Railing Profile Sweep

[brian.tucker.143546]

Trying to model an existing railing in our building. See Image 0124.jpg

We have tried three options. They all get us close be not quite.

Option 1: In Place Family - Sweep
Created an in place family by sweeping an solid along a path. I create the lines (model lines) in 3D and placed them on the proper reference planes. There are two flat ends (lines) at different heights and an arc drawn at an angle between these two flat lines. I then chose to sweep by path and selected these model lines I had drawn. The sweep started correctly (flat) and then adjusted to follow the sloped arc and then did not end correctly (it does not line up with the other rail.) This option seems most promising. See Image - Option 1.

Option 2: One Rail - Landing Height Adjustment
Extended the rail onto the landing and sketched the path. Then in type properties changed the landing height adjustment. This does not allow the creation of a single slope and instead breaks the rail into a sloped portion and a flat portion. See Image - Option 2.

Option 3: Two Rail - Landing Height Adjustment
Extended both rails onto the landing - each halfway. This allows both sides to slope - but forces both rails to have a flat area in the center. There does not appear to be a way to slope each together. See Image - Option 3.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make any of these options work? Has anyone had any experience with this? Any help would be appreciated.

[Andre Carvalho]

Option 1: In Place Family - Sweep
Created an in place family by sweeping an solid along a path. I create the lines (model lines) in 3D and placed them on the proper reference planes. There are two flat ends (lines) at different heights and an arc drawn at an angle between these two flat lines. I then chose to sweep by path and selected these model lines I had drawn. The sweep started correctly (flat) and then adjusted to follow the sloped arc and then did not end correctly (it does not line up with the other rail.) This option seems most promising. See Image - Option 1.


What if you try building this as a small curved ramp? This will give you the profile start and end as you want.

Andre Carvalho

[brian.tucker.143546]

Thank you! That worked. I created a really small ramp (that is hidden) within the rail. See Image Below. The Thread entitled "Curved Ramps with Cross Slopes" was extremely helpful http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=65982&highlight=cross+slope

[Andre Carvalho]

I'm glad to know that my suggestion worked.

Now, if you have more situations like that, you may want to consider grouping it all together, to save you time.

Or, if you want a workaround, you might want to try exporting these small ramps to DWG, then create a new family and import them into it. You can then try using it as real post, part of the railing.

I have never done it, but it might work as well.

Andre Carvalho