Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Railing Problems: 3d model and materials

Anonymous
Not applicable
Ive been having a lot of issues with railing since I started in ArchiCad, and right now dealing with 3 specific:
1- I set the Ends of the top rail to extend but it only appears extended on plan view, the 3d model never shows up like its supposed to. (I tried with as many configurations I could, taking of the extents, resetting the rail, putting in an exagerated extension to see if it works..and nothing). I know my rail seems like its floating right know, I should extend all the rails, but trying to solve the toprail extension first.
2- Is it possible to set just one of the outer Posts? Mine are set to invisible, but I wanted to have a post only at one side, but dont find this option, everytime I turn Posts on, it automatically put the 2 outer posts.

3- I cant change the rail material. I change the material for all the components but it keeps the default aluminum material. Ive tried a lot of different materials, just doesnt work. Other objects change material normally.

Newbie here, If anyone could help in any of these, Ill be very pleased!
8 REPLIES 8
Lingwisyer
Guru
2. After creating the railing with the outer posts, if you select it, you should get an "Edit" prompt appearing. In edit mode, you can select one of the outer posts and delete it.



Ling.

AC22-23 AUS 7000Help Those Help You - Add a Signature
Self-taught, bend it till it breaksCreating a Thread
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Thank you! this did work out. Still, cant figure out the extensions. Im having trouble even updating the rail profile from square to circle. Guess I have a real bug in the software here
Lingwisyer wrote:
2. After creating the railing with the outer posts, if you select it, you should get an "Edit" prompt appearing. In edit mode, you can select one of the outer posts and delete it.



Ling.
dcerezo
Advocate
I'm having an issue with the materials as well. It seems you have to change each component individually. Is there no way to change the entire rail's materials all at once?
ArchiCAD 26 - iMac 27, Late 2019, 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 32GB Ram, Radeon Pro 8GB, macOS Sonoma
Barry Kelly
Moderator
dcerezo wrote:
I'm having an issue with the materials as well. It seems you have to change each component individually. Is there no way to change the entire rail's materials all at once?
Yes that is correct.
Each component is an individual object and therefore has its own settings.
You may want a railing with aluminium posts, timber handrail and stainless steel wires or glass panels.
So one material obviously won't work.
Although it would be nice to be able to say the entire railing is aluminium in some circumstances.

You should be able to change the material for all posts, all railings, etc., within the railing (or railing segment if you have customised them) at one time from the general railing settings.
Or you can select each element on its own (EDIT mode) and change them one by one.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
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dcerezo
Advocate
Thank you Barry, that's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure since I'm just a novice here. Thanks!
ArchiCAD 26 - iMac 27, Late 2019, 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 32GB Ram, Radeon Pro 8GB, macOS Sonoma
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Not a problem.
The railing tool is new in the last couple of versions, so we are all pretty novice with it I think.

I see your signature shows Archicad 20.
However I assumed you were referring to the railing in 21 or 22?

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Marina wrote:
3- I cant change the rail material. I change the material for all the components but it keeps the default aluminum material. Ive tried a lot of different materials, just doesnt work. Other objects change material normally.
Not sure if this is what you're running into, but for me, in the default AC22 template, for some reason Override ______ Surface under 3D Representation is turned on by default for a bunch of the railing components, so changing the Building Material under the Style and Dimensions section of the component's Component Settings doesn't appear to do anything. You can turn off Override ______ Surface for that component and the Building Material settings will take effect.
dcerezo
Advocate
Hi Mike,

Mine isn't on by default like yours, they're all off for each individual component of the railing. I have to go in and turn them on one by one and change the material as needed.

Que sera, sera.
ArchiCAD 26 - iMac 27, Late 2019, 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 32GB Ram, Radeon Pro 8GB, macOS Sonoma