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

Stair 'draining' display in plan

Paul King
Mentor

I am trying to show stair gutters in plan views.

They show fine in 3D, but in 2D views there is no clue as to their existence. 

 

There is an (annoyingly) closed topic already on this issue, which appears to be a known bug, that appears to give false or at least superseded workaround information as the 'marked solution'.

 

The marked solution refers to ensuring the stair has a finish (even in tiny thickness), and adjusting Model View Options (Detail Level of Stair and Railing Symbols=>Structure - Monolithic) setting to show 'Visible and Hidden Parts'.

 

However doing both these things has no impact at all.

 

What solutions work in ArchiCAD 29?

 

 

 

 

Operating system used: Windows 11 25 H2

PAUL KING | https://www.prime.net.nz
ArchiCAD 8-29 | Twinmotion 2025
Windoze 11 PC | Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | Nvidia Gforce RTX 5090 | 64 GB | 2x4K monitor extended desktop
10 REPLIES 10
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin

Can you show a screenshot of how it looks and a sketch or drawing of how you want it to look?

Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac28
Barry Kelly
Moderator

To see the drainage in plan, you have to turn the stair structure on in the Model View Options and then set to show on visible and/or hidden parts.

 

BarryKelly_0-1761010491523.png

 

As for controlling the fills and pen colours, I am not having much luck there.

 

BarryKelly_1-1761010571452.png

 

Barry.

 

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Yep, that (the model view settings) is pretty what I am doing, as far as I can make out.

 

The 3D stair:

2025-10-21_16-56-17.PNG

 

 The 2D plan view, that ignores the gutters:

 

2025-10-21_16-55-07.PNG

 

 The Model View Option settings:

 

2025-10-21_16-52-55.PNG

 

And the selected pens and fills

 

2025-10-21_16-54-51.PNG

PAUL KING | https://www.prime.net.nz
ArchiCAD 8-29 | Twinmotion 2025
Windoze 11 PC | Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | Nvidia Gforce RTX 5090 | 64 GB | 2x4K monitor extended desktop

Also in MVO Stair Options, make sure 'Structure - Monolithic' is ticked.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin

MVO-Stair-Monolithic.png

Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac28

Thanks @Laszlo Nagy and @Barry Kelly 

I also have 'Structure-Monolithic' set as suggested under Stair Options/Stair Symbol - but it does not seem to help

PAUL KING | https://www.prime.net.nz
ArchiCAD 8-29 | Twinmotion 2025
Windoze 11 PC | Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | Nvidia Gforce RTX 5090 | 64 GB | 2x4K monitor extended desktop

Is your stair object floor plan details set to use MVO?

 

This is strange.

I just opened a default Graphisoft template (28) and tried with drainage on the stairs.

I can see it is there, but I can't get it to show in plan.

 

But you can see from my last image from my template it worked, but I couldn't control the pen colours.

And now I open my template and I can't get it to show there either.

 

I feel we are missing something obvious, I just can't see it.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Maybe it has something to do with the grid object being used.

Built-in does not seem to show drainage but the 'Stair Grid' object seems to work.

 

BarryKelly_0-1761121236508.png

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

@Barry Kelly Well spotted!

 

Yes, that Grid Settings selection made a difference (though not clear to me what other implications arise in other view contexts when using 'Stair Grid' rather than 'Built-in stair Grid', or why we are offered two such cryptic yet similarly named options at all).

 

Also, with 'Stair Grid' active, I think the gutter fill pen you are looking for is here

 

2025-10-23_16-45-27.PNG

PAUL KING | https://www.prime.net.nz
ArchiCAD 8-29 | Twinmotion 2025
Windoze 11 PC | Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | Nvidia Gforce RTX 5090 | 64 GB | 2x4K monitor extended desktop

Setup info provided by author