9

Stairs 231
Grid Properties group
The grid constricts profile point insertion and
movement to the plane of the w all and allows you
to snap to grid points on the plane of the wall.
Width—Sets the width of the act ive grid.
Lengt h—Sets the length of the active grid.
Spacing—Sets the size of the sm allest square in the
active grid.
Stairs
Create panel > Geometry > Stairs
Create menu > AEC Objects
You can create four different typ es of stairs in
3ds Max:
Spiral Stair (page 1–235)
Straight Stair (page 1–239)
L-Type Stair (page 1–232)
U-Type Stair (page 1–243)
R ailings a nd Ma teria ls
By default, 3ds Max assigns seven different material
IDs to stairs. The aectemplates.mat material
library includes Stair-Template,amulti/sub-object
material (page 2–1594) desig ned to b e used with
stairs. Each component of the stair/material is
listed below along with its corresponding Mat erial
ID.
Ma ter ia l I D R a ili ng/Ma teri al Component
1
Treads of the stairs
2
Front riser of the stairs
3
Bottom, back, and sides of the risers of
the stairs
Mater ial ID Railing/Mater ial Component
4
Center pole of the stairs
5
Handrails of the stairs
6
Carriage o f the stairs
7
Stringers of the stairs
Note: 3ds Max does not automatically assign a
material to the stairs object. To use the included
material, open the library and then assign the
material to your object.
Procedure
To create railings on sta irs:
1.
Create the stairs. See individual stair-type
topics for more information.
2. In the Generate Geometry group, turn on Rail
Path > Left and Right.
3ds Max places left and right rail paths above
the stairs.
3. In the Railings rollout, set Height to 0.0.
4. Click Create panel > AEC Extended > Railing
(page 1–217) to create the first railing.
5. Click Railing rollout > Pick Railing Path and
select one of the rail paths on the stairs.
6. Adjust the railing parameters.
3ds Max remembers the par ameters you set.
When you create the next railing, it will have the
same p arameters as you set for the first r ailing.
7. R ight-click to end the creation of the first
railing.
8. Click Railing again to create the second railing.
9. Click Pick Railing Path and select the other rail
path on the stairs.