Walls that can join cleanly in 2 directions simultaneously

[Paul King]

Probably about 30% of the time I spend trying to make sections clean up is spent finding workarounds for the fact that walls can only handle one intersection at the same point in plan, and that walls must be the same height to clean up properly in elevation
.
A MASSIVE breakthrough can be had if only a wall could clean neatly with 2 different walls intersecting at different heights - ie where the mitre for each connection does not extend above the minimum height of the shortest wall.

A kind of auto Boolean assisted wall intersection clean up

So much less use of false walls on "3D view only" layers would be required - so changes would be much smoother and so much more intuitive.

Even a standard 2 wall corner should clean such that above the shortest wall, the other wall extends upwards with a square end.

True 3 way intersections where composite walls with different constructions can intersect at even at the same hight and clean neatly in plan would knock a good 20% off the time taken to do detailed plans.

Then the coup de grace - windows & doors that can automatically span between walls and between stories - automatically cutting wall holes in what ever wall they cross above or below or side by side.
No more fake manually placed empty openings on adjacent walls

I am not saying that the workarounds don't work, but I want a much more elegant and intuitive workflow

Please Please Please!!!?

What do you think Graphisoft?.

The status quo is absolutely daunting to new users & accounts for why so many of them NEVER progress beyond 2D drawn sections, let alone to using live sections!.

[Geoff Briggs]

Paul you've hit upon some big issues.

I am just finishing my first paid AC project and ran into all the situations you mentioned. Coming from VectorWorks I find ArchiCAD has most of the features I was longing for but I've been frequently bogged down in work-arounds trying to achieve the precise connections I was accustomed to creating using 2D only tools. Of course it's awesome how much is done automatically, and I could never go back, but a lot of improvements are needed before I'll declare ArchiCAD sections or elevations equal to my old 2D creations.

In addition to your excellent requests, the oft wished for ability for walls to show on adjacent stories would eliminate some walls we now draw and reduce the need for windows to operate across multiple walls.

Check out the thread I started titled Section/Elevation Parity for a related discussion.