[Plugin] Stair Maker

sdmitch

Andrew, I hope this will complete your wish list.

utiler

Andrew, I hope this will complete your wish list.

It would be nice to see happen but if you can't no problem. I really appreciate you taking the time to extend your plugin, Sam!

dizain

Hello Sam,
First of all thanks for a great work,
I wanted to ask if you can put in the spiral staircase to the number of steps.
thank you very much.

ken

Just wondering, would it be possible to include ladder maker in the stairs plugin? Two rails with step between, and with a vertical orientation.

Thanks in advance

Ken

sdmitch

dizian, yes.

Ken, what shape rails?

tomot

Its a good time to celebrate more people writing ruby code. Welcome!

Now for some constructive criticism regarding stair design.

Spiral stair:
As the primary means of egress from any floor to an exit
your design would probably not be legal code wise, and if it is let me know
I will email the jurisdiction your in to explain why it should not.
Most people would not be able to negotiate a spiral stair where the stair
width approaches 0" inches in width around a central column.

In the event of fire, most elevators are programmed to go to the main floor, to be used by rescue and fire personnel, the exiting stairs are for the people that require vacating the building. Just like those that made it via stairs to exit in the 9/11 World Trade Centers Towers. Hence stairs are very important aspects of a buildings design.

Insitu:
Casting concrete to a narrow wedge shaped point as is the case is with your stair from the land to the upper floor is bound to be a concrete casting failure.

In a high rise building stairs and a stair wells are still required as the primary means of egress in the event of fire. A prudent contractor may well cast all the landing and stair well walls in place. followed by lifting in place by crane precast stair lengths that simply drop in place from landing to landing starting at the first floor to finishing at the top floor.

Handrails:
Heights of handrails at landings are NOT the same as on stairs, by code.
Handrails must also be continuous, not interrupted.

Stair math problem: divide total floor height/2 for where landing is supposed to occur.
Have a look at http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rld/plugin_details.php?id=406
a script I wrote under another alias 7 years ago.

good luck, keep going!

ken

@sdmitch said:

dizian, yes.

Ken, what shape rails?

I would make the rails line running up the side connecting each step, then it would be easy to make the rail any shape you wanted by using other plugins.

Thank you for your interest.

Ken

sdmitch

tomat, I was never under any illusion that my stair maker was for anything more than creating a illustration and never was intended to be structually correct and/or code complient. I have never made such a claim and have no intention of ever doing so.

tomot

@sdmitch said:

tomat, I was never under any illusion that my stair maker was for anything more than creating a illustration and never was intended to be structually correct and/or code complient. I have never made such a claim and have no intention of ever doing so.

Please don't misunderstand me! I have learned a lot from your code, My intent was only to encourage you to improve the content of your stair design, that's all, that's what I meant when I used the words constructive criticism

Dubman1013

the one thing about designing/drawing stairs is the there always is one less tread than risers, so when you ask for number of steps its not clear if your asking for the number of risers or treads. After trying each I'm assuming your asking for the number of treads, because the top tread should be one riser below the floor level. And the riser height is always determined from dividing the floor to floor height by the number of risers, which by code is usually around 7" height. But at the same time both stair plug ins are great at a graphical stair layouts!

chaluga

tomot,
your totally wrong in your assessment. This is a plugin for a quick staircase. It's free . If he was to do what you asked it would be not free. Saying something is constructive criticism does not cover your argument. Its responses like yours that make others who donate their time and effort for free plugins say " why bother"

tspco

SD, I just tried that latest version, I can make straight stairs, open and in-situ, and that is it, no ushape. If I select u-shape I get straight.
Am I missing something?

sdmitch

@tspco said:

SD, I just tried that latest version, I can make straight stairs, open and in-situ, and that is it, no ushape. If I select u-shape I get straight.
Am I missing something?

U-Shape refers to two sections of straight stairs connected by a landing. It does not mean the the stairs themselves are curved. I downloaded a copy of the posted plugin and it works just as it was designed to do.

tspco

Well heck, I guess I am not doing something right. The spiral,and normal stair works OK, but. I can't get the u-shape to work.

sdmitch

tspco, open the Ruby Console window then run the plugin. Maybe something is causing an error and thats why it appears to be doing nothing.

tspco

I will try the ruby console. but in the meantime here is what I get

tspco

Houston we have an error.
Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method entities' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker3 (1).rb:348:in ushape_stair'
C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker3 (1).rb:147:in `onLButtonDown'

sdmitch

tspco, after the first half of the u-shape is created, it makes a copy to use for the second half but for some reason that isn't happening. I did make a change in that code on the suggestion of TIG and that version is on My Plugins blog, http://sdmitch.blogspot.com. Try that version and see if it works for you.

Both versions work on my Vista system.

tspco

Using the version from your blog. If I set the riser height to 7" and the overall height to 120" , 4 steps to riser make a new u-shape stair. I get a staircase that has 7 steps over 2 feet apart, or something like that, no riser.
ruby console details are:

Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method entities' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker.rb:370:in ushape_stair'
C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker.rb:197:in `onLButtonDown'

So no worky. It could be I need to download the tut from your blog and review

sdmitch

@tspco said:

Using the version from your blog. If I set the riser height to 7" and the overall height to 120" , 4 steps to riser make a new u-shape stair. I get a staircase that has 7 steps over 2 feet apart, or something like that, no riser.
ruby console details are:

Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined method entities' for nil:NilClass> C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker.rb:370:in ushape_stair'
C:/Program Files (x86)/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/Stair Maker.rb:197:in `onLButtonDown'

So no worky. It could be I need to download the tut from your blog and review

No there is nothing in the tutorial that will help with this problem. I can't get it to fail and you can't get it to work. I'm at a loss as to why.

I can see where there might be a little confusion regarding riser and height of stairs. The height entry is for each flight of steps not the overall height of the completed stairs which is why when you entered 120" the steps were so far apart. The height can be determined by number of risers and riser, or riser determined by height and number of risers. So, if you can ever get the plugin to work, enter values for any two and 0 for the third and let the plugin calculate it.