Railing and Curtain Wall

[Serg1382]

Hi everyone,

I am participating in the Archicad Beta testing program and would like to raise an issue regarding the logic and consistency between the Curtain Wall and Railing tools.

Both tools share a similar hierarchical structure. They are composite elements consisting of various sub-elements (posts, panels, rails, frames, etc.). Each of these sub-elements has its own independent settings, custom properties (via Property Manager), and individual Element IDs.

The Issue:
When documenting and detailing a project, there is a major inconsistency in how these tools handle documentation and annotation:

• Curtain Wall: The Label Tool allows us to annotate either the entire assembly or any specific sub-element (a particular panel, frame, or accessory) individually, accurately fetching its specific ID and custom properties.
• Railing: A Label can only be attached to the Railing assembly as a whole. It is currently impossible to label a single sub-element (such as a specific baluster, post, or panel filling). The Label tool simply does not detect them as individual annotatable components.

Why this matters:
Because of this limitation, we cannot properly detail and specify railing assemblies on our construction drawings using standard Archicad workflows. Users are forced to rely on workarounds or manually typed static text, which completely breaks the core BIM logic of automation.

Expected Result / Feature Request:
Implement the same deep labeling capabilities for the Railing Tool as we already have for the Curtain Wall. Users should be able to use the Tab key (or a similar selection mechanism) to detect, select, and label any specific sub-element of a railing, automatically displaying its unique Element ID or property.

In addition to the labeling issue, I want to highlight two severe geometric and logical limitations regarding the Curtain Wall and Railing tools that have remained unchanged since their introduction.

1. Lack of True Curved/Radius Glass Panels
When drawn along an arc, both tools force glass panels to be segmented into flat, straight pieces. In modern architecture, curved glass facades and radius structural glass railings are standard. We need a native option to switch a panel's geometry from "Flat" to "Curved" so that it seamlessly follows the radius of the reference line. As shown in the circular layouts in the screenshots, we currently get a faceted polygon instead of a smooth glass curve.

2. Inability to Extend/Continue a Curtain Wall path
There is a massive inconsistency in how the reference lines of these two composite tools can be modified:

• Railing Tool: Clicking an endpoint opens the Pet Palette with the "Continue Railing" command, allowing users to effortlessly add new segments to the existing element (as shown in my second screenshot).
• Curtain Wall Tool: This essential feature is completely missing (as shown in my first screenshot). If you need to extend a Curtain Wall or add a new turn to its path, you cannot simply continue drawing; you are forced to either draw a separate curtain wall or redraw the whole assembly from scratch.

Feature Request:

1. Introduce true radius geometry support (curved glass panels) for both Curtain Wall and Railing sub-elements.
2. Implement a "Continue Reference Line" command in the Pet Palette for Curtain Wall endpoints, aligning its logic with the Railing tool.

 

3. Dimensioning Difficulties and Lack of Auto-Dimensioning on Drawings
Another major issue when producing documentation is dimensioning Curtain Walls and Railings on floor plans, sections, and elevations. Currently, dimensioning these complex assemblies is a tedious manual process of chasing individual hotspots.

Feature Request:
We need an automatic dimensioning feature integrated into the Dimension Tool specifically for Curtain Walls and Railings. The logic should work similarly to the automatic dimensioning of skins in composite walls, slabs, or roofs. Users should be able to configure automatic dimensioning to automatically snap to frame axes, panel faces, or overall bounding dimensions with a single click. This would eliminate repetitive manual work and prevent documentation errors when the frame spacing or overall geometry changes.

As demonstrated in the screenshot below, this can be seamlessly integrated into the interface: inside the "Dimension Details" tab of the Dimension Default Settings, right alongside the existing «Automatically dimension Walls and Slabs» feature, we need to add dedicated checkboxes for Curtain Walls and Railings. This will allow users to choose exactly which sub-components (frame axes, outer panel faces, or reference lines) the dimension line should automatically snap to.

Best regards

[Barry Kelly]

@Serg1382 

Thanks for bringing this up but it is not part of the Beta testing for 30.

For the Beta test, we are supposed to be focusing on and discussing the new features to be included with version 30.

This Beta forum is not the place to discuss other aspects of how the software works unless it is impacted by a new Beta feature.

Please discuss this in the main community forums or make a wish in the community wishlist.

Barry.

[Karoly Horvath]

Serg,

The years and my experience tought me that the respone you are going to get to your well written and 100% valid problens is this:

"Please add these issues to the wishlist..."

Then you can wait 3-5 years before you realise that fixing existing tools in Archicad is not a well marketable thing, so the likelihood of any improvement in railing and curtain wall tool converges to zero.

[Laszlo Nagy]

I have moved this thread to the main forums, since these are all wishes as Barry mentioned.

Please post separate wishes for each feature request so that people can vote on them and GS Product Team can see how much demand there is for each. That would mean 3 or 4 individual wishes. Before posting them, please search the Wishlist as some of these wishes may already have a thread there.