Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Wall join in corner not clean

sarahric
Contributor
I have 2 walls that join at a corner. The building materials used in the composite walls are the same, so why don't each of them join up?
I can only get 1 material to join by making it the strongest.
Reference lines join, clean intersections turned on.
ArchiCAD 18/Windows 7/16GB Memory/i5 3.2GHz Processor/NVIDIA GeForce GT 610
10 REPLIES 10
Barry Kelly
Moderator
It looks like it is trying to join on a mitre.
I am guessing then this is an older file you have opened in version 17 (assuming your signature is correct).
When opening version 16 and before file the Legacy mode will be turned on.
For the Building Material properties to work you need to turn legacy mode off.
Options menu > Project Preferences.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
sarahric
Contributor
Interesting that this changed some other things but did not fix the wall join.
I start each new project with a template file I created. That template file is V18 but may have started out as 16. Is there any other problems with this that I should be concerned about?
ArchiCAD 18/Windows 7/16GB Memory/i5 3.2GHz Processor/NVIDIA GeForce GT 610
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Actually I was a little wrong - even with legacy mode turned of the walls still mitre on an angle in plan.
It is only in 3D that they stagger (see image).

Basically turning legacy off means you will be using the new Priority Based Connections where some (not all) elements will automatically connect based on the strength of the Building Materials used in them.

It would take me a while to explain it all here but if you look in the reference guide you will find plenty of information.
Start at pages 2660-61 (of the 18 reference guide) and follow the links (they will take you to pages 1137, 156, 1130, 1121 just to list a few).

If you have the version 17 ref guide you will find it in the new features section as it was brought in for version 17.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Barry Kelly
Moderator
I think your problem has to do with the strengths of the Building Materials.
I don't have your wall composites so can you select both walls in plan and then open the Building Materials setting dialogue.
List them by use (see image) so we can see the strengths of the BM used.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
sarahric
Contributor
I don't think it's a problem of different building materials. The 2 walls use all the same materials except one wall has an extra layer.
Changing the strength of each material means that the strongest is the one that joins correctly and the others don't.
ArchiCAD 18/Windows 7/16GB Memory/i5 3.2GHz Processor/NVIDIA GeForce GT 610
sarahric
Contributor
2nd wall
wall 2.png
ArchiCAD 18/Windows 7/16GB Memory/i5 3.2GHz Processor/NVIDIA GeForce GT 610
sarahric
Contributor
wall join
wall join.png
ArchiCAD 18/Windows 7/16GB Memory/i5 3.2GHz Processor/NVIDIA GeForce GT 610
Barry Kelly
Moderator
OK if I create walls with your BMs I get the same problem in plan.

But if you make the cavity stronger than the timber studs and make the timber stud with insulation a little stronger than the timber stud (without insulation) you should be right.

Try not to have 2 BMs with the same strength otherwise Archicad will randomly decide which dominates.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Depending on the direction your walls trim you ma need to plaster to be stronger than the timber studs.

It is all a bit of a juggling act.
Decide what needs to always connect and make those stronger.
i.e. the internal and external claddings and the cavity.

Sometime you have to duplicate a BM so you can have one strong and one weak.
i.e. external cladding strong and internal cladding weak - even though it may be exactly the same cladding.

And another tip is not to use minimum or maximum strength as it leaves you nowhere to go if you need weaker or stronger BMs.

You will never be right 100% of the time so you may find yourself duplicating BMs and composites as well just so you can tweak them in special cases.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11