Railing Fence Tool - Corner Posts

[ericjhberg]

I really like the new railing/fence tool. It is a dramatic improvement over the previous tool.

 

With that said, one thing that could use fixing is the handling of corner posts. If you are using a square post, the tool automatically rotates the corner posts to mediate the angle of the corner, rather than realistically squaring up with either the entering line or the exiting line. This is not a realistic application. For example a fence/railing with square posts that jogs frequently at 90 degrees. The corner posts are all at 45 degrees to the entering/exiting lengths of fence.

 

Another improvement to this tool would be the option to offset the posts from the panels. Often fences have posts on the inside or outside of panels and not directly centered in the line of the fence. The posts should serve as the center of the fence line, but the paneling should be able to be offset to one side or another. In this case, this should also better support the ability to create top, middle, and bottom rails to support an offset fence panel. Think basic vertical picket solid wood fence.

[AlanW]

I am sure others who don't share the Aus/NZ handrail / fence tool would love to have it as it does all of these things and many more with lots of fence configurations.

[ericjhberg]

Well that's a bummer.

[Steve Riddle]

I'm using the fence tool and having the same issue with the corner posts rotating to 45 degrees. 

Also within the frame/panel attributes, frame bars don't appear to work independently from each other. I wanted to have horizontal slats at 10mm spacing and vertical slats at 200mm spacing for structure.

The ability to add gates (in the same way as adding doors to walls) would be really useful.

[Christiaan]

 

On 4/20/2017 at 7:30 PM, ericjhberg said:

one thing that could use fixing is the handling of corner posts. If you are using a square post, the tool automatically rotates the corner posts to mediate the angle of the corner, rather than realistically squaring up with either the entering line or the exiting line. This is not a realistic application. For example a fence/railing with square posts that jogs frequently at 90 degrees. The corner posts are all at 45 degrees to the entering/exiting lengths of fence.

 

@Jim Wilson I reckon Vectorworks needs to identify and prioritise these sorts of issues. Perhaps they don't currently get prioritised because it's a lot of engineering resources for what seems like a small change, but I think when you have something that is architecturally incorrect they need to be moved up the pecking order. Not only does it make a plugin object like this unusable in many cases but it also makes it harder to defend VW as a serious BIM tool.

[jberlin]

I don't get it. The Fence Rail tool always draws square corner fences on the 45º angle.  I have never seen any builder do this. I mean NEVER EVER!!!!!  Corner post are square to all other posts and in line.  This is a glitch that needs to be fixed ASAP.  It has been driving me crazy for several years now since the tool was released.  FIX THIS!!!!!!

[Art V]

"Fortunately" I don't have to use the fence tool a lot, but I've noticed it in the past and it indeed doesn't make sense. It should be square to the rest by default and any rotation should be optional in case there is a reason to have it rotated on that very rare occasion.

[Christiaan]

Duplicate wish, make sure to upvote here:

@Jim Wilson

 

[lgoodkind]

Why are we still waiting for this?  We don't really need to edit 3D contours on the fly in a 3d view - WE NEED CORNER FENCE POSTS THAT ARE SQUARED!!!  I CAN'T EVEN SEND THIS DRAWING OUT TO BIDDERS USING THIS TOOL SINCE I DON'T WANT TO ARRIVE ON-SITE TO SEE MY CORNER POSTS INSTALLED THIS WAY.

Edited April 16, 2019 by lgoodkind

[Markvl]

17 hours ago, lgoodkind said:

 "I DON'T WANT TO ARRIVE ON-SITE TO SEE MY CORNER POSTS INSTALLED THIS WAY."

No doubt it would happen.

[Michal Zarzecki]

On 4/20/2017 at 7:30 PM, ericjhberg said:

The corner posts are all at 45 degrees to the entering/exiting lengths of fence.

 

I have just used the tool for the first time and feel really disappointed - again 😥.

I can't understand that there had to be maths behind rotating them posts, but apparently they [VW] can't update the tool to give the user the flexibility and choice.

Similarly, I found the post positioning tool extremely unintuitive. Seems that I will have to model that from scratch.

 

On 4/20/2017 at 7:30 PM, ericjhberg said:

Another improvement to this tool would be the option to offset the posts from the panels. Often fences have posts on the inside or outside of panels and not directly centered in the line of the fence. The posts should serve as the center of the fence line, but the paneling should be able to be offset to one side or another. In this case, this should also better support the ability to create top, middle, and bottom rails to support an offset fence panel. Think basic vertical picket solid wood fence.

 

I second that. Tried to create a bin store with metal frame inside the enclosure. I couldn't find a way to offset the timber slats from the frame. Now I can understand why - there is no such option. 

It seems that there should be separate tabs for panelling and frame. Then once could specify the number etc. of horizontal or otherwise frame bars and separately what is attached to them.

 

I haven't even got there yet, but I wonder what I will come across when trying to specify the gates 😱

[Christiaan]

Matt Panzer kindly pointed out to me that this has been fixed (a couple of versions ago even). In the Railing/Fence Settings > Post, set the "Align Corner Post Angle to" dropdown menu to "Leading Segment" or "Trailing Segment".

 

Default setting still needs to be changed.

 

P.S. moderators: this can be moves to wishes granted.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Christiaan

[Michal Zarzecki]

That's true indeed. Thanks for highlighting that, @Christiaan.