The DirectShape element store geometric shapes in a Revit document. The geometry can include closed points, lines, solids or meshes. DirectShape is primarily intended for placing elements quickly in a model without the need for a pre-configured family. DirectShape contains some but not all the organizational information of Loadable Family/Types. See the chart below to see if DirectShapes might work for you.

Property DirectShape DirectShape Types Component Family
Can be Hosted
Work Plane Based
Always Placed in Relation to 0,0,0
Nested Families
Can be Placed in Assembly
Material Parameter
Material Assigned as Paint by Default
Align Material
Assign Subcategory
View Based Representation
Name Appears in Schedules
Multiple Type Instances for Schedules
Instance Parameters
Parameter Driven Geometry
Edit Geometry in Revit
Appears in Browser

Some of the options above are grey because to add materials, use the name in a way that can be scheduled additional shared parameters need to be created as these parameters are not built into the default DirectShapes.

DirectShape Categories

Use the DirectShape Categories component to get the DirectShape Categories.

Add Point DirectShape

Use the Add Point DirectShape component to Add Point DirectShape in the project.

Add Mesh DirectShape

Use the Add Mesh DirectShape component to Add Mesh DirectShape in the project.

Add DirectShape

Use the Add DirectShape component to Add DirectShape in the project.

Add Geometry DirectShape

Use the Add Geometry DirectShape component to Add Geometry DirectShape in the project.

Add Curve DirectShape

Use the Add Curve DirectShape component to Add Curve DirectShape in the project.

Add Brep DirectShape

Use the Add Brep DirectShape component to Add Brep DirectShape in the project.

Add DirectShape Type

Use the Add DirectShape Type component to Add DirectShape Type in the project.