Stairs and railing

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for a way to make stairs and custom railings. I've tried the ArchiCAD's stair tool and found it to be unfriendly, a lot of work and never quite producing the stair I want. I don't ever seem to be able to get all of the parameters just the way I want them. I usually fall back to modeling the stairs and rails with other ArchiCAD tools (slabs for step and walls, roofs and columns for the railings).
The stair tool does not seem to have the capability to make a very simple wooden handrail that is typical to residences here in Hawaii. Think two by four rail with a two by three bottom rail and two by two pickets. We also need to model a palm motif railing that seems way beyond the scope of this tool.
I just tried ArchiStair and encountered some of the same problems in terms of getting all of the parameters to work together. Similarly to the ArchiCAd stair tool this tool forces dimensions into the stair that I do not want. When I fix that dimension it changes something else. Then I go back to modeling the steps with slabs--its quicker. My apologies to Fabrizio but it doesn't seem to do what I need it to do.
I'm actually OK with modeling the steps with the slab tool but I would like to find a railing modeling tools that I can make custom handrails. As I said right now I make railings using the column, roof and wall tools. I'd like to find a custom railing tool that works.
On the Objects Online website there are two products that might be of some help. There is MultiRail 2 and there is the "Fence & Stairs Set" by Yuriy Puzhytskyy.
MultiRail 2 seems like it might be flexible enough to make my custom handrails. Using this package I would continue to model my stairs and then apply the MultiRail handrails to the stairs and walkways.
The "Fence & Stairs Set" might just do it all.
Both packages seem to be old software, not updated in a few years so I am hesitant to try either of them.
I'd like know if anyone knows of a custom railing (or railing and stair) tool that works well.
Thank you,
John Cassel

[Fabrizio Diodati]

Dear John,

"My apologies to Fabrizio but it doesn't seem to do what I need it to do."

No trouble at all: I'm convinced that also using ArchiStair you cannot get whatever you want.
Just for curiosity, could you privately send me a drawing showing what you are looking for?
ArchiStair is a work in progress (maintenance versions will be release) so, maybe, we could add what you are looking for: user needs are the base for a good development.

Thank you very much
Friendly
Fabrizio

[Rakela Raul]

i heard 'stairbuilder' is very good....try it and let us know

[Steve Jepson]

johncassel wrote:
I'm looking for a way to make stairs and custom railings....

It may be faster to just to make your own. No GDL is required.
You just need to use the Profiler and a little imagination, or maybe the SEO.

Show me a picture of some stair railing you like and I will send you an ArchiCAD file with it made as objects.
Even very elaborate ornamental iron work is not impossible to do with ArchiCAD tools and no GDL.
Just piece together a bunch of parts and save it again as a single part, add to it, and so on.

[Steve Jepson]

Would you like to make railings like any of these?
http://www.grolliron.com/pages/794101/index.htm

They are all do-able in ArchiCAD. You could do it even better with ArchiForma.