Showing beam outlines at intersections AC24

[BradJAllen19]

Hello all,

I work at a manufactured home builder and we produce detailed framing drawings for the guys on the shop floor as part of our drawing package. One of the drawings we produce is a floor joist layout which shows each individual framing member in the floor structure and schedules them with lengths and quantities. We use a complex profile beam for our 2x wood framing members which works great.

However one challenge that we can't seem to get around is showing the lap joints correctly for the rim joists when the reference line of the beams intersect each other. In the past we have simply mirrored rim joists so the reference lines don't touch, which then shows the contour line for each member like the image below.


The problem is that we are trying out a new way of scheduling/drawing the rim joists and sometimes it is not possible to ensure the reference lines don't intersect. This creates this scenario.
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I've tried the "always show outline" check box and selecting "both" in the symbols section but it doesn't do anything. I've also tried adjusting the junction order for one of the beams lower with no effect. I have the same problem when beams are end to end like on the long side of a house where the rim is a series of 16' long members.

I would like to see each piece in the plan view without having to mess around with where reference lines are since it takes some time to change each one when drawing. Any insight into how I can address this problem would be appreciated.

[DGSketcher]

Looks like a classic 3D problem in AC where it will where possible visually merge abutting elements if the face materials are the same. The typical workaround to prevent this is to duplicate your face material, give it a new name e.g. mat1_copy and override the face material of one of the beams with the new material. You can end up with multiple duplicates depending on the complexity of your connections but usually four variants is enough for most situations.

The other situation in plan is similar and can be overcome by changing the layer intersection number to 0 (zero) to prevent intersections.

[BradJAllen19]

Well in my case setting the intersection for the layer to zero worked . I've run into the 3d issue you mentioned before as well but knew of that fix as well as using different fills in a complex profile for a 2x wood member so the 'x' shows in section. I just couldn't figure out how to get my joists to look right in plan.

Thanks for the help!