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Best Of
Improvements to Onshape - July 31st 2020
Our second release this month comes with a few features we hope will delight you. Let's take a look.
You can also edit the properties of the sub-assembly itself by right-clicking it in the instance list.
This propagation setting is referring to the number of workspaces directly above the version you are releasing from. The image below shows another example of a branched history.
This course is available to Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Educational subscriptions.
A new edition of Onshape is now available designed specifically for education institutions. Onshape Education Enterprise includes features to allow schools and universities to easily manage permissions, control access, and understand activity and analytics in a tool designed specifically for students and educators.
It is important to note that Onshape's zero-cost Education Standard product, used by thousands of schools every day, will continue to exist with no changes. Education Enterprise is a premium edition available to organizations looking to solve these unique administrative needs at scale.
For more information on Education Enterprise, take a look at the Introducing Onshape Education Enterprise blog post, and please share it with any local schools or education programs you know of that may benefit from it!
You can also add parameter tooltips, visible by hovering over a field while using the custom feature.
Further documentation on these features is available here.
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.
MASS PROPERTIES IMPROVEMENTS
You can now override the mass, center of mass, and mass moments of inertia of a part in the Part Studio. Simply check the "Override" box in the mass properties dialog and enter the new value. A new indicator for the center of mass is now shown in the graphics. The mass of a top-level assembly and composite part can also be overridden.
You can also now create materials with a custom density and apply them to parts on the fly using the new "custom" tab in the material dialog. These materials can be shown in the BOM and referenced in a drawing.
HIDE ALL FROM PARTS LIST
You can now hide all parts, surfaces, curves, or meshes in a single click in the parts list.EDIT PROPERTIES OF A PART FROM AN ASSEMBLY
You may now view and edit part-level properties directly from the assembly.You can also edit the properties of the sub-assembly itself by right-clicking it in the instance list.
VARIABLES RENAME EVERYWHERE
When renaming a variable, you now have the option to automatically update the name of the variable everywhere it is used.SECTION VIEW FROM CONTEXT MENU
You can now activate a section view from the right-click context menu of any plane, planar surface, cylindrical face, or mate connector.RENAME DOCUMENTS IN-LINE
Documents are now renamed in-line from the Documents page.Release Management Improvements
PART NUMBER PROPAGATES TO WORKSPACE ON RELEASE FROM VERSION
A new Release Management option has been introduced to allow you to control if part numbers should propagate to a workspace when releasing from a version.This propagation setting is referring to the number of workspaces directly above the version you are releasing from. The image below shows another example of a branched history.
- With "Never" selected, the part number will only be written in the version that is released.
- With "One Workspace" selected, releasing V1 will not propagate to Main or B1, as there are two workspaces above that version. However, releasing V2 will propagate the part number to B1.
- With "All Workspaces" selected, releasing V1 will propagate the part number to both Main and B1. Releasing V2 with this option would only propagate to B1.
Learning Center Improvements
INTRODUCTION TO SURFACING SELF-PACED COURSE
A new course, Introduction to Surfacing, has been added to the Learning Center to provide a fundamental understanding of surface modeling in Onshape. This course explores getting started with basic surfacing features to create complex part geometry.This course is available to Standard, Professional, Enterprise, and Educational subscriptions.
Onshape Educational Plan Improvements
INTRODUCING: ONSHAPE EDUCATION ENTERPRISE
Onshape’s Education plans are the only CAD education platforms that fully support remote learning and teaching on any device, from any location, with zero IT footprint.A new edition of Onshape is now available designed specifically for education institutions. Onshape Education Enterprise includes features to allow schools and universities to easily manage permissions, control access, and understand activity and analytics in a tool designed specifically for students and educators.
It is important to note that Onshape's zero-cost Education Standard product, used by thousands of schools every day, will continue to exist with no changes. Education Enterprise is a premium edition available to organizations looking to solve these unique administrative needs at scale.
For more information on Education Enterprise, take a look at the Introducing Onshape Education Enterprise blog post, and please share it with any local schools or education programs you know of that may benefit from it!
FeatureScript Improvements
CUSTOM FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS AND TOOLTIPS
You can now set a description for your custom features, useful for capturing the features' purpose and workflow. This description is visible when hovering over the custom feature in the toolbar, as well as in the Feature Search (activated by Alt + C).You can also add parameter tooltips, visible by hovering over a field while using the custom feature.
Further documentation on these features is available here.
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.
Re: Improvements to Onshape - July 31st 2020
🎉 Updating variable names 🎉 amazing!
So many little pain points I've had just went away. edit part properties from anywhere, center of mass, variable names (again), hide the "surfaces" folder. thanks!
So many little pain points I've had just went away. edit part properties from anywhere, center of mass, variable names (again), hide the "surfaces" folder. thanks!
I'm with you, John. I'm not sure what to make of this new decision I didn't know I needed to make. It's like a skydiving instructor asking what style of chute I'd like. I don't care to choose, I just want to live. Anyone care to explain the nuances?john_mcclary said:Whew... if release management wasn't confusing enough lol....
Re: How do I delete my account?
Hi @amir_gomez - an education subscription MUST use an email address associated with an educational establishment. If you want to use the free plan, your professional trial will automatically downgrade after 13 days.
Re: How can I create an angle cut out of a cylinder? (sort of like a needle)
@zach_morris
Is this along the lines of what you are looking for ?
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/da774c074805ea26c2363e8e/w/7f9ba21648ea066dd3f02fc7/e/a7299be335fa072ad5ece077
Is this along the lines of what you are looking for ?
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/da774c074805ea26c2363e8e/w/7f9ba21648ea066dd3f02fc7/e/a7299be335fa072ad5ece077
Re: Improvements to Onshape - July 31st 2020
access part properties from the assembly tree. Lol I was just thinking about that yesterday .. well played Onshape..
Whew... if release management wasn't confusing enough lol....
Whew... if release management wasn't confusing enough lol....
Finished Project/Animation - 3 Motor 6 Differential Fully Holonomic Mecanum Wheel Arduino Robot
I met Joshua Peterson, a fellow Onshape user, over discord on Monday when he showed a video of this incredible robot in action to the FTC community. We decided to collaborate on making a promotional video/animation for the robot (which was fully designed in Onshape). He designed and built it, and I animated and edited this video.
Hope you all enjoy
https://youtu.be/Fb2d_wZ7xakThis robot controls four mecanum wheels using only three motors for full holonomic motion. How? Through 6 differentials and a complex gear-based drivetrain. Each motor controls one degree of freedom—the top motor controls rotation, the middle motor controls lateral movement, and the bottom motor controls longitudinal movement.
This video shows the fully-functioning drivetrain in action in rendered footage as well as real-world footage of the physical robot driving around with a remote control. The robot is uniquely mobile in that all three degrees of freedom are controlled using exactly three motors, unlike traditional mecanum drive bases with one motor per wheel (for a total of four motors). Thus, it can move in any direction at any time.
Onshape model link: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/039d90381644dad86f131915/w/9de01be2421518eba3ef6f53/e/c3a5fb31123dfc8af82c16a0
GitHub code link: https://github.com/joshuapeterson210/threemotormecanum
Joshua Peterson’s email (designer and builder): contact@joshp.dev
Alnis Smdichens’ email (animator and video editor): contact@alnis.dev
Alnis Smidchens’ website/portfolio: https://alnis.dev
Hope you all enjoy
alnis
7
Re: Is there any way to prevent laser joint sockets from penetrating both walls of a tube?
Huh, I'll definitely take a look when I get time, I was pretty sure I wasn't doing any through-all extrudes as part of the feature.
I think it may be that as part of a speed optimization I rewrote the algorithm which cuts the features in the tab part and didn't fully mirror that algorithm to the base part. At any rate, I've got a test case in my document now, so keep an eye out for an update soon(ish).
In the meantime, the split/union approach is probably the most parametric workaround, albeit annoying if you have to do it many times.
(strictly speaking, trying to run it on a non-planar part violates the assumptions stated in the feature documentation, but I'll see if I can add this as a supported use anyway)
I think it may be that as part of a speed optimization I rewrote the algorithm which cuts the features in the tab part and didn't fully mirror that algorithm to the base part. At any rate, I've got a test case in my document now, so keep an eye out for an update soon(ish).
In the meantime, the split/union approach is probably the most parametric workaround, albeit annoying if you have to do it many times.
(strictly speaking, trying to run it on a non-planar part violates the assumptions stated in the feature documentation, but I'll see if I can add this as a supported use anyway)
Re: Is there any way to prevent laser joint sockets from penetrating both walls of a tube?
You could also split the second tube before making the laser joint, and then uniting after the laser joint feature. No need to pick holes.
fnxf
8
Re: Is there any way to prevent laser joint sockets from penetrating both walls of a tube?
I took a look and all I can say is 🤷♂️. I thought maybe in the script there was an endBound that was easy to identify as the culprit, but I think there's more going on there and the person most suited to solve it is @lemon1324
If it's uncommon enough to not warrant a feature update, you could just delete the extra holes with Delete Face. I'd right-click -> create selection -> tangent connected -> pick the holes.
If it's uncommon enough to not warrant a feature update, you could just delete the extra holes with Delete Face. I'd right-click -> create selection -> tangent connected -> pick the holes.
Re: #TraditionalCADsucks
Some Inventor fans I know are getting very excited about an Autodesk product (VRED).
It lets you easily take an Inventor model, import it, tweak it, export and package an executable that's only 100 to 200 MB (bigger projects are 4+ GB), and share that with a client through cloud storage to download it and then view the model (can't send it through an email because it's too big), for only $1,500 per month per seat! An excellent deal!
It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to prepare a model for sharing, and the only things the client needs are a high-speed internet connection, a computer running Windows (OS X was deprecated in 2018), and permission to run arbitrary .exe files! I can't believe it is so incredibly easy to do. It even comes with tutorials that just need a Flash Player to be viewed!
Truly, that software is pushing the limits of what can be done with modern technology and the power of the cloud. This is truly the pinnacle of innovation--something that has never even been attempted before. It's amazing how simple it is to create a view-only representation of your design data to protect your IP* while making it easy to access on any device**, anywhere***, anytime****!
* As long as you trust the recipient to not change their system time to get around the expiration date
** As long as it is Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 10
*** As long as you can connect to high speed internet without a data cap, mobile devices don't work
**** As long as you can wait around for a few hundred megabyte download
You know, there's a certain program out there that can import Inventor assemblies, share view-only representations, protect your IP* while making it easy to access on any device**, anywhere***, anytime****, and the billing increment for the $1,500 is one year, not one month, and it includes a full CAD modeling suite while you're at it...
* Yes, really you can revoke the share
** Yes, really any device
*** Yes, really anywhere
**** Yes, really anytime
It lets you easily take an Inventor model, import it, tweak it, export and package an executable that's only 100 to 200 MB (bigger projects are 4+ GB), and share that with a client through cloud storage to download it and then view the model (can't send it through an email because it's too big), for only $1,500 per month per seat! An excellent deal!
It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to prepare a model for sharing, and the only things the client needs are a high-speed internet connection, a computer running Windows (OS X was deprecated in 2018), and permission to run arbitrary .exe files! I can't believe it is so incredibly easy to do. It even comes with tutorials that just need a Flash Player to be viewed!
Truly, that software is pushing the limits of what can be done with modern technology and the power of the cloud. This is truly the pinnacle of innovation--something that has never even been attempted before. It's amazing how simple it is to create a view-only representation of your design data to protect your IP* while making it easy to access on any device**, anywhere***, anytime****!
* As long as you trust the recipient to not change their system time to get around the expiration date
** As long as it is Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 10
*** As long as you can connect to high speed internet without a data cap, mobile devices don't work
**** As long as you can wait around for a few hundred megabyte download
You know, there's a certain program out there that can import Inventor assemblies, share view-only representations, protect your IP* while making it easy to access on any device**, anywhere***, anytime****, and the billing increment for the $1,500 is one year, not one month, and it includes a full CAD modeling suite while you're at it...
* Yes, really you can revoke the share
** Yes, really any device
*** Yes, really anywhere
**** Yes, really anytime
alnis
10