Balusters have to be set out at regular centres and in the UK there is a maximum gap to maintain between them.
Creating a circular array is easy enough but in my case, the landing is oval on plan. Is there a method or extension that makes the setting out easy?
Search for path, curve or array. A lot of extensions.
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The key issue may be that an oval is normally created in SketchUp by drawing a circle or circular arc and stretching it along one axis. That results in uneven lengths of the segments, making it hard to use them to place objects evenly.
I haven’t checked the extensions @mihai.s listed to see how they might cope with this - if you find one that works, please let us know. My inclination would be to look into cubic spline extensions, which often give you ability to specify the length of the segments they draw.
Hi Mr. Steve,
They all work, some with fewer features, others more advanced. I used two paths, one with unequal segments and the other with equal segments.
Probably the most suitable for railings would be Profile Builder, which offers a lot of functions and possibilities, being created for this purpose.
You may note that along the way, PathCopy replaces the original oval with a cubic spline! Not sure if ProfileBuilder does the same.
This is all very helpful.
When I looked at PathCopy, it said there was also PathCopyPro available on Smustard. But a search there didn’t find it (or anything else!).
The reason I was interested in the Pro version is that there was a suggestion that the component being copied could be re-oriented at each placement. That is important if the component is anything other than circular. In my case, it would be a square on plan, which I want to be perpendicular to a radial.
I think I still have Profile Builder so I will see whether that fits the bill first.
I think smustard is defunct as of a while now - at least, the website contains only the home page and menu with nothing behind them.
Yes, I had a vague recollection that Smustard had disappeared. Odd that a kind of ghost website should still be hosted though.
My point about orientation seems to be answered by @mihai.s ‘s videos which both achieve this. However, it is also clear that PathCopy does not distribute the components regularly such that all gaps are equal. Profile Builder does seem to solve that problem (as he notes). Looks like that is the way to go.