topic Stairs with bloated polycount due to complex underside shape in Modeling

Stairs with bloated polycount due to complex underside shape

schagemann — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 06:42:06 GMT

We are wondering if anyone has a solution to the high poly count of the current stair tool, basically it creates a highly complex underside to each stair resulting in a bloated polycount per stair.

The Polycount reduces significantly when you switch the display mode to something even more questionable...

Unfortunately, most of our projects are large-scale, thus we often have dozens, if not hundreds, of stairs, which is why low poly count matters to us and obviously it would be beneficial if it would show a realistic formwork shape as well.... unless we are missing something?

Re: Stairs with bloated polycount due to complex underside shape

Barry Kelly — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 06:53:56 GMT

As soon as you add winding treads, you will get a curved base, as the stair tries to average out the position of the base plane a bit like a spline does to approximate the curves.

There are no good solutions to prevent this.

You can 'split' the structure and create a flat base for the winding section, but the flight in and out will still be slightly curved.

Or you can create separate stairs for the flights and winders,

This will give you flat undersides to the flights and you can adjust the base of the winders.

See this old post ... https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Modeling/monolithic-Stair-with-winder-gives-a-curved-bottom/m-p/596268

Barry.