Improvements to Onshape - April 15th, 2019

Roy_Mutalik

We’ve already reached our fifth release of Onshape this year. Take a look at some of the new features below.

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

REPLACE IMPORTED GEOMETRY

You can now directly replace imported geometry within Onshape. You can update the file by right-clicking on the import feature or by selecting the "Update" button on the tab in the new CAD Imports folder.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/8merpuiifo

SHEET METAL HEMS

You can now easily create hems, using a new dedicated Sheet Metal Feature.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/pfc4dzhduz

CURVATURE COMBS ON CURVE CREATION

You now have a new option to view the curvature combs of previewed edges while creating features such as Bridging curve, 3D fit spline, and loft. These curvature combs update dynamically as you modify the curves.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/e0qzphe9fo

IMPROVED HLR PERFORMANCE

You’ll see improved performance when creating drawing views in the Hidden Lines Removed display stye, particularly when rendering organic shapes which create spline-silhouette edges.

DRAWING TABLES - OPTIMIZATION OF FIT ON DOUBLE CLICK

Within a drawing table, a double-click on a cell border will auto-size the row or column to fit the contents.

EDIT SECTION CONTEXT MENU ITEM (SECTION VIEWS)

You can easily edit a section view through a more discoverable “Edit section” option in the right-click menu of the section view itself.

INDUSTRY SYNONYMS ADDED TO ONSHAPE HELP

While searching the Help, you may now query for synonymous terms from other CAD tools, and the results will return the appropriate Onshape equivalent. As an example, searching for “move” will now also display Onshape’s Transform feature.

PREFIX FOR CHAMFER DIMENSIONS

You can now add a prefix on chamfer dimensions. This can be useful for calling out quantities, much like you would on a hole callout.

PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

UPDATE PROPERTIES WITH API ONLY

You can now create custom properties that are locked in the user interface, and only editable via the API. This can be configured independently for versions and workspaces. This is useful for managing third-party integrations. 

ENTERPRISE IMPROVEMENTS

BLOCK DUPLICATE DOCUMENT NAMES

Within an Enterprise, you can now prevent users from creating documents with a name identical to that of an existing document. This feature is configurable using a regular expression, so you may choose what is enforced as a matching name.

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.

owen_sparks

Ooooh, that replace imported geometry feature looks great.  Thanks folks.

Owen S.

Jason_S

Happy Monday!

We also just added two metric spring lock washers. 
     - Spring lock washer DIN 127 Type A
     - Spring lock washer DIN 127 Type B

Please note these are from a withdrawn standard. 

Cris_Bowers

BOM resizing isn't working correctly for me. It's shrinking some columns causing the text to wrap and it increased the width of a column that I intentionally have wrapped text in, but not to the point of unwrapping the text. I already contacted support about it, just wondering if others experience the same behavior.

emagdalenaC2i

Great work!!
I will test the import geometry improvements and ( finally  ) the sheet metal hem 

bruce_williams

Happy Monday for sure!  Replace CAD and curve combs are great improvements for us.  Thanks Onshape team!

romeograham

Thanks for another great Update. It was hard to get through the weekend knowing that it was imminent...

From the changelog:

• New FeatureScript: Operation to imprint shadows (opSplitBySelfShadow)

I have been hoping for a FeatureScript (or native feature) that functions similarly to SolidWorks Silouette Split Line with Draft:

The result:

The split surface on the curved shoulder is the result of "pushing" the Line of Draw plane (purple, above) through the part, and giving the "silouette" line where the plane crosses the surfaces....but in the location that would give a 6-degree draft relative to the LOD plane.

This is a feature that I used a lot in SW, but now have a series of funny workarounds to get the same split in Onshape.

Would this new FeatureScript  (opSplitBySelfShadow) be able to help with this type of feature?

Thanks!

ilya_baran

romeo_graham392 Actually, for that, you want the opSplitByIsocline from the previous update.
Here's a featurized version: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/5370e14526610dcdfe34a4a4/v/cf7da8ecbedcc162cc04499f/e/de85d2a2f38b7dee01159ab0

philip_thomas

There are so many cool custom features out there! 
Ilya just showed you Silhouette Split, here is another fun one - Silhouette Projection -

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/447c6fe48283e84c4c382e67/w/21976dd0fa3c061779d3d951/e/952b0a5aee92f9251ac36bcc

Andrew_Enslow_3DS

Thanks for another good update! I really like the Import method - that is a big help when working in two cad systems! Also thanks for the hem. I'd requested that one a while back and I'm happy to see it come to life.

Thanks for releasing quality features regularly!

romeograham

@ilya_baran that is exactly what I was looking for. I missed it in the last update (I haven't gotten into working with FeatureScript yet...).

UPDATE: I see that you made that FS today: THANK YOU!

@philip_thomas I was aware of that one (which I do use in another type of feature) but without the Angle setting that Isocline has, it's not what I am after for this feature.

Thanks guys!
Romeo

EricGauthier

Great job again!

philip_thomas

@romeo_graham392 - I did not mean to imply that the Silhouette Projection custom feature would solve your specific need, simply that it was a related capability that you or any of the many viewers of these announcements might be interested in

gerhard_swanepoel

Again, improvements do not disappoint!

brucebartlett

Thanks for the improvements. Replace imported geometry is a nice improvement I wasn't expecting but will be really handy. 

john_mcclary

Import geometry is now updateable! sweeet
Double click table width, niiice

Great work as always

bryan_lagrange

Great job on adding hems and replacing imported geometry.

gkuhns

Thanks for the automatic Imports folder. It's a small feature that will save a lot of time.

bruce_williams

ilya_baran said:

romeo_graham392 Actually, for that, you want the opSplitByIsocline from the previous update.
Here's a featurized version: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/5370e14526610dcdfe34a4a4/v/cf7da8ecbedcc162cc04499f/e/de85d2a2f38b7dee01159ab0

@ilya_baran
You have made my day!  This routine to find split lines is what I have hoped from Onshape since beginning.  In patternmaking we call this 'the parting line'.  Having a tool to get these curves is critical for much of our work.

Once that curve is made - the split parting surfaces need to be generated.  Here is one way to do it but I would like something more elegant and correct.  It would be nice if extruded vertex curves could be used for 3D normal sweep. Or extrude from a 3D curve.

What ideas do others have for these free form surfaces 'normal' to the 'isocline' type curves?

konstantin_shiriazdanov

bruce_williams said:

What ideas do others have for these free form surfaces 'normal' to the 'isocline' type curves?

@bruce_williams

check this Norml rib FS, made it for creating sweeps of line normal to the reference faces along the contour

bruce_williams

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

That is exactly what I needed! Your FS did in one step what took me 7 and it is better surface.  I suppose doing things the hard way has taught me more about surfacing. 

Thank you immensely! 

konstantin_shiriazdanov

@bruce_williams glad it helped, I had problems sweeping along multiedge contour at once so I used internally booleanPlus feature by @MBartlett21 for joining pieces of sweept surface for each edge of the path.

ilya_baran

@bruce_williams
@konstantin_shiriazdanov
One thing to keep in mind is that Konstantin's feature extends the curves in the direction normal to the surface, while radiate surface (which, granted, needs an accuracy improvement) extends the curve in the direction perpendicular to the curve that lies in a given reference plane.  I'm not sure which is desirable in which cases, but they are different.

KatieHuffman

We also released two new technical briefings in the Learning Center:

Working with Third Parties Using Onshape Enterprise- Learn workflows for working with clients or suppliers when using Onshape Enterprise.
Release Management FAQ- Understand frequently asked questions when getting started with release management.

Cache_River_Mill

Great work Onshape team!

Thank you.

sean_blanchard

I love the improvements to the Chamfer tool. I would love to still be able to add a "Suffix" to the feature as well. However, I am pretty happy with the tool. Thanks Onshape, I continue to look forward to the improvements you're making to the software.

fredrik_1

Thanks a million for update imported geometry! Just tested it and it works pretty well.  

AlexPitt

Thanks Onshape team, some great improvements there!  I used the new Hem tool yesterday to model our stock British Gypsum dry-wall parts -  works perfectly!