StairBuilder Vs. ArchiStair

[Chazz]

Has anyone tried both StairBuilder by Theometric and ArchiStair by Cigraph? I'm wondering if anyone has strong preferences or loyalties. Which is the best Stair tool?

Any info appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Archistair is much easier to use in my opinion

donald mac donald

[Dave Jochum]

Donald wrote:
Archistair is much easier to use in my opinion

I agree wholeheartily.

[Rakela Raul]

easier to use doesnt mean that is better

[Anonymous]

IMO ArchiCAD has matured to the point that it is so quick and easy to build stairs with the basic elements. The majority of stairs that I do are fabricated from my drawings and I have yet to find an add-on that can produce accurate shop drawings.

[Chazz]

Thank you all for your insights. I'm interested in the power Vs. ease-of-use question you brought up. Theometric certainly has a reputation for power and that has been a good fit for me (I have used Door & Window Builder/ StairBuilder and to a lesser extent CabinetBuilder). Door/Window Builder are exceptionally excellent tools once mastered. However, there are some fundamental things that I have been unable to do with StairBuilder (modeling a stair with different railing types on each side, etc.) In writing to Theometric both before and after their acquisition by Cadimage Solutions Ltd, I never received a reply about this and other issues. This is why I'm looking for alternatives. ArchiStair is free and I just ordered the box (why not just a download?!?!) and I'll certainly evaluate it but I think all of this points to a real need for a comprehensive stair solution that goes well beyond what is currently available. Theometric's StairBuilder is expensive at US $250 but I would pay more for something that really really worked and would continue to be developed.

While I commend Jeffrey R. Yeaw for using only the basic modeling tools to generate his stairs this is simply not an option for me. The ability to change an entire forest of stairs in a large project with a few clicks of the mouse is just too crucial in my work.

Any further thoughts appreciated, particularly from anyone who's used both ArchiStair and StairBuilder. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

If the forest is full of the "same" stair e.g. condos etc.. if you build the stair in a module any changes you make there will transfer to all placements in the project. Or you can build the stair and save it as an object and if changes are reuired overwrite the object with the newly saved changes.

[Djordje]

Technically, the StairBuilder and ArchiStair are different.

StairBuilder is a library part with a myriad of options - have not seen recent versions, so can't say whether you have only the PREDEFINED choices, or you can create your own mullion for example.

ArchiStair is an API - that is to say, a piece of software working INSIDE ArchiCAD that reacts to your input and creates again a library part, BUT the one made on the basis of your input. Again, the pre-defined elements do play a role.

IMHO the responsiveness of Cigraph - namely Fabrizio - surpasses by far even the responsiveness of Theometric with Theo, and I would not mention the responsiveness after the CADImage takeover.

And, still to come is the ability to do shop drawings - IMHO logical, as all the nuts and bolts should not be modeled anyway. Maybe one day

My two dirhams,

[Chazz]

Djordje,

you are quite right that the approaches --API Vs Library part-- are very different and there are definite advantages to each. After dabbling only a little with AtchiStair (just got it yesterday) I feel partial to the Library part approach. I was unable to make a stair (at least as a single part) that had a straight flight then a circular flight followed by another straight flight. It may be doable though. Still, I hope that Cigraph will continue their development effort.

Also, I should point out that Andrew Watson (of Cad Image) wrote with a fix (and an obvious, well documented one at that, so shame on me) for getting the different railings on each side of a flight of stairs.

It is less clear if Cad Image intends to continue development of StairBuilder. No mention of it is made on their website (WindowBuilder is mentioned, DoorBuilder to a lesser extent). Is anyone is a position to comment on their future plans?

Thanks again for all the input.

[LiHigh]

Djordje wrote:
Technically, the StairBuilder and ArchiStair are different.

StairBuilder is a library part with a myriad of options - have not seen recent versions, so can't say whether you have only the PREDEFINED choices, or you can create your own mullion for example.

ArchiStair is an API - that is to say, a piece of software working INSIDE ArchiCAD that reacts to your input and creates again a library part, BUT the one made on the basis of your input. Again, the pre-defined elements do play a role.

IMHO the responsiveness of Cigraph - namely Fabrizio - surpasses by far even the responsiveness of Theometric with Theo, and I would not mention the responsiveness after the CADImage takeover.

And, still to come is the ability to do shop drawings - IMHO logical, as all the nuts and bolts should not be modeled anyway. Maybe one day

My two dirhams,

Conceptually, they are the same!
Basically they just assemble Library parts(flights and landings) together to form a stair. The different is Data Input.

Surely, Archistair is much easier to use but one must upgrade to be compatible with newer version of Archicad. On the other hand, though, hard to master, Stairbuilder would have no problem in v7, v8, v9,......