By John Flanagan
Introduction
You can create railings that are free-standing or attached to hosts such as floors, ramps or stairs.
Architecture Tab > Circulation Panel > Railing Drop Down
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(Place on Host)
(Sketch Path)
Railing Structure
The rails are those components running horizontally and can be described in three types:
Top Rails
Top rails are the highest horizontal element. They are created by selecting a 2D profile and a height. Height is regulated by building codes and can often be used as a handrail. Top rails have their own system family, which allows you to control them from the properties browser.
Handrail
Handrail is an intermediate rail used for hands. They are hosted to a wall or to a railing with supports.
Intermediate Rails
Any horizontal rail other than the top rail and the handrail. Intermediate rails are horizontal and non-continuous rails. These can be used as a constraint baluster and support for glass panels
Vertical elements are called Balusters or Posts. The balusters support the rails between handrails,
glass panels and stair treads or ramp slope. On the other hand, the posts are the start, a corner or the end of a railing.
As we can see, a railing system consists of many components, including the rail, handrails, supports, and more. You can modify instance properties and type properties for many parts of the railing system.
Start customising your railing family by duplicating an existing rail type from type properties. If you prefer more customisation, you can create a new family from scratch. Otherwise, use existing families provided by Autodesk. This is very handy for tailoring your railing design.