Railings - Again

[GaryOrrMBI]

Railings. We all know they're problematic. Years of requests to have them overhauled have seen minimal improvement.

Ok, as a programmer I understand the complexities of a major overhaul. But I have been delving deeply into this issue internally lately and spent a lot of time out here searching posts and requests and how to's by different people about this work around or that and I believe that I have it nailed down to a few items that will solve the majority of the issues encountered.

1) Posts and Balusters.

• Allow posts to be unpinned from the railing and adjusted (including top and bottom attachment methods and offsets) and/or removed.
• Move the "Post" flag from the family type and add it into the post and baluster dialog. While you're at it add another flag for "Miter" or something similar to allow an option to have the posts mitered by the Top rail.
• Once a railing has been created, allow us to Tab into the post and baluster pattern and change the default justification (Beginning, End, Center) and allow us to shift the pattern relative to that justification (as with Curtain wall patterns).

2) Non continuous rails.

• If start and end posts are defined and have an offset, allow an option to trim the rails by that offset.

3) Top rails and Hand rails.

• Top rails are not handrails (ok, so they can be, but the following will still be true when they are). Change the hand clearance to an offset value and allow positive and negative offsets that actually cleanup correctly.
• Allow Extensions and returns/ return types to be changed on an instance basis after creation.
• Allow the rail path to be truly edited (not just the extension path).
• Allow the rail path to be broken into segments (with some segments removed) relative to the path of the railing that it is attached to.

4) Lastly, and the biggest heartache to all of us:

• Create a new "Panel" Entity type that will fill the space between selected controls: IE Post to post and Top Rail Element to named bottom rail or host (again, similar to a curtain wall panel but with the ability to build a family that might be framed or have brackets that adjust relative to those control points).

I believe that these modifications would solve 85% or more of the headaches associated with railings.

-Gary

[akesh]

Revit's Railing tool needs to be enhanced in order to make it better.

I am sure that I am not the only one that gets frustrated with the railing tool, especially on stairs.

GLASS RAILINGS:

For one, Revit handles glass panels on a railing terribly especially on Stairs.  Please fix this, it has been an unattended issue for the past decade+ that I have been using Revit.  The simple "Spread to Fit" option should take a panel width and do what it is supposed to = Spread that panel to fit automatically within its' constraints adjusting these panel widths to suit the length of the Railing or spaces between Balusters.

BALUSTER PLACEMENT:

On the other hand, there is the annoying baluster placement when it comes to Stairs.  When designing and detailing we set balusters to be positioned at specific distances on a tread away from the riser for example, however Revit does not allow the flexibility of placing the baluster "User Defined" or adjusting these balusters to where we would like them to be positioned.

There should be a method/function/setting as part of the Railing Type to allow the user the option of using pre-sets or the custom flexibility to reposition the baluster/s or even Add/Remove Balusters.  This, if you think about it, could be the exact principle that a Curtain Grid/Mullion is set up in terms of unpinning balusters and repositioning them or even adding a new baluster/s.

ADDING GATES TO RAILINGS:

An added bonus would be to expand on the Railing tool tab on the ribbon with a drop down option, which shall allow the option to insert a gate in the railing.

This can help greatly when using the railing tool for pool safety railings where a self closing gate in the railing is required (as required by our Building Regulation), OR, when using the railing tool as a fence and one needs to insert a pedestrian gate or vehicle access gate.

To create a Railing Gate/Door, there could be a new Family Category Type introduced where one can model up a gate (as you would a door).  Pre-set parameters can be added to this new Family Category indicating exterior side of railing, instead of a wall there could be a placeholder for a railing with an opening indicated (like the door family). etc.

Refer to attached images of issues that currently persists with Revit's Railing tool.

As these are some frustrations which I feel could enhance on making the Railing tool better, others may have more to add to this to make this tool better.

[bill_gilliss]

O, yes PLEASE!

[MichaelRuehr]

1 more very important one

Railings are often side fixed to the stair with the top and the bottom of the Railings currently all defined by one reference line (nosing)

we cannot adjust railings that need to align with the underside of the Stair. Typically landings often need a thicker slab

as well as higher railing we should be able to control them with a sketch-like we can with walls. Override Bottom/Top height by a sketch line.

[Anonymous]

As the OP said - The ability to edit individual railing elements after the railing is created would be HUGE! If we could "edit in place" or "explode" individual elements of a railing after it's created that would solve so much headache for probably the community and your programmers Autodesk 😉 In fact being able to "explode" or "edit in place" ANY element in ALL of Revit would solve a lot of issues.