New in Revit 2017 – In-Place Stair Category

One of the new features in Revit 2017 that I do not like is the ability to create in-place families with the ‘Stairs’ category.  I pleaded with the Autodesk development team not to include this in the software but too many other people wanted it, so I lost out.

Do Not Use it!

Whatever you do, do not be tempted to use this new feature – it is a really bad idea.
Why?

  • In-place stairs do not host railings.
 

 You don’t need any more reasons after that!  But here are some anyway:

  • You cannot use any of the stair features like stair numbers or arrows
  • You cannot mix and match in-place with component stairs
  • You can create unusual shaped stairs using the component sketch tool 
  • It was much faster for me to model the staircase shown above using the component sketch tools than it was to model it in-place by creating forms and cutting with voids. 
  • In-place families are a (necessary) evil in Revit – but they cause so many problems.  They should only be used as a last resort when…

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