Custom Baluster Panel Families

[IAN~JAMES]

I am trying to create a custom balustrade for the first time, I have managed to get so far with it, but I am having a problem with a particular feature.

The balustrade panel spans 4 steps and the bottom of the glass panel follows the line of the steps.

Within the family I have managed to establish an equal split horizontally and vertically which should follow the steps. My assumption is that the Slope Angle parameter in the family is automatically matched to the stair geometry. I have driven my vertical setting out using the formula

=Tan(Slope Angle) * Width

Then I am using Equality dim constraints to divide that into 4 steps. If I flex the Slope Angle in the family everything moves as I expected, howeve when this is loaded in to a project and a balustrade type is created the vertical split is static and fixed to the values when loaded rather than flexing with the actual Slope Angle of the stairs and this means that the alignment of the panel bottom creeps on each of the 4 steps see attached images.

Can anyone point out where I may be going wrong, or is this even possible…??

Thanks in advance

[Alfredo_Medina]

This solution uses a different approach than yours. Here, the dimensions of the tread and the riser (x and y, respectively in this example) are the dimensions that drive both the slope and the width of the panel. Then, in the project, in the baluster placement dialog box, the "distance from previous" parameter has to match the width of the panel.

In this approach, if the slope of the stair changes, the panel family needs to be edited and reloaded. For example, if the riser became 6" instead of 7", we open the baluster family and change the value of Y (riser) to 7" and reload and it works well again.