Drawing a stair with Corner to Corner mode

Mode

Tool

Workspace: Tool set

Corner to Corner

Stair

Architect and Landmark: Building Shell

Spotlight: Customize workspace to add tool (see Customizing workspaces)

Corner to Corner mode draws stairs based on rectangles aligned with the X/Y axes. Snap to adjacent building elements to precisely place the outer boundary of the stair. If there are certain stair geometry parameters you want to set for the stairs, specify them in the Stair Settings dialog box first. The stair's overall dimension settings (Stair Width, Side, Length, and so on) adjust to match the stair's drawn outer boundary, and as many as possible of the other stair geometry settings remain unchanged in stair settings when the Stair tool calculates the stair.

Geometry settings such as Tread Depth, Number of Risers, and Offset are not defined by the shape, but they may require adjustment to create a valid stair.

If the stair will have a lower layer and upper layer representation, or if its total rise will be defined by layer or story elements, it should be inserted on the layer representing the lower of the two floors it connects.

To draw a stair:

From the appropriate layer, click the tool and mode.

Optionally, to manually set the stair's total rise value after placement in a 3D view, click Height of Stair mode; see Manually setting the total rise of a stair. Deselect the mode to use the total rise value from the stair settings, or to set the total rise by layer elevation.

Do one of the following:

Click Stair on the Tool bar to select a resource from the Resource Selector.

Click Preferences to open the Stair Settings dialog box and specify the tool’s default parameters; see Stair settings.

The parameters can be edited later from the Object Info palette.

Click at the stair's start point; this becomes one corner of the stair's outer boundary.

Move the cursor to the opposite corner until the desired size and placement is previewed, and click to set the other corner point. 

Corner to Corner mode draws only rectangles that are aligned with the X/Y axes.

After the rectangle is placed, move the cursor inside the rectangle. As you move the cursor, the potential stair positions preview, based on the rectangle and the selected stair configuration/resource; an arrow indicates the direction of the stair.

Click to place the stair with the desired position. 

The Stair tool calculates the stair based on the rectangle and the current stair settings, including the configuration and other geometry settings, such as the Tread Depth and Riser Height. If a valid stair is calculated, the stair is created. If not, either the stair fails, or you are given options to change the invalid settings. 

 

In this example, an L-shaped stair configuration is selected

Consider whether to save the stair as a symbol; see Saving a stair as a symbol.

If the same customized stair is to be used numerous times in a drawing, or will be used in another drawing or by another designer, this eliminates the need to repeatedly apply parameters, maximizes memory efficiency, and allows global editing of symbols. See Concept: Vectorworks symbols.

If you don’t wish to create a symbol, the stair attributes can easily be transferred.

Creating a stair

Drawing a stair with Three Point Rotated mode

Drawing a stair with Corner Vertex mode

Inserting a stair

Using saved sets for stair settings

Saving a stair as a symbol

Setting minimum and maximum values for stair geometry

Stairs

Editing a stair

Reshaping stairs

 

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