BA Stairs & Dynamic Views

BA SS1 08.11.07.60
Now I know that there has been a lot of discussion on the Stair tool in V8i recently; so I'm if I have missed the answer to this post.
It appears that when a stair is added to the model and then the view is set up with the cut through the stair, in accordance with onventional expectations the stair is represented by a 2D symbol element, with both forward and backward parts showing, (which might or might not be what you are used to) and the stair symbol is located at the section cut level. (My own preference would be to show the forward cut in detail, numbered treads and Up arrow, but with only an outline for the backward view, thus allowing a second flight of stairs or someother structure in the void beneath thestairs to be represented without undue clutter.)
However, if the cut line is located above the staircase, say 1000mm above top floor level, then the stair does not show in the forward view, unless the forward clipping limit is set approx. 5mm beyond the limit of the bottom of the stair. The reason for this is that the cell symbol is located at the foot of the stair. This might be a logical arrangement for the equivalent plan symbol for doors, but mucks up the representation of different floor levels and voids, as this causes an elements on the lower floor to be shown as well.
Comments please....
Patrick Wilson
  • Interesting comments Patrick,

    I have had an in depth attempt at using the stair tool and found the same problems you are describing.

    What I am wondering is whether the problem here is a difference in conventions. Here in the UK it would be normal on a plan to show the stair below and the stair above with the cut spliting them. The current arrangement causes real problems for me. In the project I used the stair tool on I have a fairly normal arrangement of concrete basement with concrete stairs and then steelframe above with steel stairs. The way that the annotations work at present results at ground floor level the stairs appearing to go up to first in steel, but also run down to basement in steel.

    Is this just a mismatch between US standards and UK standards? Or is it a general deficiency in the stair tool annotation?

    In simple terms the annotation don't work for UK use which is a huge disappointment.

    Robert Klaschka

  • Robert,

    Thanks for your input on this - I was beginning to think that it might be just me.  Since posting originally I have had to rebuild my normal desktop PC, so have reinstalled V8i/BA to the pre-SS1 version (08.11.05.XX) with the US NCS dataset and the behaviour is more erratic, but defenitely the plan symbol is locked to the ACS insertion plane.

    I have just been having a look at the xml file (uniclass_stairs.xml) and therea re lines in that, that do not appear in the interface:

    <!--AnnotationTab-->

    <!--<Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@BreakStairAtTread" />-->
    <!--<Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@SettingDescriptions" />
    <Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@SettingName" />
    <Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@TreadsInReflectedView" />
    <Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@TreadsInForwardView" />
    <Property definition="Stair_Common" name="Stair_Common/Annotation/@Break" />-->

    Now these lines might not deliver the display that we are after, but why are they part of the Annotation Tab the Stairs Property panel?
    -->

    The cut/forward plan symbol for most UK purposes could be limited to a default mid-point and not respond to teh actual section height AFFL.

    Patrick





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