Famiglia — How to Use

Last Updated: January 1, 2025

Overview

Famiglia automates the complete round-trip for Revit composite family management:

  • Separate Family — explode a composite host family into its individual component instances placed at their original world positions
  • Join Family — combine selected project instances into a brand-new composite family RFA, load it back, and place it at the centroid of the selection
  • Place Along Curve — place a family type at equally spaced intervals along a selected model curve

All three commands live in the Avant Leap ribbon tab → Famiglia panel.

Installation

  1. Run Famiglia-{version}.exe
  2. The installer places the add-in in %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\{year}\ for each installed Revit version (2023 – 2027)
  3. Open Revit — the Avant Leap tab appears automatically

To uninstall: use Windows Settings → Apps and uninstall AvantLeap Famiglia.

Separate Family

Purpose: Disassemble a composite host family into its nested component instances and place each one in the project at the correct world position and rotation.

Steps:

  1. Click Separate Family in the Avant Leap → Famiglia panel
  2. Click a composite family instance in the project view (any view where the family is selectable)
  3. The command opens the family in the background, extracts each nested component, closes the family editor, loads the components into the project, and places them
  4. If placement succeeds, the original composite instance is deleted
  5. A summary dialog reports how many instances were placed

Supported families: Any composite family where nested components have a LocationPoint (point-placed). Face-based and wall-based nested components are skipped with a warning.

Tip: A diagnostic log is written to %USERPROFILE%\OneDrive\Documentos\AvantLeap\Tools\Famiglia\ProjectsSupportFiles\{project}\Revit{version}\Separate_{timestamp}.log for troubleshooting.

Join Family

Purpose: Combine two or more selected project instances into a single new composite family RFA, load it back into the project, and place the composite at the centroid of the original selection.

Steps:

  1. Click Join Family in the Avant Leap → Famiglia panel
  2. Select two or more family instances in the project (all must be point-placed — no face-based or wall-based families)
  3. Click Finish in the selection bar
  4. If instances belong to different categories, a dialog asks which category the composite should use
  5. Enter a name for the new composite family
  6. Choose a save location for the new .rfa file
  7. The composite is created, saved, loaded into the project, and placed
  8. A confirmation dialog asks whether to delete the original instances

Requirements:

  • All selected instances must have a LocationPoint (point-placed)
  • A Generic Model family template must be present in the Revit family templates folder

Tip: The Join operation is fully reversible — use Separate Family on the resulting composite to restore the original components.

Place Along Curve

Purpose: Place a selected family type at evenly spaced intervals along a model line or detail line.

Steps:

  1. Click Place Along Curve in the Avant Leap → Famiglia panel
  2. Click a model curve (line, arc, spline) in the project view
  3. In the Select Family Type dialog, choose the family and type to place
  4. Enter a spacing value (in mm)
  5. Instances are placed along the curve at the specified interval, starting from one end

Notes:

  • Instances are placed at the level of the active view
  • Spacing must be a positive value greater than zero
  • Very small spacing values on long curves may generate a large number of instances — review before confirming

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Solution
"No families could be loaded" Nested family RFA path is missing or was moved Open the composite family in the Family Editor manually and re-save each nested component to a stable path
"Minimum two instances required" Fewer than 2 instances selected for Join Select at least 2 point-placed family instances
Separated instances appear at wrong position Face-based or wall-based nested family These families have no LocationPoint — they are skipped; place them manually
Composite placed at wrong Z height Level elevation not matched Check the active view level; the command places the composite relative to the active level
Ribbon tab not visible Add-in not loaded Check %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\{year}\Famiglia.addin exists; check Revit journal for load errors

Quick Guide

Online quick guide: https://www.avantleap.com/quickguide-famiglia

Support

Email: support@avantleap.com Website: https://www.avantleap.com