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Stairs - a flight of steps as feature lines from one dialog

A flight of exterior steps as Civil 3D feature lines from one dialog and a picked nosing line: bottom up , top down (the slab edge is fixed, the walk is still moving) or fit between two lines (the tread is solved to fill the run). Uniform risers under a max height, landings where a flight climbs too far, nose and riser-face lines, stringer edges, plan linework with the UP arrow and riser callout, TOS / BOS labels. Every build is tagged: run it again on any of its lines to rebuild, VDCSTAIRSREFRESH rebuilds all of them after a regrade. VDCRAMP is the same dialog for a ramp.

Command VDCSTAIRS VDCRAMP VDCSTAIRSREFRESH · VDC Civil tab › Grading panel

VDCSTAIRSREFRESH is part of Stairs - a flight of steps as feature lines from one dialog; the full section follows.

A flight of exterior steps as Civil 3D feature lines from one dialog and a picked nosing line: bottom up, top down (the slab edge is fixed, the walk is still moving) or fit between two lines (the tread is solved to fill the run). Uniform risers under a max height, landings where a flight climbs too far, nose and riser-face lines, stringer edges, plan linework with the UP arrow and riser callout, TOS / BOS labels. Every build is tagged: run it again on any of its lines to rebuild, VDCSTAIRSREFRESH rebuilds all of them after a regrade. VDCRAMP is the same dialog for a ramp.
Profile: 6.0 ft rise, 6 in max riser = 12 risers @ 6.00 in, 11 treads @ 12 in (left) → Plan: tread lines, stringers, UP arrow, callout, labels (right) Nose line at every riser top, base line 0.02 ft behind each face BOS 100.00, picked bottom nosing line TOS 106.00, top landing base lines: the TIN gets a face nose lines Plan: tread lines every 12 in, stringer edges, UP arrow, riser callout UP 12 R @ 6.00" BOS 100.00 TOS 106.00 13 ft of rise: a landing goes in automatically, the next riser starts at its far edge
Stringer edges / profile   Nose feature lines / plan tread lines   Riser base lines, UP arrow, callout

What it does

  • Build from: bottom up (pick the bottom nosing line), top down (pick the top landing edge, the flight descends) or fit between (pick both; the tread is solved to fill the run, or kept with the leftover reported as a bottom landing).
  • Elevations: typed, from a surface sampled at the line, or from a feature line read at its nearest point; Rebuild re-reads them after a regrade.
  • Arithmetic: count = ceil(rise / max riser), riser = rise / count (bump the count to lower it); auto landings when a flight would rise more than 12 ft, or every N risers, or none.
  • Draws: STAIR n R1 nose and R1 BASE face lines, EDGE L / R stringers, optional standard breaklines, plan tread lines + UP arrow + 12 R @ 6.00", TOS / BOS leaders.
  • Update: every object is tagged; run the command on any of them to reopen the dialog with that stair's settings and Rebuild; VDCSTAIRSREFRESH rebuilds every stair and ramp.
  • VDCRAMP: 1 in 12, a landing every 30 in of rise, 60 in landings, an edge feature line at every grade break, slope callout, TOR / BOR labels.

Notes

  • The code line (riser 4-7 in, tread 11 in, landing 48 in and the stair width, 12 ft between landings; ramp 1:12, 30 in, 60 in, 36 in wide) is advisory: red in the footer and the summary, never a block. The figures are typical IBC / ADA values the designer edits; the tool compares and never determines compliance.
  • Feature-line names are unique drawing-wide: a clash is skipped and listed in the summary.
  • One U reverses a build; a rebuild erases the earlier set by handle first.
  • Settings under %APPDATA%\VDC\Stairs\ (override VDC_STAIRS_SETTINGS). Civil 3D only.

Dialog

Stairs - a flight of steps as feature lines from one dialog dialog
Stairs - a flight of steps as feature lines from one dialog - VDCSTAIRS
Ramp - a sloped run with landings as feature lines dialog
Ramp - a sloped run with landings as feature lines - VDCRAMP
Ramp - a sloped run with landings as feature lines dialog
Ramp - a sloped run with landings as feature lines - VDCRAMP
VDCSTAIRSREFRESH - No dialog - runs on the whole drawing with no prompt.

When to use it

  • A grading plan needs exterior steps between a walk and a slab, a pad or a terrace, and the surface has to show them.
  • The slab elevation is fixed and the walk grade is still moving (top down), or the two edges are both fixed (fit between).
  • The grade changed and every flight has to be redone.

How to run it

  1. Run VDCSTAIRS. Press Enter for a new stair (or pick a line of an existing one to rebuild it).
  2. In the dialog choose Bottom up, Top down or Fit between; set the width; say where each end elevation comes from.
  3. Set the max riser (6 in) and tread (12 in); the footer shows the riser count, the actual riser and the code line as you type.
  4. Choose the outputs: feature lines (site, layer, style), breaklines into a surface, plan linework, spot labels. Build Stairs.
  5. Pick the nosing line (a line, polyline segment, feature-line segment, or two points), then a point on the side the flight climbs (descends) toward; in Fit between pick the second line instead.
  6. Read the summary: rise, run, risers, tread, landings, the code line, and what was drawn. One U reverses it.

Options

  • Riser count: 0 = the computed minimum (ceil of rise over max riser); a bigger number lowers the riser.
  • Landings: Auto (a landing whenever a flight would rise more than 12 ft), every N risers, or none; length 0 = the stair width.
  • Riser face offset: 0.02 ft behind each nose for the bottom-of-riser line, so the surface gets a face instead of two points at one XY.
  • Fit between, keep the tread: keeps the typed tread and reports the leftover run as a landing at the bottom.
  • VDCRAMP: slope 1 in 12, a landing every 30 in of rise, 60 in landings, 36 in min width on the code line; Fit between can solve the slope from the run.

Watch out for

  • The code figures are typical IBC / ADA values, not a determination: verify them against the edition in force and change them in the dialog.
  • A feature line name must be unique in the drawing: a hand-made STAIR 1 R1 makes the tool skip that line and say so - rename it.
  • An elevation from a surface is read at the picked line: a line outside the surface is refused with a message and nothing is built.
  • Rebuild erases the earlier set by handle; lines you moved or copied by hand are replaced from the stored picks.

Related: Grade Lots · Spot Grades · FL Elevation Points