What's in your custom feature list?

EvanReese

Whenever I see anyone doing a demo and they open up their custom feature list I always wish I could pause and check it out. I'm sure there are some killer features I don't know about that have become very important to some people's workflows. Here's my list right now, I highlighted the ones I find myself using often, and some of the others get intermittent use, and some I'm still intending to play around with to understand or am saving them for that one specific time that I'll need it. What does your list look like? Which features have become a big part of your workflow?

MichaelPascoe

Good idea. I would love to be able to organize these with drop down menus, @onshape

I just finished Texture, so obviously I haven't used it a lot, but it is my favorite.

konstantin_shiriazdanov

This can be interesting, I'm also always curious about that

MichaelPascoe

Looks like I had a super derive copy. Good to know. I switched to the original.

bruce_williams

OK!!!  Thanks for the idea @Evan_Reese!  this is very helpful as I often too want to know what others are using.

So how do you guys get the list of all your features like this?  I just bumble through using FS - no where near all the ones y'all are showing.  

EvanReese

bruce_williams said:

So how do you guys get the list of all your features like this?  I just bumble through using FS - no where near all the ones y'all are showing.  

I think the best source I've found is just to watch the forums for people posting about them, which is really not a fantastic way to do it. You can also sort the public docs by the number of links, which can help since every time a custom feature is used, it is linked. It's also not a perfect way to search. Michael and i have been adding a unique parenthetical to our document names so you can search one word and find all of ours (i.e. "Selection Fillet FS (Ovyl)"). I definitely want more tools to find, organize, and share custom features.

MichaelPascoe

@bruce_williams Its embarrassing really... I used windows Snipping Tool and windows Paint.

bruce_williams

thanks @MichaelPascoe & @Evan_Reese

Absolutely looking for better organizing and visibility on Feature Scripts.  

chadstoltzfus

@bruce_williams @MichaelPascoe

Alternatively you could right click on your toolbar, click "Customize toolbar" and select the "Show items already in toolbar" and that should give a little more room to browse features in your toolbar, albeit with dimmed text and icons. 

billy2

I never in my wildest dreams thought there would ever be more than 5 people creating feature scripts. Man, was I wrong. 

I wish there was a better environment cataloging and maintaining these features. They should be ranked by user feedback and easier to find. I'm thinking like a NPM repository or something organizing these Onshape extensions.

Neil did a good job defining the format for what a feature script document should look like, but try and find them in the vast ocean of feature scripts.

I wish the authors got more credit for their work. The best way to find scripts is to search the forum which is time consuming and elusive. There's feature scripts from the past that I can't even find any more. The original posting for feature scripts had great examples but I can't find it any longer.

It's sad that we have to take a screenshot of our feature script listing and post on the forum for others to discover.

MichaelPascoe

@billy2
You should click the update button for your custom features. Or at least for Section. There are some valuable improvements.

billy2

Yes I should. I'm not even using the latest version of the feature script I wrote.

Look at the "rib" feature script, that one is so old, it's one of the original feature scripts I believe Cody wrote it and is now is hard coded inside OS. It should be removed from my listing.

I find myself hunting for feature scripts to solve a problem for a project and then never using it again. Boolean plus was obsoleted by the fact that OS added sheets to the internal boolean command. Extend surface was added to OS core. Ruled surface is funky and I wish it were added to OS core.

Possibly the best feature script in the list was @dave_cowden threadcreator which was easily found and did exactly what I needed. I haven't used it since though.

threadcreator feature:


the feature:

billy2

How do you monetize these?

I'm thinking someone maintains a listing of featurescripts and then sells access through the APP store. Would I pay $5/month for access to a carefully curated library of feature scripts?

Build it and will they come?

MichaelPascoe

Personally, I do not like subscriptions. I would consider a one time fee if the app were useful enough. If you want more money from the same people, you could release better versions of the feature. Then they could purchase an upgrade if they desired to.

billy2

I honestly I don't know how to sell on the cloud. Salesforce has done it, but others? I think the perception is that things on the cloud should be free.

One time vs. annuity

In sales, the annuity is a better model, that's why everyone is doing it. Windows 11 and their app store, they blew it selling upgrades. Autodesk blew it  selling upgrades. As a business, cash flow sucks with the upgrade model. One time sales may be good for the user but it will hurt the developer trying to earn a living. Take Solidworks, currently, the subscription revenue exceeds the sales revenue these days. Why is Onshape just an annuity? It's just a better model.

Humans will spend $39 bucks without thinking about it. I'm not sure how much people will pay on an annuity. Netflix is $14 bucks/month. maybe that's it?

We're so far from people putting money down for feature scripts, it's sad. "The Cloud Ain't Free", maybe we should sell t-shirts.

alan_baljeu

Honestly, it's up to Onshape to make a monetizing option. if they want to.  So far they've been happy with the free opensource featurescript system. You can build paid apps through the app store but those won't be Featurescript (at least not all Featurescript).

The only other routes are paid custom development for one user, or the Patreon model where users volunteer to give you money because they like your work and hope you continue.

MichaelPascoe

Free keeps everyone friendly as well. I prefer a friendly and helpful environment.

billy2

@alan_baljeu, @MichaelPascoe

I thought about it a lot yesterday and I agree with you guys.

EvanReese

I also prefer the current non-monetized setup and agree with Michael that it keeps the environment more fun and helpful. I've learned a ton about FS from the generosity of people here on the forum, but if I suddenly was in competition with them, I'd probably never have been able to write a single feature.