Historically it has been difficult to find quality, usable BIM objects for Revit. At one point, Revit City was the go-to source for Revit families but the tides have changed and the current generation of Revit users are anxious for a new source for quality BIM objects for Revit.
There are several websites that have popped up in recent years which aim to become the de facto standard library of BIM objects for Revit. There are even organizations such as The NBS who not only publish their own library, but offer an add-in to make it easier to load BIM Objects into your revit projects.
Manufacturers have been developing and publishing their own BIM objects for Revit for years in an effort to make it easier for users to download Revit families directly from their website. Unfortunately manufacturers have earned a bad reputation for content in the past, as they often incorporate too much data/detail or use 3D CAD models as opposed to native Revit geometry. BIM objects for Revit in particular can make or break your project once it’s uploaded, so unusable families will often force users to create their own families from scratch.
Building an internal standard library from the ground up seems to be the method chosen by most BIM Managers. Creating your own BIM objects for Revit overcomes several roadblocks including standardized shared parameters and the geometry itself. The obvious downside is that along with that complete control over your library of BIM objects for Revit, you also inherit overhead costs to develop, test, and maintain those families. This can be quite costly when working in a multi-office firm. Fortunately, there are several affordable solutions out there to solve this.
UNIFI offers a service for creating BIM objects for Revit and other BIM/CAD applications. To supplement that service, we also have our Connect platform which allows organizations to share their BIM objects for Revit through what we call “channels.”
Our internal team of content creators have been building content for our clients for several years. With companies such as Legrand, Grundfos, and Interior Architects who have trusted us to create their standard Revit families, we’ve built a reputation for developing quality BIM objects for Revit with strategies surrounding not only accurate and usable geometry, but data standards that meet each client’s particular needs.
We also have in-house BIM specialists and BIM managers who have real-world experience at design and construction firms who are part of the QA/QC process, ensuring that families are built the way they would be used in the production environment.
Again, quality has been the number one issue when users are searching for BIM objects for Revit and our team works directly with the end users to create families that they will actually use.
Did you know that if you subscribe to manufacturer content in UNIFI CORE your search results can include content from multiple manufacturers inline with your internal library? This makes for an even more powerful search function. This means that if you were searching for a chair in UNIFI CORE, the search results would include BIM objects from not only your internal library, but from the several manufacturers as well. This saves time from searching multiple manufacturer websites to find something as simple as a chair.
Below are just a few examples of manufacturers who have chosen UNIFI CONNECT to share their BIM objects for Revit. All of which are accessible to our UNIFI CORE users:
You can check out our entire manufacturer directory here.
In conclusion, developing, finding, and using BIM objects for Revit can difficult, regardless of which route you decide to take. Whether you need help building your library of Revit families, need to find manufacturer content, or just need an effective way to share, UNIFI has you covered on all three fronts.