Okay, I'm very scared to write this down, as I know what the reaction is to this kind of thought in most open source channels. So please, before you immediately write this off and bury me alive, note that I've done all the googlin' I could possible manage to see if there was anything in existence aside from one vector program among dozens that could do this.

So every, and I mean *every*, vector program I've ever used, has an object/path model. Nothing intersects accidentally, and making new lines makes new objects. Inkscape, Coreldraw, Xara, OO Impress, Illustrator, Pencil, Skencil, you name it, they *all* do this.

The only exception I know of is Macromedia's Flash. It has a "layer" setup, which feels like a sort of combination of vector and bitmap ideas, in that everything drawn on the layer exists only one that layer, and if two lines are drawn intersecting, they are 1. now one object and 2. have a point at the moment of intersect. Fills and lines are decoupled, meaning that one can pull a fill out of a shape and move it around, cut it, reshape it, and re-create the lines around it when they're done. It's a very interesting method, and I really wish it existed in some form in a GPL vector drawing program.

As it stands, I can't, for the life of me, find one capable of this. And it makes a variety of quick drawing techniques that would take minutes take forever, because drawing works in a completely different, and altogether much more robot-feeling, manner.

I'm not entirety asking for this mode (auto-intersect/combine paths) to be added to Inkscape, but I couldn't think of another section to ask this in. If anyone knows of a GPL vector prog that has a mode like this, I would be very much appreciative to learn of it. =3

Thank you all for your time.

Sounds interesting. So if you were to draw two lines (which would normally be two seperate objects) that overlapped, they become one? And where they intersect becomes a shared point where moving the point effects both lines? Is this correct. I kinda got lost on how fills work--I probably need to read your description again but if you know of a video that demonstrates this I would love to see it.

I finally found out the name for it : Merge Drawing.
Also known as Merge Drawing Mode or Merge Drawing Method
Sadly, it only exists in Flash. It was actually Flash's primary drawing method, and later they went for an Illustrator/CorelDraw-friendly workaround for people coming in from the "other" method.

I think getting this to work in an existing vector drawing program would probably require far to much backend work. I really wish I had the mathematical knowledge necessary to shoehorn the mode into Inkscape.

The developers have done some pretty clever stuff such as the 3d box, and the upcoming spiro-splines. Neither of these methods are supported by the SVG standard, instead the Inkscape developers overlay their own methods to achieve them. I don't see why what you are suggesting would be any different. I certainly think your idea has merit enough to request on the Launchpad site. I wouldn't assume it will be implemented, but if you don't ask...