Difference between create Family Instance and copy the familyInstance and paste it revit api 2012

Question

i have a lighting fixture family and i want to make copies from it.i know that create family instance with the same properies will give me another lighting fixture and if i used this command" ElementTransformUtils.CopyElement(Doc,inst.id, loc)" will give me another one also. so,what is the difference between the two outputs? is it will give me the same output"lighting fixture mounted to the ceiling"? Thanks In Advance

Answer 1

Creating a new family instance will place a new instance of an element with its default parameters.

Using ElementTransformUtils.CopyElement will make a copy of an existing element, taking into account any parameters that have changed from their default settings.

When creating a new family instance, there is an overload of NewFamilyInstance that allows you to specify which face it should be mounted on (in your case, a ceiling).

I'm not sure exactly what the behaviour of ElementTransformUtils.CopyElement is, but it should be the same as copying and pasting it yourself, using the UI.