Structural Column Display and Architectural Walls

There are basically four ways you may see your Structural Column display when intersected with an Architectural Wall:

 

I wanted to them break down and explain why you might see one display over another. Scenarios 1 and 2 illustrate behavior if the elements are unjoined. Scenarios 3 and 4 illustrate behavior if they are joined.

Scenario 1:

 

In this scenario, the wall and column are not joined. To achieve the display in 1, you'll need to have the 'show family pre-cut in plan views' parameter checked in the column's family. You can find this parameter by editing the column's family and entering the Family Category and Parameters dialog. More information on what this parameter controls can be found here. When that option is checked, the default display of the column will be as shown in scenario 1. I briefly covered this in a little more detail in a previous post: Transparent Columns in Detail Callouts. 

Scenario 2:

 

There are three main factors that can result in a column displaying as in Scenario 2:

1. The 'show family pre-cut in plan views' parameter is cleared.
2. The second is a little less intuitive. If you had a column that initially displayed as in Scenario 1, and you made edits to its geometry with actions such as joining or unjoining, trimming, or adding an opening, it will change its display to Scenario 2. The following video illustrates some of the actions that will trigger this behavior (the fullscreen video is here):
   
   
   
   
3. You had an existing column that displayed this way and you created a new column by Copying the existing one.

With scenarios 2 and 3, to resolve the issue you will need to re-place the column via the column tool on the Ribbon or by Copying an existing column that already displays as desired. If cuts or other modifications need to be present, you would need to either use linework/fill regions to achieve the resulted display, or consider joining them together as in Scenarios 3 and 4.

Scenario 3:

 

Scenario 3 displays the default behavior when a structural column and architectural wall are joined and the plan is set to Medium or Fine detail.

Scenario 4:

 

Scenario 4 displays the default behavior when a structural column and architectural wall are joined and the plan is set to Coarse. If you desire the outline of the column to display, you could go into Visibility/Graphics and set the Detail Level of your Structural Columns to Medium or Fine, or use a combination of filters/linework or fill regions/linework to change the display.

I hope this helps to explain why you might see a column displaying differently than you are expecting. If you have any feedback about this functionality or would like to see the behavior changed, please provide a business case as to how this affects the productivity of your firm at http://www.autodesk.com/feedback.