If you’re new to drafting and design you’re probably familiar with Revit by now, or you at least heard of it. AutoCAD has been around since the 1980s and since its introduction has eventually become ingrained in the DNA of most design firms and offices and has become an integral part of the day-to-day activities of the design process. Is it time to change from AutoCAD to Revit? Check the infographic. It was almost 20 years later that Revit Families was introduced to the public.
Its acceptance in the design and construction industry was a gradual one but over time more and more professionals began making the transition or included Revit in their workflow. So, why switch to BIM? Recently, BIM achieved great benefits in the process of architectural design by saving time and money. In the last 10 years, it showed positive effects on the life-cycle of the building starting from its design phase to its demolishing! Here is a list of 30 useful websites for BIM design software users that might help.
We all need good content to populate our models, and if they are Free then even better! Here we are trying to help the Revit community by adding up a list of the most valuable resources to download Revit Families for free.
Websites to download Revit Families for free:
1. BIMsmith Market
BIMsmith is one of the world’s fastest-growing BIM platforms for AEC professionals. BIMsmith Market has a rapidly expanding library of tens of thousands of free Revit families that have been modeled by the BIMsmith team of in-house architects. BIMsmith Forge® is also available as a free Revit configurator for building multi-layer Revit assemblies like walls, floors, ceilings, and roofs in the cloud.
2. RevitCity
RevitCity is not just a place to download free Revit families, but it is also a central place where you can get your questions answered, share your latest ideas or creations, and easily find the content you are looking for.
3. RBI Water Heaters
Mestek has created a library of BIM objects for free download and use by the design community. Objects are available in the Autodesk Revit MEP.RFA format and many objects are also stored as.ZIP files. Please note that some objects require the saving of both an.RFA file and a.TXT file in order to function correctly.
4. BIM Object
BIMObject is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital content management systems for BIM objects. According to the website, you can download 33,837 product families, 244,292 parametric BIM objects, and 16,493,712 products.
5. Smart BIM Library
Another pretty good site with a large range, and easy-to-find Revit families. Both manufacturer-specific and generic content, this is a great site to check out.
6. CAD Forum
CADforum has a CAD/BIM block library with more than 13.000 blocks. Also, it has some tips for AutoCAD 2017, Revit 2017, and Inventor 2017.
7. Modlar
Modlar has a large collection of manufacturer-specific products to use with your projects. It is all completely free, you just need to be signed in to download the files.
8. SpecifiedBy (UK)
This is a great resource for manufacturer-specific content from a huge range of product categories. They claim to have “the largest library of BIM content in the UK”, and the site is easy to navigate, search, and filter to find exactly what you’re looking for.
9. ARCAT
For CAD and BIM resources, ARCAT is a one-stop shop. Their free, no registration system has everything from concrete to pollution control system.
9. BIMetica (Spanish)
Again, another BIM library with a large amount of Revit families. Some categories are empty however which can be annoying!
10. The National BIM Library
The National Bim Library offers a collection of free to download generic BIM components that are compatible with the major BIM products. NBS are better known for their specifications but have taken a strong interest in BIM recently. The library is still a little sparse but the basics are in place for a very useful resource.
11. RevitComponents
Some useful free components are especially strong on furniture and interiors.
12. TurboSquid
This site offers components that you pay for but there is a small number of free items. TurboSquihasve a Revit certification system that ensures the components meet minimum standards. Compare the prices to the time you might spend modeling the items.
13. BIM Catalogs
A good place to find manufacturer-specific content, a bit hard to navigate and find products without knowing the manufacturer first. Worth a look, however.
14. Polantis
This site offers a huge range of 3d content, however a lot of the Revit families are not “true” Revit families, in the sense they have been created in other 3d programs and just imported and saved as a Revit Family file. Good site if you’re just after content for visualization purposes.
15. BIMbox
Another great site from the UK, BIMbox has a decent amount of Revit content available for free download. Most of the content is geared towards interiors (Sofas, Tables, Shelving, etc.) and the site is well presented. Most Revit content is IFC compliant which is great.
16. Familit
RFA files are family files that can either be loaded using Revit family manager into a project or saved externally. At the moment familit.com offers 18.000 free families in English, German and French language.
17. BIM Catalogs
A good place to find manufacturer-specific content, a bit hard to navigate and find products without knowing the manufacturer first. Worth a look, however.
18. Bimstore
The Bimestore offers a library of BIM content by manufacturers in Revit, Microstation, and ArchiCAD format. The content is free to download. You will need to register on the site first. They have an excellent guide to content creation.
19. CAD Notes
Very useful website maintained by Edwin Prakoso on everything related to AutoCAD, Microstation, and Revit.
20. RubySketch
This site has a lot of SketchUp content – but also a whole heap of Revit families as well. A diverse range of products, with lots of Mechanical & Plumbing fixtures.
