Improvements to Onshape - June 18th, 2019

cody_armstrong

EDIT: The Linked Document Update improvement has temporarily been disabled due to performance issues. 

Summer is almost here and we have an update that features some highly requested improvements. These improvements cover nearly all aspects of Onshape, from sketching to part and assembly modeling, drawings, data management and more.  Let's dig in.

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

CURVATURE CONSTRAINT

You will find a new "Curvature" sketch constraint that makes it easy to create curvature continuous transitions between sketch splines (and conics) and surrounding geometry.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/d2rt81jfb6

MATE CONNECTOR IMPROVEMENTS

A new automatically generated mate connection point has been added at the virtual sharp of conical faces in Onshape. This makes mating conical faces easier, and is particularly useful when mating countersunk bolts to countersunk holes. Countersunk bolts in Standard Content will also automatically have this new mate connection point.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/4lrqp2qxnw

UPDATE ALL EXTERNAL REFERENCES (Disabled)

When working with large assemblies referencing several nested Documents, you can now update every external reference at once. In the past, this would require opening and versioning each linked Document independently.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/o8ddi0nq2g

LINKED DOCUMENT UPDATE IMPROVEMENTS (Disabled)

We've made an improvement to updating linked Documents. In the past, if you created a version in a Document that contained several Part Studios, every part from all Part Studios in referenced assemblies would be flagged as needing an update- even if only one Part Studio was edited. Now, only parts from edited Part Studios are flagged in the referenced assemblies as needing an update.

SECTION VIEW IMPROVEMENTS

Cylindrical faces can now be selected when creating section views in a Part Studio or Assembly. This makes much easier to create section views in parts or assemblies that are mostly round. In the past, the options were limited to planar faces and mate connectors.

ACTION ITEMS

You will find a new "Action Items" option when clicking your user name in the top right. Any releases waiting for your approval or tasks that are waiting for you to complete will be listed here.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/rrldn9swrf

HOLE CALLOUT IMPROVEMENTS

Hole Callouts have been improved in Onshape Drawings to better handle holes that pass through multiple parts. The Hole callout will now only show the details of the hole as it relates to that part. 

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/5ctxi8uxfs

DRAWING VIEW SIMPLIFICATION

You will find new Drawing view simplification options both when inserting drawing views and when editing a drawing view's properties. You can simplify based on an absolute value, or as a percentage of either a Part or Part Studio/Assembly.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/xcnp6cfcyw

UPDATING DRAWING PROPERTIES

Drawing Properties can now be updated from a template. In the Drawing Properties flyout, you will see a new option that allows you to "Update properties from a template". You will also see a new option to "Lock drawing properties" that prevents drawing properties from being updated.

HIDE/SHOW SKETCHES IN SECTION VIEWS, BROKEN-OUT SECTION VIEWS, AND CROP VIEWS

You can now hide/show sketches for section views, broken-out section views, and crop views.

PRINT IMPROVEMENTS

You can now download an image straight from the Print dialog. This allows you to create PNG images of your models without needing to use separate screenshot software.

PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

DISPLAY NAME FOR CUSTOM PROPERTIES

Custom Properties now have a "Display name." This gives you more control over how custom properties are displayed.

PART NUMBERING IMPROVEMENTS

You can now define a part numbering scheme that does not include a prefix.

LEARNING CENTER IMPROVEMENTS

We have improved the user experience when attending Onshape Bootcamp. Now, you can access all the supporting materials as the training progresses, try new hands-on exercises, join the sessions, access notes, and ask a question all in one place. We also added a new technical briefing- Release Management FAQ and updated Hardware Recommendations.

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.

brian_brady

Very nice update. I especially like the conical mate connectors and hole callout improvements.

Great job.

Smilesonica

great update. lots of great features to use right away.

emagdalenaC2i

Great improvements!!!

SR_integrator

Great functional improvements!

Especialy the option to replace a drawing format in the [sheet properties] dialog! (to replace old formats with the new).

Although its not mentioned in section about "UPDATING DRAWING PROPERTIES"

3dcad

Wooooaaa! It takes whole (Finnish) summer to properly stress-test this update.. 

My favorites: 

UPDATE ALL EXTERNAL REFERENCES

LINKED DOCUMENT UPDATE IMPROVEMENTS

Thanks!!

jakeramsley

integrator_smart said:

Great functional improvements!

Especialy the option to replace a drawing format in the [sheet properties] dialog! (to replace old formats with the new).

Although its not mentioned in section about "UPDATING DRAWING PROPERTIES"

Hi integrator_smart,

Replacing of the drawing format in the sheet properties dialog was actually released March 22nd.  You can see the post about it here under "SWAP DRAWING SHEET FORMAT IN AN EXISTING ONSHAPE DRAWING":
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/11385/improvements-to-onshape-march-22nd-2019/p1

john_mcclary

wow, you all were busy,
Many good things here as usual.

But I am confused about Drawing view simplification.
Can someone give me a use case?
I mean hiding all parts smaller than X" is an odd thing IMHO.
Leaves the assembly with a random looking mess of large parts that aren't connected to something

Maybe It could be handy with hiding fasteners? but there are many times we have parts that are smaller than a fastener 🤷‍♂️

EvanReese

Awesome updates! I'm very stoked about the curvature relation in sketches. Sometimes I've used the curvature fillet just to create these curves. This will up my surfacing game for sure. Also, Action Items seems like the tip of the spear in terms on Onshape getting into other kinds of data management like project management etc. Really excited to see where that goes.

CAD_Hero_1337

john_mcclary said:

wow, you all were busy,
Many good things here as usual.

But I am confused about Drawing view simplification.
Can someone give me a use case?
I mean hiding all parts smaller than X" is an odd thing IMHO.
Leaves the assembly with a random looking mess of large parts that aren't connected to something

Maybe It could be handy with hiding fasteners? but there are many times we have parts that are smaller than a fastener 🤷‍♂️

Not all fasteners are created equally... in size. I think it just adds greater control to minimize simplification as intended. Maybe a checkbox could be added to eliminate all fasteners but what is considered a fastener? Anything fastened?

owen_sparks

Holy Crap, had 3 mins before leaving work so glanced through the post, methinks I'll need more than that to do this update justice.   Thanks folks!!

Owen S.

Jason_S

All Standard content fasteners with countersinks have been updated to have Mate connectors where they should be, at the tip of the countersink cone. This should make mating all countersunk fasteners much easier and faster in the future.

David_Bone

Awesome set of updates!  I have especially been waiting on the conical mates and linked/nested assembly updates.  Great job Onshape!!!

romeograham

This one is great too (in the changelog):

• Sort toolbar custom features alphabetically

This will be very very helpful!

And this one:

• Added message and notification for Drawings export to inform the action is queued

...and this one from the Update post!

• New image export Which outputs a png file with transparent background! This is a huge huge improvement for communicating with others using slide decks .

What a comprehensive update guys!

Bravo!

katherine_walcott

Haha I was actually just wishing I could create section views using non-planar faces a few minutes before these updates dropped. Now I can. Very exciting!

emagdalenaC2i

I just found the first bug in this release 

brucebartlett

Great list of updates. Thanks

don_williams909

Conical Mates is great.  I've been asking for that since I started with OS.

Update all external references is also great.

That said, I'm still going to keep harping on having improvements to things like the Assembly Tree/Instances section which gets far too burdensome for large assemblies without being able to create folders/groups and sub-groups within that tree.  I'm not talking about the current Group function, but a way to condense the Instances tree into a more manageable size.
Also, having the Mates section in the tree is also a huge inconvenience, and causes way too much scrolling.  I still want to see the Assembly Mates in a separate drop-down or pop-up menu linked to the parts.

philip_thomas

@don_williams909 - All good points and all on the list. For all readers here, if you need these please submit enhancement requests (std/pro/ent users) or vote on the enhancement requests (free users) so that we know how to prioritize the long list our users have given us!!!

Dmitry_Golovkin

Image export to PNG shows comment labels. Is it possible yo hide them?

don_williams909

While we're at it, the ability to change colors of individual surfaces in parts and assemblies is something that I think we all need. 
Plus, being able to import an image via .bmp, .png or .jpg and apply that to a surface is also critical for a lot of work that we do.  It's very difficult doing without these kinds of features.
An example of where changing surface colors is big is when creating molded or cast parts where some surfaces have a texture added.  You need to call this out on a drawing, and the best way to do this is with colors that are associated with a part, which then need to be able to transfer into a drawing.

don_williams909

Is there a way to add a conical mate to a part?  This would be very helpful...

philip_thomas

@don_williams909 - Again, both are on the list (and quite high up at that!) - let's use your comment as the rallying cry to get people to submit/vote. 
Sorry to sound like a broken record, but this is absolutely how we decide what to work on next

philip_thomas

@Dmitry_Golovkin - Hmm, I just tested this and the annotation labels do not show up in the downloaded image. Not sure what you're doing. If you need help, please feel free to post in the Community Support section - a gif showing your steps would really help the process.

StephenG

Regarding the new sketching curvature constraint. Could someone explain the functional difference between using a Tangent constraint versus a Curvature constraint between two splines that share a common endpoint? Both constraints appear to maintain "continuity" but their respective behavior is quite different.

paul_chastell

Tangency between two splines with a common end point constrains the splines to have the same direction at the end point (what is sometimes called G1 continuity). If you display curvature combs on both you will see that the combs line up but the width of the combs is probably different. Curvature continuity (caller G2 continuity) constrains the splines to that behavior PLUS that the curvatures are identical. Curvature combs will also have the same width at that point. If you extrude the two splines into a surface you will see that the tangent splines form surfaces where the light reflected doesn’t vary smoothly. For curvature continuous it does. Curvature continuous is used a lot to make ‘nicer’ curves and surfaces. 

I like this down-to-earth explanation that talks about curvature in both icons and hardware
https://hackernoon.com/apples-icons-have-that-shape-for-a-very-good-reason-720d4e7c8a14

albjerre

I love the new Curvature Constraint. Now Oneshape is one step closer to having the full modelling package. Now we just need 3d sketches

owen_sparks

romeograham said:

This one is great too (in the changelog):

• Sort toolbar custom features alphabetically

This is without doubt my favorite of the updates! Big new features are awesome, don't get me wrong, but quick easy wins that remove daily aggravations are well worth the development effort in my mind.  Good job folks!

Owen S.

Yam_S

Great Update!

UPDATING DRAWING PROPERTIES
and the HOLE CALLOUT IMPROVEMENT

coleman

Davide_Cev

I'dont know If its caused by the update,

but when I create a new version it doesn't ask me anymore the what name and description I want to give to the version.

It just creat version V##, so if I want to give a particular name I need to open the history panel and edit the properties of the version.

I find it a bit annoyng...