I cant figure very basic things! Please help!

érico_schmitt878

Hi, I’ve just started trying to use this app, but I can’t do very basic things that I could easily figure out on autocad. Things that were quite easy to also figure on Sharpr3D:

-Is there a way to display a grid in one of the planes? And lock view to a plane?
-How do I draw a line from coordinates? Either by typing in two points with xyz or a point+angle+length?
-All input seems to be “free hand”, and not from typing numbers and angles...
-How do I create a new plane, say, rotated 45 degree on vertical axis?
-How do I extrude at an angle? Like, I draw a circle, but instead of extruding a cylinder I want it to be a inclined “elipse” at a 30 degrees angle and 50mm high? Extrusion seems to only be possible perpendicular to the base plane...
-This is related to above: how do I get the projection of a drawing? If I draw a circle on that inclined 45deg surface, how can I get the projected elipse on the other plane?
-Why do my finger and the apple pencil does exactly the same thing? That’s not smart at all. Is there an option for “fingers do pan and zoom and pencil does input”?

-How can I rotate an object? Both on the plane, and change a 2d shape off a plane?
-How do I re-scale an object?

Now some less basic stuff, my goal is to actually design a flying wing (a scale hang glider for RC):

-Suppose I want to draw a wing that tapers from root to tip. Same airfoil and no twist on the whole length, it just tapers so the airfoil gradually gets smaller. How can I do that from a 2d airfoil profile? With backswept wing (angled extrusion as asked above)? So it is a angled and tapered extrusion.
-Now suppose the airfoil changes at some point. How can I “connect” those airfoils, in the way a sail does around the battens of a hang glider?
-Adding to the above, how can I add twist between those airfoil “ribs”?
-Change dihedral angle of that wing along its length? Like tips flexed up..? I know this one is more tricky. Somewhat like a tapering-twisting-revolve.
-And how can I measure the length of a curved line, or lengths/dimensions of the surfaces of this wing? The idea would be to know the dimensions of the sail panels between the ribs, so that I can cut the sail accordingly when building.

I appreciate all help! If those things are impossible on this app I’ll look for another solution, hopefully one that fits my ipad pro instead of a desktop.

NeilCooke

That's a lot of questions - I suggest investing some time at learn.onshape.com to find out how to do these things (videos are of the desktop "app" but the ideas are the same). Onshape is not like AutoCAD.

Some answers:

-Is there a way to display a grid in one of the planes? No And lock view to a plane? Icon top right prevents rotation
-How do I draw a line from coordinates? Either by typing in two points with xyz or a point+angle+length? You can't
-All input seems to be “free hand”, and not from typing numbers and angles... Correct, draw then add constraints/dimensions
-How do I create a new plane, say, rotated 45 degree on vertical axis? Draw a line for the axis first
-How do I extrude at an angle? Like, I draw a circle, but instead of extruding a cylinder I want it to be a inclined “elipse” at a 30 degrees angle and 50mm high? Extrusion seems to only be possible perpendicular to the base plane... Use Sweep
-This is related to above: how do I get the projection of a drawing? If I draw a circle on that inclined 45deg surface, how can I get the projected elipse on the other plane? "Use" in Sketch
-Why do my finger and the apple pencil does exactly the same thing? That’s not smart at all. Is there an option for “fingers do pan and zoom and pencil does input”? There is not, but a good improvement request

-How can I rotate an object? Both on the plane, and change a 2d shape off a plane? Transform
-How do I re-scale an object? Transform

Now some less basic stuff, my goal is to actually design a flying wing (a scale hang glider for RC):

-Suppose I want to draw a wing that tapers from root to tip. Same airfoil and no twist on the whole length, it just tapers so the airfoil gradually gets smaller. How can I do that from a 2d airfoil profile? With backswept wing (angled extrusion as asked above)? So it is a angled and tapered extrusion. Loft
-Now suppose the airfoil changes at some point. How can I “connect” those airfoils, in the way a sail does around the battens of a hang glider? Loft
-Adding to the above, how can I add twist between those airfoil “ribs”? Loft
-Change dihedral angle of that wing along its length? Like tips flexed up..? I know this one is more tricky. Somewhat like a tapering-twisting-revolve. Loft probably
-And how can I measure the length of a curved line, or lengths/dimensions of the surfaces of this wing? The idea would be to know the dimensions of the sail panels between the ribs, so that I can cut the sail accordingly when building. Use the measure tool

I appreciate all help! If those things are impossible on this app I’ll look for another solution, hopefully one that fits my ipad pro instead of a desktop.

steve_shubin

@érico_schmitt878

I noticed you mentioned the iPad. I use Onshape on my iPhone quite a bit. We both have the same basic interface.

Here are a few GIFs that might help you to get started

steve_shubin

@"érico_schmitt878"

In the GIF below, it starts with a fully constrained sketch, which is indicated by all the lines being black. When a sketch is fully constrained, that means that it is locked down. Nothing is going to be moved accidentally

In a fully constrained sketch, you’re going to have to edit one of the dimensions or remove a constraint to move things.

There is also the Transform tool that will allow you to move things.

So, in the GIF — the Horizontal constraint is removed, which allows the rectangle to rotate. Then two construction lines are drawn, and the dimension tool is used on these lines to give that rectangle a specific angle

steve_shubin

@"érico_schmitt878"

The above post has been edited.

See the italicized sentence that talks about the transform tool