Creating stairs and measuements conflicts

[Arnold Grove]

Hi all,

 

Ill try to be quick and concise...

 

Im learning Max 9 and V Ray 1.5. So I thought Id learn while working on a silly little home project. I am building a set of stairs for our dog whos 14 and cant jump up (or down) on the king bed anymore.

 

I know there are many ways so Im a newbie....Ill be making them from finished ply and the size of the steps doesnt matter here...its the conflict between the box and set of stairs I created that stumps me...

 

 

I made a box 18x24 1/2" thick which was my plywood I will use to form the step profile starting with the ply (matress is to scale)

 

I then tried it using the create straight stair tool.

 

as you can see;

 

http://hdguitarlessons.com/stairs.gif

 

the box and stairs are side by side to compare

 

the plywood and stairs boxes say they are 24" long..but clearly they are not the same lenth.

 

I want 3 steps,,but you can see that it says 4 risers...the only way i could get it to give me 3 steps...shouldnt it be 3 risers not 4?

 

also,,,I can never get the pivot point of the stairs to be dead center,,,when i create stairs in any view,,the PP is always way out

 

whats the proper way to create a straight set of stairs??

 

and why do the measurements say the same lenth but clearly show different lenths?

 

thanks

[Arnold Grove]

a more simplified image,

 

The box is 2 feet long and 18" high and 14" wide

 

the stairs measurements entered are the same, the resulting width is the same but the height and lenth are not, but the numerical values entered are the same...

 

what am I doing wrong??

 

http://hdguitarlessons.com/Copy%201%20of%20stairs.gif

 

why does it say 4 risers when there are 3?

[GeraldH]

I believe that the 4th riser would be the step up to the floor level above.

[rnx]

The "length" of a box depends on which viewport it was created in. In other words the field "length" could represent height or width also- fiddle with the spinner to see what is being affected. e.g. if created in top port length = depth actually. move spinners for both the box and the stairs to see which parameter/side length is increasing/decresing. then you would know that maybe length of box = width of stairs. sorry if this sounds confusing.

[Arnold Grove]

I think I know what you mean,,,,I created in top viewport...just as creating a box in diferent ports, the widths and lenths will be changed around...but even so, whatever the direction...the sizes dont match...

 

I believe that the 4th riser would be the step up to the floor level above.

 

makes sense I guess...anyone know of a good stairs tutorial? I do have a big project with stairs and need some help

[Claudio Branch]

I have used the AEC Railing and stairs features in Max on alot on my projects. They are extremely useful if you accept them for what they are - a good starting point to get you about 75-80% of what your project may actually require.

 

I get as far as I can with manipulation of the primary parameters and then I collapse the thing down to an Editable Poly and finish it out. I have gotten alot of use out of the "element" selection when working on stairs and railings.

 

Here is a recent project shot...

[Arnold Grove]

Thanks for the help lads. Claudio, really nice work and a sweet render.

 

Im a newbie to Maxs' modeling (not new to 3d) But Max is by far the hardest program Ive ever worked with . Self teaching is kinda tough sometimes