How to create balustrades using TrussMaker

TechTip Winner of the Month of September 2002

Submitted by Robert Olivieri, Western Australia

Hi,

don't know if anyone's suggested this yet, but in 7.0, the TrussMaker tool works for creating custom balustrades with tubular elements. Seems to work fine for multiple flights with landings, but only in linear sections.

hope this helps.

Robert Olivieri
Odden Rodrigues Architects
Perth, Western Australia

How to proceed in ArchiCAD

1. Create Your Staircase

   Create any staircase with straight flights and intermediate landings. Don't forget to turn off automatic rails.

2. Draw the Balustrade

   Create a section/elevation view of the stair showing its side view. Draw the wireframe (the centerlines of the bars) in this S/E window.

   Use different colors for bars with different cross-section. In the example below, posts are yellow, balustrades are pink, bars are blue.

   

   Select the lines of the rail.
   Tip:Use the marquee tool or a dedicated layer and the Find&Select tool to separate the lines of the rails from other lines.

   Choose 'Extras/TrussMaker/Create Truss'. In the TrussMaker dialog box you can define truss profiles for each line color.

   

   Press 'save as' and select the library to store the newly created .GSM object in. A window appears informing you that the object has been placed on the floor plan.

   

   The newly created object is placed in the plane of the elevation. Drag the object to the exact location.

   Now you can delete the drafting lines in the S/E window. You no longer need them.

   

3. Modify Truss

   You can modify the rail any time by selecting the object, and choosing the Extras/TrussMaker/Edit Truss command. With this command the object will be exploded to simple lines. You can edit the lines and then save the object anew. Alternatively, select the 'Save as' command to save this object as a separate library part.

   Note: You can only edit the railing in the S/E window.

   You can also create rails for stairs with multiple flights by creating rails one by one for each flight.

   Also, you can create combined railings made up of two or more different library parts i.e. a wooden railing with a hollow circular profile handrail or a (rolled) steel profile railing with tubular balustrades etc.

   

Page last updated: Thursday, June 10, 2004