Experience with Stairbuilder

[Erich]

OK, as I become disillusioned with ArchiCAD stairs, I have a question along similar lines to Don Lee's post about ArchiStair http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=29795

What are folk's experience with Stairbuilder from Cadimage? Can it handle a traditional stair with volutes and goose necks, etc? What do you find its limitations to be? What do you like about it?

[Anonymous]

If you've never used it before, you'll find a small learning curve. You do need to read the manual, otherwise somethings are difficult to figure out. eg i was having issues with it, because i wasn't using the correct placement method (i hadn't read the manual 😉 )

However once you get used to it, it's fantastic - Light years a head of the native AC stairs.

[Anonymous]

Hi sdb
I know you are one of the grand masters of AC,(by your posts) but your answer here seemed rather generic.

When you have time could your elaborate a bit?
I got totally frustrated with AC stairs trying to build a set of winders that I knew made code, but AC kept giving me the illegal stair crappp.
Ended up modeling them.

So How does Cadimage stairs stack up with winders?
How capable is it in sectional views of structural details, and the things Erich asked about?

And anything else specific you have time for.
Big requests, I know, but I've watched the movies a while back and did not get my questions answered, yet I'm seriously looking at C.I.S. because don't want to get into the multiple dongle jungle.
Thanks in Advance.
lec

ps. If anyone does not want to go public with comparisons, I'd hold my breath to the test, of any negatives of either in a P.M.

[Erich]

IF any folks have used both the Stairbuilder add-on as well as the Archistair add-on, I would love to hear current comparisons too.

[Anonymous]

Hi lec1212
haha thanks for that, but not quite 😉

Yes i'll try & elaborate (i'll give cadimage a heads up & get them to comment also, maybe they'll give u a demo?)

It's split's up the stair process into stairs & handrails.
It's great for winders, as you add each little piece of the stair as you go eg a straight run, then a turn, then a straight run, then a turn etc etc, meaning you can build a very complex stair, where each part of the winder is editable.

Sectional views it give you a lot of 2D pen controls & i think their latest AC13 version hooks into your project's standard pen settings etc.

I haven't used Archistair so i'm not sure how it would compare.
It does work quite differently to the normal AC stair, so at first it can be hard to get your head around. (& yes u don't have to use an extra dongle!!)

Did you have any other specific Qs? as i could upload a couple of screenshots.

[Erich]

sdb,

Can you show us a section of the Stairbuilder stair? The videos are all plan views and 3D. Does the resultant object, show the stringers etc or is it just a solid? What about the termination of the handrail? What options are available, or can you write your own?

[Anonymous]

Erich wrote:
can you write your own?

you can't write your own (i guess that would be advanced user?)

i will upload a couple of screenshots shortly.

[Anonymous]

sdb wrote:
"i guess that would be advanced user?"
Well if you looked at my posts, you could surly see that leaves me out:-)))
lec

[henrypootel]

You can grab a 30-day trial version from the website if you want to have a play around with it.

Instructions on registering & downloading are here: http://help.cadimagetools.com/#ins-downloading-the-tools

I'll talk to the developers tomorrow and get back to you with some screenshots of what you're looking for

[Piotr Dobrowolski]

Erich wrote:
IF any folks have used both the Stairbuilder add-on as well as the Archistair add-on, I would love to hear current comparisons too.

I use Archistair mostly - but I checked Stairbuilder - and such tests confirmed I have chosen the better plug...(Archistair 2)

The pros of Stairbuilder: You can "draw" a stair flight and the Railings auto fitting to the stairs and slab edges.
The cons od Stairbuilder: You cannot make a U- shape staircase with wider landing than a stair flight (Which is sometimes mandatory due to local regulations where I practice) - Yes it can be done by workarounds - but You loose flexibility when You combine stairflight+slab+stairflight

The pros of Archistair: You can make virtually any combination fo stairs landings etc. The railing can be adjusted to slabs or even meshes below
The cons od Archistair: You cannot "draw" a stair flight as in the competition.
Not con or pro: The railing does not fit to slab edge or stair but can be adjusted by a polyline (sometimes I miss the feature of Stairbuilders' railing but Archistairs' is more flexible)

General note on Cadimage plugs: I do not like them because they integrate to much with Archicad - during the tests of their plugs I noted something that was wired - I changed the master layout content - gone back to layout - and I had both "contents" - the old and the new one - such behaviour was "off" when I removed Cadimage plugs from addons - and was back when I put them again. I am not sure which plug made this - but probably the Keynote or Revision manager (as those 2 are playing with layouts) - I removed 2 of them right a way - even they are usefull.
Moreover - the Cadimage plugs are difficult to install on other languages due to the sophisticated way of using some folders inside AC, some plugs do not work eg inside Polish AC - Landscaping plug. On this field - the Cigraphs plugs are the example of ease o use - You put the plugs to addons and forget 😉
One thing more - it is virtually impossible to open pla made when having Cadimage plugs loaded - no matter if You have or not the plugs installed on "the target" computer - only workaround with opening pln with pla as library that works.

Best Regards,
Piotr