Railing to Follow Step of Stairs

[d.buckingham]

Hi, I'm looking to get the lower rail of a railing to follow the steps of a stair (see attachment).

In the image, I have modelled the bottom rail as just a Generic Model sweep that is separate to the railing, but ideally I'd like it to be integrated.

Can anyone offer any solutions?

[hmunsell]

if your using Railings with a Top Rail, you can tab select the "top rail" and pick the Edit Rail option in the Ribbon. then you can select Edit Path. 

you could also create an Termination family that can be assigned to the beginning or end of the Top Rail.

Screencast....

https://autode.sk/2tryd4l

[barthbradley]

Kind of like this?

or like this:

[d.buckingham]

Very similar to your second solution. Is that an integral part of the Railing system?

[d.buckingham]

Thanks for the response, I understand Top Rails, but this does not give me the result I'm after.

I want to avoid having to manually model this rail for every staircase.

[barthbradley]

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@d.buckingham wrote:

Very similar to your second solution. Is that an integral part of the Railing system?

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No.  An In-Place Sweep.  

[d.buckingham]

That is how I created the lower rail in my example.

Ideally I want to avoid having to model this on every core staircase in my building (multiple cores over multiple floors!)

[hmunsell]

Ahhh after seeing @barthbradley example, i see what your referring to. i don't know of any way to follow the step and integral to the railing. 

[barthbradley]

I can suggest an approach. Build the bottom rail into a separate Stair Type as Treads and Risers on an Open Stringer. Width of Stair Type=width of Stringer -- or width of Stairs=width of bottom rail (and inset Stringer a bit).  

[hmunsell]

this really got my curiosity up. i have done lots of things with railing in the past. i use a Panel family as one of the balusters. the panel family is a L shaped element. 

I'm so close.... LOL

 

[RDAOU · Accepted solution]

It can simply be modeled into the Baluster family...

- extrude as many posts you need per thread

- extrude the base plate

- in the project set 1 baluster per step

[hmunsell]

there you go.... i was making it too complicated :-).

[RDAOU]

works with a panel too but baluster with the "1 baluster per tread" is easier for placement

[d.buckingham]

Thanks, this is what I'm after!

Never thought about integrating it into the baluster, looks like I've got a bit of work to do!

Thanks again.