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Is there the capability to display dual units in part studios (and assemblies for that matter)?

JAN_R
JAN_R Member, csevp Posts: 11 PRO
edited October 2019 in Community Support
When working on projects I find that often enough I need to reference metric and imperial/standard dimension within the same part and assembly studios.  When doing up drawings there is the option to display/dimension with dual units I can't seem to find the function within the part studios.  Does this not exist or am I looking in all the wrong places?  I understand that I can enter a unit of choice within the dimension dialog boxes but when I go to use the 'measure' function to double check work I only see the workspace units and have to go back and convert.  
  

Answers

  • romeograham
    romeograham Member, csevp Posts: 770 PRO
    edited October 2019
    You cannot display dual dimensions in Part Studios or Assemblies, but you can change the Workspace units at any time:


    This affects units in dimensions, mates, etc as well as anything in the "display mass properties" dialog




    and measure dialog: 


    It's a little clumsy, but you can change back and forth all you like. 

  • mooreaa
    mooreaa Member Posts: 5 ✭
    Hi all, I'm in the process of learning onshape to see if its a good fit for the type of design I do. I came across this post wondering about this.

    Sometimes I work on projects that have mixed units, and it would be nice if there was a way to show mixed units rather than it converting them back to the document units each time. I saw this post is from 2019 with plans for improvements, can someone point me to how to accomplish this?
  • NeilCooke
    NeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 6,078 image
    edited January 2024
    mooreaa said:
    Hi all, I'm in the process of learning onshape to see if its a good fit for the type of design I do. I came across this post wondering about this.

    Sometimes I work on projects that have mixed units, and it would be nice if there was a way to show mixed units rather than it converting them back to the document units each time. I saw this post is from 2019 with plans for improvements, can someone point me to how to accomplish this?
    Dimesnions remember the units used, so if you are working in inches (primarily) and you want some in mm, just enter mm as the units. Onshape will display the value in inches, but when editing it will show the value in mm (including any other equations used in the calculation) to preserve design intent.
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA
  • JAN_R
    JAN_R Member, csevp Posts: 11 PRO
    @NeilCooke Although there have been some changes made since I originally posted this a few years ago I still find it unfortunate that I have to do 3 clicks every time I want to check a dimension (within part and assembly studios) with a different unit.  To be honest, at the moment, I usually just grab the calculator. It would be super helpful though if we could select the option of dual units showing up at the bottom right of the screen.  In North America most of the structural material available and I would say the vast majority of fasteners etc are standard/inch while many (dare I say most) bearings, servo and stepper motors, and similar type components are metric.  Maybe I'm alone but I do find myself doing a lot of switching between units.  Onshape added the option for units in the 'Measure" panel a few years ago but that still requires 3 clicks.  Maybe Onshape hasn't understood that some of us we actually 'work' in dual units, not just verifying a few values.  

    @mooreaa - don't let this be a deciding factor.  Onshape is really good at listening to users and may finish up this improvement - I never did bring it up after Onshape made the changes.  There are so many other benefits to Onshape compared to other Cad systems that override this - for lack of a better term - nuisance. 


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