stair maker

[Anonymous]

Hello
Everybody happy with stair maker?
We are not...most of our corrupted files have something to do with it, we tried almost all possibilities, never got any acceptable printable technical (1/50) drawing with the tool (ok the simplest one maybe if you like the text it creates...) nor an acceptable "not so detailed" 3d with a concrete slab (nice smooth bottom surface...). We always have to put the 3d in a template layer and finish with an exploded 2d drawing (tons of segmented lines)
I am not even talking about the sections you get, especially with curved railing (even the simplest one)
10 years ago, I discovered a nice tool, assuming the level of the architectural CAD, now, it is a lame duck. Did I miss some future improvement?
My wish? Less automatism and much more flexibility especially for the connection with railing and the shape of the treads (at least the first tread) ...and an acceptable geometry of curved slab bottom and railing

[Anonymous]

"Laci Neda" wrote:
You are very optimistic
Ok AC99, Ill be dead before...
Maybe you noticed the topic is the hottest actually in wish topic, might be some good reasons...STMK deserve AC, sure most of us prefer having a very simple but accurate tool rapidly rather that waiting for the holly grail.

[Anonymous]

Laci wrote:
...if you have more to contribute on this topic, details that have not been touched before, please do so. I'll be listening.
Laci

Actually, there's a new? code issue that would be helpful if Stairmaker could address. I've noticed it in IRC 2003, namely the requirement that all treads have a minimum dimension (6 inches - comes into play at winders). It would be nice if Stairmaker would allow you to enter some of these parameters, and maybe also allow for a generic layout for quick schematic design. The current treament at winders/corners is probably one that's been giving me the most headaches so far.

BTW, an option with 0 inches at the winder would also help when drawing existing conditions.

(hope this makes sense).

[Anonymous]

Sergio wrote:
The current treament at winders/corners is probably one that's been giving me the most headaches so far.

BTW, an option with 0 inches at the winder would also help when drawing existing conditions.

(hope this makes sense).

Perfect sense. Many US stairs have landings with 0" offsets. This has been one of the biggest problems with using StairMaker on residential projects (aside from the largely useless handrail selection).

[Daniel Lindahl]

I am not as unhappy with stairmaker as others here and have used it successfully for CD's for the the 6 years I have used Archicad now, but it does seem like a strange hybrid with it's dual interface of the object parameter editing and the deeper stairmaker edit. It would seem that all the configuration tweaking could and should occur in the object parameters.

IMHO it would be a mistake to disconnect the handrails function from the stair itself, though I can see the reasons why some are asking for this. You can even now just leave the handrails off the stair and insert a 3rd party handrail to better suit your needs.

My main wishes for Stairmaker are:
1) the option to inset stringers from the sides in an open tread stair for stairs where the treads are fixed to brackets on top of one or two steel beams;
2) better plan representation of the handrail (everyone's wish!);
3) the ability to assymetrically chamfer corners of landings, not just the radius filleting that we currently have;
4) the ability to interrupt handrails for doors or a different treatment at landings;
5) the ability to select individual treads for extension as landings, to give us total flexibility with where and how (and how many) landings are configured in a stair;
6) easier more obvious winder configuration. I know that some of my #5 request exists in the winders and have learnt how to use this, but I bet most of the others here have not yet discovered this bizzarrely hard-to-tweak hidden ability. The results are rewarding as can be seen in the attached JPG.

Daniel[/img]

[Daniel Lindahl]

Oh yes,

I forgot, here is the plan of the Canadian Winder stair.
You have to double click on the image to make it show properly.

[Anonymous]

Daniel wrote:
... You can even now just leave the handrails off the stair and insert a 3rd party handrail to better suit your needs.

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I ask it to turn off the handrails, the side with the handrails "off" still shows through almost like a sheet of glass. And if I'm pulling a section or elevation that happens to include the stair, I see it also. I must've missed a trick.

As for the plan, that stair looks great. How did you get the treads to come to a point like that? Whenever I try it out, it tells me there's problems with the stair and I'm at a loss for which option(s) to adjust. It's probably my biggest source of frustration in AC.

[Petros Ioannou]

Speaking of rails...
How about an option to have auto- gravity for stairs? like slabs roofs.etc
This would allow the placement of user made posts (and rails) on the stair. This combined with a tool such as Archiforma's profiler (which has the ability to adjust 3d points of a profile) would be usefull for custom made rails.

Petros

[Daniel Lindahl]

"Sergio wrote:
....that stair looks great. How did you get the treads to come to a point like that? Whenever I try it out, it tells me there's problems with the stair and I'm at a loss for which option(s) to adjust. It's probably my biggest source of frustration in AC.

Sergio

All the stairmaker settings are in the attached screenshot. The stairtype is the 6th one in the screen of options when you open stairmaker.

The main key to tweaking it is to pick the second radio button in the lower half of the flight settings box. This gives you a centrepoint for radiating risers, rather than having the winding treads evenly distributed.

Move the cursor over that centrepoint in the plan and click when it changes to a bullseye cursor. Then you get a dialog box where you can nominate the exact location of the centre.

The black fields in the plan are also significant. You can move the + cursor over the edges of the black fields and click and drag to include or exclude steps from the winder portion. when you have it looking about right you should fine tune the length of each of the three stair runs until the winder corners fit neatly.

Notice too that I have the arrow line off centre in the stair. This is significant, since the (2*riser)+run formula is calculated along the arrow line. The arrow in this case is offset 390mm from the inside edge - (see top of the flight settings box). I am not sure at what point the 120mm minimum tread dimension is calculated in relation to the arrow line, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the object.

HTH

[Aussie John]

All said and done at least the stair if in section showed the landing as a solid item would be a major benefit

[Anonymous]

Here is a quick example of an ESSENTIAL australian stair... very very common... It looks like stairmaker should be able to make it with very little additional work, but it is simply not there...

Note the winder range, each winder is at 30 degrees...

This is probably the most common winder there is...


Just read up... Didnt realise someone else had posted about this exact stair....

In Any case, this should be an easy stair to make, rather than having to spend a long time tweaking it...