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Evolve the Rail Tool to aid in Flexibility and Customization

Evolve the Rail Tool to aid in Flexibility and Customization

Per a recent feedback message sent to Autodesk, the recommendation was made to submit here to the Ideas Station. 

 

For a little background, I've been using Revit since the 2010 release and taught some beginner and some advanced courses in college as a grad student, following another grad student teacher before myself. I now use Revit on a daily basis for architecture and some structural and while I feel I have a fairly high level of proficiency, there is always more to learn with such a powerful tool. There very well may be some things I'm missing with the rail tool but still believe there is a place for a more customized and flexible version of the tool itself.

 

The Rail tool has continually seemed to be a tool that could use some improvements, specifically when it comes to more complex  and custom configurations or when wrapping around corners, down ramps/stairs, and passing along multiple surfaces. I often find myself creating multiple rails to properly detail a railing around corners and down stairs in order for the posts to land at the correct locations which can then be detailed for construction. The proposal to follow outlines some of the issues with the rail tool as it stands and a proposal to improve the rail tool by creating a version that is far more customizable, similar to the grids and panel hosting mechanisms of the curtain wall tool. I am not a programmer, but simply looking for a better way to use the rail tool in more custom arrangements. The goal is to improve the rail tool so we're not resorting to workarounds such as using the curtain wall tool to make a rail or creating 5-6 rail types to accomplish the goal of a single rail structure.

 

Firstly, the rail portion itself is often not a huge problem other than finicky top rail and extension settings that tend to be hit or miss if they are applied correctly. Rails are simply a sweep of a profile that work along a designated path. In a more customized and flexible environment the path could be drawn in a 3D arrangement or hosted along edges of existing 3d elements such as ramps, floors, surfaces, reference planes, or model lines. This would allow the rail path to cross over multiple "hosts" or elements in a model. For this proposed improvement, rail paths can really act a lot like they do now by sweeping a profile along a path to establish the rail.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, is baluster and post positioning in a custom and flexible situation. The current system uses repeating patterns that are nice for a quick rail to show intent, but struggle to easily detail exact positioning of posts when it comes to customization and accuracy for construction and buildability. A lot of the default positions of posts land at locations that cannot be built such as centering a post on the nosing of a stair tread (it just doesn’t work and makes no sense for construction). In dealing with this behavior, as noted above, I often find myself making 5-6 railing types and 5-6 different rail paths just to do what I want and land the posts in the correct locations so they fit in a way that they are constructible. Going through this exercise and I find that I could have drawn all of the stair and railing details in 2D and saved myself a lot of headache and time.

 

As a solution to this, I propose changing the way posts and balusters are hosted for a custom version of the railing tool. Retain the old version as needed (perhaps with some tweaks), for basic straight runs of railing, but add a custom version for more detailed rail assemblies. This system would use a grid and component hosting system similar to what we see in the curtain wall tool. Once an area is established based on the railing sweep path, there is an enclosed area, similar to the glass in a curtain wall, that allows the user to add grids in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions in which users can host different posts or balusters to.

 

This would accomplish a scenario where users can cut a section along a stair or landing, measure and position grids in the correct locations, then select a specific post to host to the grid. Similar to curtain walls, you can add/remove segments of the grid which will determine overall length or height of the post/rail component to create custom components. Sections inside the posts can be left empty, which would be for most standard railing types, or host panels for glass or panelized railings, similar to how the glass component in a curtain wall can be glass, empty, solid, door, or infilled with a wall type or custom curtain panel.

 

I believe there is still a place for the standard rail tool as we know it, but it could also use some improvements. Joining of geometry is often an issue with railings and balusters, particularly when it comes to rounded railings and posts. A typical railing type we see is 1-1/2” ø pipe railing and posts that are cut and welded together. In Revit these components never seems to join properly and leave the detail section drawings messy and inaccurate.

 

As noted in my intro, I very may be missing some functionality and some of the inner workings of the rail tool but to this date haven’t found a great way to deal with these custom and more complex railings (beyond anything straight and simple). Every time I look it up or look for solutions to struggles, I only end up finding workarounds and time consuming processes that could be better addressed with improved functionality and flexibility of the base rail tool. 

 

Thank you for your time reading through this idea and I can only hope to see some improvements to this vital tool that seems to have been left behind on the development table. 

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