Modify Accessways, Stairs and Ladders in Detail

Once a new platform, stairway or ladder is created, it is also created in the hierarchy as a complete Structure. All component parts of the new item (floorplates, posts, joints, rails, stair treads, ladder rungs ) are made up from appropriately shaped primitives which are members of the Structure (or of subsidiary Substructures). As an example, the following figure shows, in wireline view, the primitives which make up a typical stairway.

This chapter tells the user how to modify the detail of a Structure by changing the positions and/or dimensions of individual primitives.

The techniques covered here include the following:

• Stretching (increasing) or trimming (decreasing) one or more dimensions of a primitive by specified amounts or such that its ends are at specified locations.

• Sliding a primitive (moving it along one of its axes) such that one end is at a specified location.

• Changing the direction of the handrail joints on stairs and ladders such that they align with platform handrails.