Improvements to Onshape - June 26, 2015

lougallo

Who is ready for update day? I am excited to announce a number of improvements across various areas of Onshape today. Little improvements like arrow key navigation on the Documents page to some larger updates like 2nd end position extrude span the list so let's get to it:
 
Highlights include:

Part Studios:

1. NEW 2nd end position Extrude -  A new option in Extrude introduces a second end position (double arrow) that can have it's own set of end conditions and supports direction control.  This allows an offset sketch situation to be controlled easily.
   
   
   
   
2. NEW Feature List filter - At the top of the Feature List you can now search by name or type.  This will display the list in a filtered view and collapse sections that do not match the search.  Pro Tip:  Hover over the ellipsis '...' to see the features collapsed in a tooltip and rollback also works!!.
   
   
   
   
3. NEW Copy/Paste Sketches - Now you can select and copy sketches to use in the same Part Studio or another Part Studio in another document.
   
   
   
   
4. NEW Silhouette tool - When in the Use command there are highlights that allow you to convert the silhouette edges of your choice.
   
   
   
   

Assembly:

1. Hide/Show using Groups - A new option is now available for Assemblies that use Groups.  The Group can act as a quick selection list to change the visibility state (hide or show).
   
   
   
   
2. Reset mate positions in sub-assemblies from the top level assembly - In an Assembly, access to the reset option is now available on any mates created in a sub-assembly.
   
   
   
   
3. Assembly selection boxes show same name/color as the Part List - In instances where the mates fail to solve (displayed in red) or are suppressed, they will now display with the same color and name that are displayed in the Instances list.
   
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General:

1. Arrow key navigation on the Documents page. (The Delete key also works!)
   
   
   
   
2. Rename and copy workspaces from the Documents page using the gear menu.
   
   
   
   
3. Version selection on Parasolid export.
   
   
   
   
4. Zoom to selection in the view cube (shown only with an active selection)
   
   
   
   
5. View cube corners on all corners - Clicking on the corners will show the corresponding trimetric view.
   
   
   

Nearly every one of these improvements were requested by one of you so thank you again for your continued feedback.  Please give them a try and let us know what you think!  ~Lou

lougallo

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.

nav

Excellent updates, just tried most of them, very useful. Great job guys (OS), I truly didn't believe having such a powerful CAD cloud based only was possible, what an amazing work. Thanks.

sergio_p_

I will enjoy the first one. second end for extrusion is a must.

Regards

_Ðave_

Will be having fun test driving these new toys this weekend, Thanks Gr8 job.

fastwayjim

2nd End Position is SO COOL!!!

cadmando

With OS Christmas comes every month.

Great work OS Team, will enjoy learning these new features in the next few days, looking forward to the new features to arrive in existing documents as a couple of them will be very useful

Thanks OS team (Brill).

andrew_troup

Thanks everyone at Onshape. I personally get more of a charge from the more discretionary and nuanced improvements, like the extra corners on the viewcube (see note #)

I say this because 2nd direction for extrude is an example of something that all MCAD packages offer, making it predictable and inevitable that Onshape would do so sooner rather than later (especially given Onshape already had implemented that ability for Rotate).

Setting up isometric views for the other seven options, in other packages, has been a laborious exercise, and now that Onshape has named views, this speedup is a real bonus. (Often the default single isometric does not show key features of the part or assembly)

Note #: @lougallo : re <<View cube corners on all corners - Clicking on the corners will show the corresponding trimetric view>>

Do you really mean trimetric? Surely these default cornerwise views should be isometric?

andrew_troup

I'm really encouraged to see the ability to copy and paste sketches making the cut so soon. I hope in due course there will be the option to retain live linkage to the original (in cases where the original sketch is in the same part studio)

This is known as "derived sketch" in Solidworks, and means that design intent can be respected, into the indefinite future, when the original sketch is resized or even reconfigured.

jakeramsley

The cornerwise views are trimetric, not isometric.

andrew_troup

jakeramsley said:

The cornerwise views are trimetric, not isometric.

I urge you to reconsider this change. The current Onshape "Help" topic :

suggests that the intention was for the bubbles to deliver isometric views. I would strongly argue that this is a better option.

For one thing: if "Up" remains up, there is only one isometric view possible at any corner, hence only eight possible solutions.

Whereas there are multiple possible trimetric views at each corner, so Onshape is currently making a decision on behalf of the user by privileging one.

If there is a constituency for trimetric views, maybe there could instead be a "trimetric" button which (once a given isometric view was shown) would toggle successively through the trimetric options from that same corner. (Same for dimetric, perhaps)

3dcad

Can't wait to give these some serious test run. Great work!

christopher_owens

I like that you can now copy a sketch! Now experimenting with that and my "logo"/"maker's mark" that I want to place on my parts...

3dcad

Onshape has very good taste on how updates are implemented, they all feel immediately natural part of software and you just can't even think that there was a time without them. 

Ed_Danzer

The copy and paste sketch work good. This is a very important feature for me.

andrew_troup

I like the way the end conditions for an extrude can both be on the *same* side of the sketch plane. This seems to me slightly simpler, and more elegant, than the Solidworks way of providing the same 'remote from sketch' result.

christopher_owens

Hurrah for the Extrude "Both Directions" update!! It just came in REAL handy when I had to modify a floor plan which was multi-level into one level!! I was able to "raise" a surface to meet the other one (as long as I made them separate parts, if I made the surfaces parallel and Merged them I lost surface references.) so I didn't lose any of my sketch planes and then assembly mates!! If I had just reversed the direction of the extrude (which I tried), everything "flipped" or failed! Since I was now able to just raise the surface (above the sketch plane) everything regenerated!

clayton_ertley

I do have a question regarding the copy/paste sketch addition. when I paste a sketch into my new sketch, I can only move it along some angular axis. No matter where I click, I can only move along the one axis. I the GIF animation above I saw that the center of the sketch was clicked in order to move, but I am unable to do this as I have a non-circular sketch.I have attached a picture.I can only move it along the red line. Anyone have any ideas?

clayton_ertley

Never mind guys!!! I figured it out immediately after posting. Sorry.

brucebartlett

@clayton_ertley did you end up with some extra constraints coming across?  Copying constraints can be a bit confusing (I accidentally copied a fix constraint and had a similar result) but this is also the the best part of this copy sketch segment command you just have to understand whats going on.

andrew_troup

I'm confident Onshape will greatly improve the tools and interface to audit and manage constraints, which will in turn make pasted sketches a lot more manageable.