Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects

markmcmillan — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 04:24:51 GMT

Hi All,

I suspect there is already a inbuilt tool to do what I'm asking for here and I'm making an $%# of myself.

What the best workflow for repeating 2d elements?

I used AutoCAD for around seven years at the start of my career before moving to Revit and then Archicad, which I have now used for some time.

We have been creating our own objects for common repeating elements; generally static 2D Objects (window profiles etc. and making use of the GDL fragment2 command), and using CI Detail Elements.

I see a lot of users just grouping lines and fill together instead of creating objects for repetitive 2d elements which is a shame.

To me, this has always seemed like a poor substitute for AutoCAD Blocks. One of the major benefits of AutoCAD blocks is the ability to double-click any detail element, edit it in place, and have it updated throughout the project similar to sketch-up components.

I can see a very simple built-in solution that could be implemented in Archicad without imposing on anyone's intellectual property/protracted development. This would be adding a native Archicad 2D Detail Object that just displays a Profile in 2d(needs a drop down to select the right profile in the main palette, could have scale base view setting).

The Profile Manager could be used to create and display a drafted 2D object(you could even select if the object is beam, column,railing, object, 2d element etc). Hotspots could be added using the existing modifier framework, allowing detail elements to be stretched or adjusted where required.

For users, this would be a significant win and would allow standard detailing components to be maintained and updated quickly and consistently across projects.

The ability to centralize attributes is, I believe, already on the ArchiCAD development roadmap? Central Innovation had told us that was planned for V30 which I cant see in the Beta.

Would it be possible to test something like this? Is there already a object /tool in place that can display a profile on a worksheet / detail view in 2d?

Re: Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects

Barry Kelly — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 04:23:13 GMT

This post moved to the main forums for discussion.

It has nothing to do with Beta testing.

Barry.

Re: Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects

Mathias Jonathan — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 07:23:52 GMT

I made this object:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Libraries-objects/Profile-Stack-2D-Detail-object/m-p/708893#M52668

topic Re: Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects in Documentation

Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects

Re: Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects

Re: Detailing | Better methods of 2d drafting, creation of Blocks , Detail Elements , 2d Objects