Baluster spacing

[beegee]

I'm building some balustrade families in place. These are for decks, not stairs.
The dialogue box lets me set baluster "separation", but I always end up with one baluster where its just not wanted, - like 700 mm from the end when the spacing is set to 1500 mm.
How do I get the balusters to space out evenly so that the max distance apart is say 1500 mm ? ( am I crazy or isn't that what should be produced from setting the spacing in the dialogue :roll: )

beegee

[PeterJ]

This item is something which I feel is a bug or a poor implementation, though our friends at Revit tell me its just how it's meant to be.

Balusters space as the spacing setting but if the length of the railing is not a multiple of that they are prone to sticking an extra one in at one end. The quickest way around this that I have found is to have two railings in the same location, one for the handrail, to the appropriate length, one for the balusters of a length that you can tweak to suit your needs. This generally works okay, though you may need to add an extra baluster using drafting lines or as an in place family if it is required in a particular view or rendering.

Hope that helps.

P

[beegee]

This item is something which I feel is a bug or a poor implementation, though our friends at Revit tell me its just how it's meant to be.


P

Thanks Peter,

I can't imagine how this could not be viewed as a bug. Why would anyone want to setout balusters at a fixed even spacing, then have an unequal "left-over" spacing at one end ? Doesn't make sense.

beegee

[gregcashen]

I agree... and furthermore it would be so simple (from a conceptual standpoint...I am certainly not a coder!) to set an alignment parameter as with text: For stair railings it could be: Align Up, Align Center, Align Down. This would allow you to start the balluster spacing from the upstairs end, center, or downstairs end. For straight railings it could be left, center, right. Forget about this random extra balluster. As AFAIK no one wants it.

Also, while I'm at it, why not allow for a compound railing where you could specify multiple ballusters/spacings just like you can have any number of railing profiles. You could use the same logic that walls and roofs use whereby layers have priorities attached to them that tell them how to wrap, end, etc. You could then specify Balluster #1 as "4x4 square" with a spacing of 6' and a priority of 1; then specify Balluster #2 as "2x2 square" with a spacing of 6" and a priority of 2. Thiswould effectively allow you to make posts and ballusters in one railing and specify the alignment of each balluster type and if they land on each other, they would display based on priority.

Even better, how about a Starting Balluster and Ending Balluster family that could be specified in the railing that would automatically place the required end conditions.

I just think there is so much more that could be done with this tool to make it useful. As it is right now there is too much in-place family making involved in anything but the most generic railings.

[end of rant]

P.S. Yes I had a bad day today and I hate all building officials. :evil:

[beegee]

Greg,

Those ideas sound great. Why dont you you post that on the wishlist.

This is something that just should not be a problem for a top notch progran like Revit. The amount of time spent to work around the problem is just ridiculous.

beegee

ps ... I also agree about building officials. In aust, we now have "private certifiers" and some of them aren't as bad as the bureaucrats :(