family creation. Manholes . Manholes, basically drive the gravity networks like storm-water and sewer, and if you will spend some time to have that perfect family it can drive all the rest of the utility network and make everything more coordinated and emission-less. Complete Manhole Family with conditional formulas already applied.  A general rule about the manholes is that they are driven by two key Variables . • Invert Level (IL) and  • Cover Level (CL) commonly referred aslo as GL (Ground Level) And as a general rule in Civil Infrastructure models or drawings your reference level is always absolute 0.00.That gives us an idea to build our family main parameters in relations to Ref.Level which is found in all family templates. It means that...

Most probably those of you who use Revit's MEP systems for modelling civil utilities came across the problem of finding the best method to create concrete encasement for duct banks running from one chamber to another. You have most probably tried the lined based family as well, which suits good if there are no slopes along the run. But when you need the encasement to follow your ducts? In my explorations to make a reliable concrete encasement family I found Revit's conceptual massing tools very useful to create an adaptive line based family. I used Metric Generic Model Adaptive as a family template. First you need to create two points along one of the ref planes like in the illustration below then connect them using spline through points option.    Then select the line and tick the Is Reference box in the instance properties: After that select the point and click Make Adaptive button on Modify tab. Next you need to create a rig which will host th...