For all you 3D modeling Masters - Stair rails

[taoist]

How do we create stair rails that follow the slope / incline of stairs and use EAP with a profile?

Is this the best way to do this?

What about "L" shaped stairs?

What about Goosnecks, easings, turnouts, volutes, quarter turns.

I am in the process of building a symbol library of stair parts and need to know how to apply to a set of stairs.

taoist

[Horst M.]

hallo taoist,

Since you seem to work a lot on Rails for Stairs and with the EAP tool

I want to show you some special behaviour of our beloved tool.

That at least I had to dicover, and wasn't able to find a solution for...

I discovered that while i was working on a Rail vor a Stair with a komplex

porfile, and I cloudn't get it done.

The effect is, that an EPA on a Nurbs Line, that goes from Screen top to Screen Bottom, and has verticies with different z heights ( .. goes up in Space)

The resulting EPA ist Twisted no matter if you check lock Profile or not.

If the same Nurbs goes from Screen left to Screen right the EAP works fine, nothing gets twisted

.. alt least since VW 2009! in 2010 it was less drastic; in 2011 the misbehaviour increased...again

Edited August 10, 2011 by Horst M.

[Horst M.]

Here is File how a Rail would Look like if you create it with EAP.

[taoist]

Horst,

Thank You for the reply.

I will look at the .vwx files when I get home

i hope I can open them in VW 2008 version

taoist

[Horst M.]

EAP ---- Railfile for VW 2008

[taoist]

Thank You!

taoist

[taoist]

Horst,

Do I draw the path using lines then Modify > Convert to Nurbs

or draw with Nurbs corves from the onset in plan view.

Then when I switch to a front or side vie the 3D portion shows.

I am new to NURBS, curves or otherwise.

taoist

[taoist]

Horst,

How do you get to change the "z" heights at the corners?

I do not see an option for that.

I really need to get this down / understand this.

taoist

[CipesDesign]

If you double click a nurbs object you'll be able to edit each vertex. Each vertex has x, y, and z in the OIP (hey, that rhymes...). Hope that helps. Have fun!

[michaelk]

You can also switch the OIP move from Entire Object to Vertex Only. Use the little arrow buttons and the button between the arrows to show which vertex is active and change vertices. Then you can enter the moves in the X, Y, & Z fields of the OIP.

[taoist]

Thanks Peter and Michael

Will look into this when I get home today.

Looking forward to getting this stair rail project going.

Should have fun with the Sweep command as well.

taoist

[Kevin McAllister]

Michael's advice about the OIP is very good. In my experience it is the easiest way to move a single NURBS point in a predictable way. Editing single points can be a challenge using the mouse directly as they always seem to move in an unexpected direction..... the 3D constraints are getting better but its still not super intuitive like say Cinema 4D....

Kevin

[CipesDesign]

Oh, one other thing to keep in mind. In my experience curved 3d objects (like sweeps in particular) add to the file size and can dramatically slow things down. Making symbols for repeated elements helps some. Putting them in their own class is (for me) the simplest way to turn them off en masse and speed the file and rendering back up. So for example, after all of the sweeps are complete and youre working on another aspect, there's no need to wait for the slow pokes for every view change. Then turn them back on for the final rendered view...

[taoist]

Thanks guys.

Was going to make symbols from the Sweeps to save for future use anyway.

taoist

[Horst M.]

And nobody has a Problem with the EAP getting twisted as described above??

If anybody has a Solution how to avoid that effect i would be very happy.

Regards Horst M.

Edited August 13, 2011 by Horst M.

[taoist]

Horst,

Working on it!

taoist

[taoist]

See my post 3D Stair Rails How to Draw in Architect Forum

taoist

[taoist]

My observations have shown that if you draw a set of stairs (normal view of walking up the stairs) and switch to a left side view, select the profile, convert to group, convert to Nurbs, select path (which has been converted to Nurbs) then use EAP, the handrail profile is twisted / rotated to the left.

This means you need to rotate the profile to the right before using EAP.

Same thing happens to a right side view except the handrail is twisted /rotated to the right.

You need to rotate the profile before using EAP to get correct.

I have heard there is some option or correction in VW 2011 for this.

As I do not have VW2011 I can't attest to this.

taoist