Spiral Stair Lobby issue.

[salf]

This is a WIP of a lobby Im doing.

 

Im having problems with the spiral stair, specialy with the "glass railing"

 

First I tried to do it in Autocad, but the mesh was too heavy, and almost imposible to work with in 3d Max, I got crashes all the time.

 

Then I decided to do it in 3d MAX directly, I ended up doing a SWEEP along a 3d spline, I created the 3d spline following the steps vertices, then I created a rectangle shape to SWEEP along that spline, that wored well (not really, some deformation issues) for the 2 structural beams, and the external glass railing (however you can see like a line or face cutting it in the middle) But for the internal railing it was almost imposible, the shape will deform after sweeping it, I have to give more thickness to the shape (3 cm instead of 2 cm) and then I ended up using LOFT, the SWEEP couldnt do it, and even after lofting I had to stretch, move and adjust each new vertex, in order to give it shape.

 

So, can anyone tell me how to do those spiral stairs?..Specially the curved glass part.

 

Thanks.

[Claudio Branch]

Max has a very powerful Stair/Railing tools that you could explore.

 

Depending on the complexity of your design, it can get you 75%-90% there.

 

You can start with the Stair tool and create your spiral staircase. Be sure to select "generate rail path". This will give you a helical spline that you can then use with the Railing tool.

 

The Railing tool will allow you to generate fencing of individual pickets, but you will want to choose "Solid Fill" to create the glass planes that you need. Be sure that you have an adequate number of segments to keep your planes from looking faceted.

 

I adjust the Stair parameters to get as close to the desired design as I can and then convert it to Editable Poly. If you havn't been using Editable Poly, I highly recommend it. It will save you so much time.

 

I hope this workflow is helpful, best luck!

[salf]

Great!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

hehehe...didnt know about this 3d Max tool.......it is awesome......thanks for the help.