Baluster Missing??

[Dwane Lindsey]

I have a railing style that I'm beginning to pull my hair out with. Please look at the attached image...I have a baluster that does not want to display even though the one above it does. The vertical baluster is broken into 2 pieces for cleanliness in elevation and 3D. If you make it as one baluster, you get crossing lines at the bottom rail.

Anyway, I've attached the .rvt that contains the railing with the dims necessary for the run on a stair. I've tried using different justifications, but then it screws up the railing to not have the spacing we are looking for. If I change it to Spread to Fit, the missing baluster shows up, but again it screws up the spacing.

Hopefully I've explained this clear enough. If not, please ask away!!

[Calvn_Swing]

Not sure why it isn't cooperating, I'm guessing a little bug or error in the pattern calculation. You can get the leg to come back be changing the justification to center, or stretching the sketch line a certain way. I've never been pleased with how the stair tool handles sized panels, and this is just another instance of why it doesn't work that well. I do have a simple solution though. Make your own baluster family that has the gap in the middle. Then there's only one baluster to worry about...

[Dwane Lindsey]

Thanks Calvn. I agree, working with the panels has been interesting...well, actually down right frustrating at times! It seems like everytime we tried something that should have worked it didn't.

The funny (well, not really that funny) thing is I thought of making the post part of the panel family, but your suggestion of putting a gap in one baluster slipped my mind. I'll give that a shot and I'm sure that will work.

Don't you just hate it when the simple things slip yor mind!!

[Carlos GT]

Have you tried to make the last balluster a post? (the same shape as the balluster)

[Dwane Lindsey]

Yes, the post is an option but it doesn't give you the clean look that the rest of the balusters do. You can get it to stop at the underside of the top rail, but it will cross the bottom rail and we were not happy with how that looked.

I'll probably go with the 1 baluster approach and put a gap where the bottom rail would be. It's just a matter of setting the reference planes correctly so that the slope maintains for the gap. When I get it working correctly, I'll post it back here.