Please take a moment to try out these new features and improvements and leave your comments below. For a detailed list of all the changes in this update, please see the changelog.
Remember: The updates listed here are now live for all users when creating new Documents and over the next few days these features will also be available in Documents created before the date of this update.
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Best Of
Improvements to Onshape - August 20th, 2018
It’s the middle of August and while a lot of people may be on vacation we’ve been working on a large release for those still in their offices with us. As always, let us know what you think in the comments below.
CAD IMPROVEMENTS
CREATE A SKETCH FROM A MATE CONNECTOR
You can now define a sketch using a mate connector in addition to planes and planar faces. The advantage is the ability to define the sketch horizontal and vertical using the mate connector axes - which do not have to match the global orientation.
ADJUST ARROWHEAD SIZE IN ONSHAPE DRAWINGS
You can now adjust the arrowhead size and type in both the dimensions tab and annotations tab of the drawing properties panel.
AUTOMATIC INCREASE IN TESSELLATION QUALITY
In a previous update, users could set the tessellation quality of their models in Part Studios and Assemblies. Now in assemblies, as you zoom in on an object, your view will automatically use a finer tessellation if it exists. This will improve the initial performance of complex models without compromising the eventual display quality. Setting a specific tessellation quality is still available for each part.
DRAWING EXPORT IMPROVEMENTS
When exporting a drawing, you now have the options to remove bends and tangent lines, and choose to export spline data as splines instead of polylines. These options are available at the bottom of the drawing export dialog.USER NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES
Users now have more control over email and mobile notifications in Onshape. Under the account settings, you can now specifically manage when and how you are notified about actions that occur for sharing and commenting.
IMPORT FEATURE CHANGES
Onshape now defaults to importing parts with faults in the import dialog. After an import occurs you can edit the import feature and toggle the option to allow faulty parts. If there are faults in imported geometry, the error graphics will help reveal where a part is problematic.
DRAWING EXPORT IMPROVEMENTS
DRAWINGS TABLE PROPERTIES PANEL TAB
Drawings tables now have a tab in the properties panel to adjust line thickness, text height, text color, and more for both BOM tables and tables created in a drawing.
RENAME SELECTION SUPPORT FOR DRAWING VIEWS AND SHEETS
The hotkey 'Shift + N' to rename is now supported for drawing views and sheets.SKETCH FILLET IMPROVEMENTS
Sketch fillets now better support applying a radius that is smaller than the default value. An indicator of where the current radius is located on the sketch will assist you to click and drag the radius to an appropriate value.IN-CONTEXT INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS
The interface for editing in context now organizes multiple contexts and helps to avoid the creation of any unneeded contexts. The right-click menu is now organized based on the action you want to perform first, and then the choices for which context you would like to be affected.
REFERENCE PARAMETERS IN FEATURESCRIPT
Consuming Part Studio, imported CSV, and imported image data in custom features has been improved with the addition of Reference Parameters. Custom features can now prompt the user to select geometry from a Part Studio, CSV data from an imported file, or an image as input to the feature. You can use Reference Parameters to import sketch profiles to build your own custom library features or to import CSV data to build curves. This makes your custom features more flexible and universal and opens up an enormous amount of possibilities. The video shows Reference Parameters integrated into the Beams custom feature, referencing a standard library of 80/20 profiles.
A detailed overview of all types of reference parameters can be found in the FeatureScript imports documentation. Example features using reference parameters can be found in the Reference parameter examples document. Here is a ready to go example for a common need to import CSV data: 3D CSV Custom Feature
STANDARD CONTENT ADDITIONS
We have added standard content for DIN bolts, screws, and nuts as well as sheet metal fasteners (NAS/PEM). Take a look at the list of added components below:
DIN Bolts screws and nuts
Hex set screw with half dog point and flat cone point DIN 564
Hex set screw fine pitch with half dog point and flat cone point DIN 564
Hex set screw with full dog point DIN 561
Hex set screw fine pitch with full dog point DIN 561
PH Pan head cross recess screw with collar DIN 967
PZ Pan head cross recess screw with collar DIN 967
Cross recessed pan head tapping screw DIN EN ISO 7049
Cross recessed flat head countersunk tapping screw DIN 7050
Cross recessed oval head raised countersunk tapping screw DIN 7051
Cross recessed pan head tapping screw with collar DIN 968
Hex socket head cap screw DIN 912
Slotted pan head screw with shoulder DIN 923
Lifting eye bolt DIN 580
Eye bolt DIN 444
Wing screw DIN 316
Square head bolt with collar DIN 478
Square head bolt with short dog point DIN 479
Square head bolt collar and dog point DIN 480
Square nut grade C DIN 557
Square weld nut DIN 928
Square thin nut grade B DIN 562
Hex nut style 2 grade A & B DIN EN 24033
Hex nut style 2 grade A & B fine pitch DIN EN 28674
Hex thin nut fine pitch grade A & B DIN EN 28675
Hex thin nut grade A & B DIN EN 24035
Hex nut style 1 grade C DIN EN 24034
Hex nut style 1 grade A & B fine pitch DIN EN 28673
Hex nut style 1 grade A & B DIN EN 24032
Sheet metal fasteners (NAS)
Hex head self-locking clinch nut NASM 45938/2
Self-locking clinch nut without self-locking threads NASM 45938
Self-locking clinch nut with self-locking threads NASM 45938
Plain clinch flush nut NASM 3214
Self-clinching flush nut NASM 45938/4
Self-clinching blind standoff NAS 1129
Self-clinching thru standoff NAS 1129
Reminder: Requests for additional pieces of hardware can be made through Onshape's support or by referencing this forum post.Hex set screw with half dog point and flat cone point DIN 564
Hex set screw fine pitch with half dog point and flat cone point DIN 564
Hex set screw with full dog point DIN 561
Hex set screw fine pitch with full dog point DIN 561
PH Pan head cross recess screw with collar DIN 967
PZ Pan head cross recess screw with collar DIN 967
Cross recessed pan head tapping screw DIN EN ISO 7049
Cross recessed flat head countersunk tapping screw DIN 7050
Cross recessed oval head raised countersunk tapping screw DIN 7051
Cross recessed pan head tapping screw with collar DIN 968
Hex socket head cap screw DIN 912
Slotted pan head screw with shoulder DIN 923
Lifting eye bolt DIN 580
Eye bolt DIN 444
Wing screw DIN 316
Square head bolt with collar DIN 478
Square head bolt with short dog point DIN 479
Square head bolt collar and dog point DIN 480
Square nut grade C DIN 557
Square weld nut DIN 928
Square thin nut grade B DIN 562
Hex nut style 2 grade A & B DIN EN 24033
Hex nut style 2 grade A & B fine pitch DIN EN 28674
Hex thin nut fine pitch grade A & B DIN EN 28675
Hex thin nut grade A & B DIN EN 24035
Hex nut style 1 grade C DIN EN 24034
Hex nut style 1 grade A & B fine pitch DIN EN 28673
Hex nut style 1 grade A & B DIN EN 24032
Sheet metal fasteners (NAS)
Hex head self-locking clinch nut NASM 45938/2
Self-locking clinch nut without self-locking threads NASM 45938
Self-locking clinch nut with self-locking threads NASM 45938
Plain clinch flush nut NASM 3214
Self-clinching flush nut NASM 45938/4
Self-clinching blind standoff NAS 1129
Self-clinching thru standoff NAS 1129
PROFESSIONAL FEATURES
SUPPORT FOR MULTIPLE SEAT APPLICATION PURCHASES
Companies in Onshape can now purchase multiple seats for an application within the App Store and allocate those purchased seats to users within the company. This makes all billing within Onshape centralized for each company. After buying an application for a specified number of users, an admin can go to the Application settings under the company settings and allocate which users can use the application. This is very similar to assigning users to a company's seats of Onshape licenses.
RELEASE HISTORY IMPROVEMENTS
Viewing the history of a release will now give more insight into automatic obsoletions. A new indicator will let you know when an automatic obsoletion occurs and viewing the obsoletion will reveal which part, drawing, or assembly triggered the workflow.CREATE COMPANY TEAMS
Professional users will now be able to create company owned teams. The option to create a company team is under the company settings page.
APPROVERS NO LONGER REQUIRE EDIT PERMISSIONS
With this update, approvers are no longer required to have edit permission to the document (note - they still need to be a full-user). In many cases, engineers and designers are going to have their work reviewed for release by department leads, managers, and directors. Many of these users will probably just have view rights - this enhancement allows them to perform their work without additional permissions.
ENTERPRISE FEATURES
APPLICATION VISIBILITY IN ENTERPRISE
In the dev portal, developers for an Enterprise will now be able to specify that an application may only be used by their Enterprise. This is important for companies that are developing internal processes and custom applications within Onshape.
TRANSFER DATA OUTSIDE ENTERPRISE
With this update, you will now have the additional option to transfer documents and folders outside an enterprise. Admins will be able to right-click on documents and select the option to ‘Transfer Ownership’ to a recipient email address. The transfer of ownership is not complete until the recipient accepts the pending transfer. Pending transfers can be canceled at any time.
Re: tangent and coincident constraints
Yes, to add one to what Neil said, the definition of tangency is line or arc crosses another circle/arc at exactly one point. That one point does not have to be the endpoint of the line. As an example, this line is tangent to the circle, but the endpoint is not coincident.
Re: tangent and coincident constraints
Yes, because sometimes you may want a tangent line to a circle that isn’t coincident with it.
Re: issue with slide 21 of lesson 4: Exercise - Creating Multiple Parts in a Part Studio
@wayne_pinnow this is actually a known issue with some dimensions that we are working to fix. To finish the exercise you can delete the dimension and re-create it with the new value.
"Zoom to fit" Improvement
I searched the forum and didn't find anything that specifically mentioned this idea. Sorry if it is a redundant request.
I really like the fact that "Zoom to fit" has a keyboard short (f); I use it all the time. I recently discovered the RBM "Zoom to selection", which is even better, but it is cumbersome to get to being buried in the RMB menu.
My idea is to change the behavior of "Zoom to fit" to be that of "Zoom to selection"; I see no reason to have two "Zoom to ..." windowing functions when a single one should be able do both.
The behavior of "Zoom to fit" with something selected should be to zoom and center the using the selected item(s) to determine the amount of zoom and pan.
The behavior of "Zoom to fit" with nothing selected should remain as it is now.
The special case behavior of having a single point type entity (point, vertex, mate connector) selected is to just pan to the thing to center of the display; no change in zoom.
I really like the fact that "Zoom to fit" has a keyboard short (f); I use it all the time. I recently discovered the RBM "Zoom to selection", which is even better, but it is cumbersome to get to being buried in the RMB menu.
My idea is to change the behavior of "Zoom to fit" to be that of "Zoom to selection"; I see no reason to have two "Zoom to ..." windowing functions when a single one should be able do both.
The behavior of "Zoom to fit" with something selected should be to zoom and center the using the selected item(s) to determine the amount of zoom and pan.
The behavior of "Zoom to fit" with nothing selected should remain as it is now.
The special case behavior of having a single point type entity (point, vertex, mate connector) selected is to just pan to the thing to center of the display; no change in zoom.
StephenG
5
OnShapePy - a python package for OnShape
Hello all,
About a month ago I set out to build a general purpose OnShape python package, OnShapePy. Today I have the first MVP launched and available to install through pip. The documentation is available here. The goal is to unlock the vast Python scientific libraries to OnShape parts. At AguaClara, we will be using OnShapePy in conjunction with our hydraulics library to scale a drinking water treatment plant based on physics principles coded in Python. OnShapePy allows us to manipulate the configuration of any PartStudio straight from Python and lets us access measurements defined within the PartStudio.
Please use OnShapePy in your own projects, and let me know what you think, either by commenting here on this thread or in the issues on our GitHub repo. I'm always looking for collaborators!
About a month ago I set out to build a general purpose OnShape python package, OnShapePy. Today I have the first MVP launched and available to install through pip. The documentation is available here. The goal is to unlock the vast Python scientific libraries to OnShape parts. At AguaClara, we will be using OnShapePy in conjunction with our hydraulics library to scale a drinking water treatment plant based on physics principles coded in Python. OnShapePy allows us to manipulate the configuration of any PartStudio straight from Python and lets us access measurements defined within the PartStudio.
Please use OnShapePy in your own projects, and let me know what you think, either by commenting here on this thread or in the issues on our GitHub repo. I'm always looking for collaborators!
