When modelling in a Revit family, one needs to learn how the entities interact with each other. In general, reference planes are used to constrain elements and flex them, while reference lines are used to rotate elements. Circles and lines are relatively easy to manage, but what of Ellipses? Parameterising ellipses requires you to draw them from scratch and use reference planes.

This is shown in the image below. A simplistic representation that you can apply in a more complex situation. The centre reference planes define the origin and are strong reference planes. Therefore, you will be able to place the ellipse accurately and align and move using them as references.

The other reference planes are equispaced and parameterised

When placing the ellipse (in an extrusion profile here), use the SI (snap intersection) object snap to snap to the reference plane intersection. This will automatically slave the centre to the intersection. The SI snap to the major and minor axes

Note the temporary dimensions, you can make them permanent and even use them to create an offset for a partial elliptical profile.

I prefer using parallel reference planes and then aligning and locking the quadrants of the ellipses to them before trimming them into a shape. Then they stand a better chance of behaving well.

Ellipses play an important part in Architecture, so try your hand and use them in your designs. It might take a while for you to grow confident with the modelling environment, but it is worth your while.

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