3D Molding Polyline challenges

[rcmcdougle]

I am trying to generate a railing to work with this entry stairway. I spent a LOT of time in Chief x10 trying to do this with landings and stairs and failing. I tried 3D molding polylines but no joy. I finally resorted to solids and a .dwg symbol created in Rhino 3D. I have recently upgraded to Chief x14 and wonder if there is a way to do this with less back and forth.

To minimize cost, the return at the top is in plane with the rail, not on the flat... same with the return at the bottom. I can see how to loop the elevation views up / down to get around the corner, but how do you snap the polylines to those ends in the adjacent elevation views so they are connected properly?

Entry.zip

 

[DBCooper]

I don't think I can help you with the molding polylines but if you want those soffit lights to look better you can open up the symbol dialog and turn off the option for "flush mounted".

 

[robdyck]

For me, there are really 2 ways to accurately adjust that type of 3d molding and it works best to use them in conjunction with each other; drawing in section views and making coordinate adjustments to line segments. You will need an inherent understanding of the x,y,z, coordinates of your plan and the 3d molding.

Begin by creating a back-clipped section view facing each segment of the 3d molding. Draw CAD lines to use for reference and snapping. Where possible, snap the 3d molding to these cad lines by adjusting the end segments. To edit some of the transitions, open the line segment dialog and enter the correct x,y,z coordinates for the start and the end. To edit the start, lock the end of the molding, adjust the values, then close the dialog. Then to edit the end, lock the start and repeat that process. To simplify things, I'd suggest you break the molding into simpler parts (keep the corner transitions separate from the straight runs). To prevent separate 3d molding lines from snapping together, each 3d molding line will need to be on a separate layer.

For the sake of simplicity in modelling a continuous handrail I'd probably consider making / using 3d symbols for the corner transitions, however separated 3d moldings will work fine as well.

Unless you know otherwise for the railing your drawing, many railing transitions / corners are made using pre-manufactured components.