Improvements to Onshape - September 18, 2015

lougallo

Update day is here and we are excited to show you a number of improvements in this release.  Now that all of Onshape nation has access to Drawings, we will be including it as part of our core What's New announcements.  Let's just get into the details!
Highlights include:

1. NEW Mate indicators - From any part, use the Show mates option to give visual feedback on mates applied, suppression state and whether they are solving or have errors.  Hide/show mates can also be performed directly from the mate indicators.
   
   https://youtu.be/yEvFANO0Fsc
   
   
2. NEW Copy parts with mates in Assemblies - When copying multiple parts, any mates between the parts will also be copied.  
   
   https://youtu.be/D7p97_da-6s
   
   
3. NEW Print preview - Using the print command (hamburger menu in the upper left) will now display an on-screen border, orientation and size options for easy setup.
   
   https://youtu.be/pAIc1YucENI
   
   
4. NEW Export from anywhere - Now individual and selections of parts from a part studio can be exported to our standard list of formats. (This used to apply for STL only before this release and now all formats found in the export of tabs are available.)
   
   
   
   
5. NEW Note alignment options in Drawings - Horizontal and vertical alignment options have been added to notes.
   
   
   
   
6. NEW Drawing dimension palette symbols - A symbol pulldown has been added to Drawing's dimension palette for easy insertion of common symbols.
   
   https://youtu.be/Ab-Pwe75_bk
   
   
7. NEW Mate connectors can now be used as coordinate systems for Mass properties moments of inertia calculations.
   
   
   

Honorable mentions:

• Multi-select is now supported in the Documents page.  You can take actions by using any of the gear menus in the selection set. (CTRL/CMD or SHIFT selections are supported)
• Drawings line weights now scale with zoom to support zoomed in operations (for zoomed-in, fine detailing)
• Drawing performance improvements for dragging of views and notes has been improved.  (More performance improvements coming!)

We hope you get the opportunity to give these new features a try and let us know what you think!  We are already busy getting the next set of improvements out and thank you all for your feedback and suggestions.  ~Lou

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.

UPDATE:

We pushed a slight update this morning to squeeze this gem in.. ;-)

NEW Sketch slot - Now you can add slots to existing lines, arcs and splines.

https://youtu.be/ZzWzCg5M8Dk

Enjoy...

3dcad

Thank you. Especially for adding desperately needed print preview.

jmarasch

ROCK ON!!! I love the idea of showing the mates on the screen!

viru

Awesome, great update . Now we got more option in assembly and drawing. Thanks for "Show all" option which is now appearing and very helpful to us.

lougallo

Added a little gem this am ;-)  (Slot sketch)

_Ðave_

Even with a new document I can't find this little gem?

jakeramsley

DaVicki said:

Even with a new document I can't find this little gem?

It should be under the offset drop down while in a sketch.  If you have a small screen-size, then it will be under the sketch fillet drop down.

_Ðave_

Ah yes, Very nice thanks.

andrew_troup

Indeed. That's a wonderfully elegant implementation - a simple front end for a powerful tool. Kudos!

NOTE to other users who had kept themselves up to date with the updates, and might not think to backtrack up the thread: Check out the videos posted in the OP: an explanatory video has been secretly appended, showing the slot tool.

nav

Nice one guys (Slot Tool) just saw it today thanks to @DaVicki ´s and @andrew_troup `s comments. It works really well. TIMESAVER 

brucebartlett

Yes very nice Slot Tool, even works on splines

michael_leslie

Glad of the new export functions.

andrew_troup

Strikes me the "slot" tool is also potentially useful for round-ended ribs, bosses, or complete solid bodies.

I also like the idea of "Copy mates with parts"

fastwayjim

More good stuff!!! Also, nice Roll Cage, @lougallo ! I'm anxiously awaiting 3D sketching so I can make a more contemporary roll cage... Any word on that? I know a lot of people who want Onshape to work on their race cars!

3dcad

Slot can be used to carving or milling with V shape, cone head or ball head router. No need to create planes and revolve ends. Very nice.

andrew_troup

Hmmm, @3dcad: I guess if we had single-line fonts, and provided the endpoints were not merged, we could use "Slot" to engrave lettering.

I'm guessing you used "Extrude with draft" for the V-grooves: how did you model the ball-ended grooves? 

gonzalo_chomon

How did you created those carvings @3dcad ?

3dcad

@andrew_troup @gonzalo_chomon
Single line fonts would work for this.

I first tried with draft but in the end I find it easier to chamfer the bottom of groove with same R as blade (1/2 of groove width). Ball head replication is just fillet in same way.

3dcad

Special mention for using slot in shapes like this:
Spline goes with one instance in extrude:


But if you create shape using line, choosing whole sketch doesn't work - all faces must be choosed one by one.

andrew_troup

3dcad said:

....


But if you create shape using line, choosing whole sketch doesn't work - all faces must be choosed one by one.

@3dcad: yet another instance where we would be well served by enhanced selection tools, including chain select

Thanks for the info on your methods: I had forgotten that two half round fillets combine into a single full round one.

3dcad

I did file a ticket for this and they found some bit that caused it not to work, there is possibility that it will be easier to select in next updates.

@abe_feldman :
I see the problem - there's a small region in the 90 degree bend that's being lost by the region selection and is creating zero thickness geometry because of it. If you hide the background part, you'll see it show up white when the extrude dialog is open. The reason it's getting lost is a problem for us to solve, but you can get around it by trimming the slot overlaps so it's one continuous region.

3dcad

Now if we had 'blade profile' user library which could be used for slot ending up like sweep with end revolves it would be really nice for carvers.

3dcad

andrew_troup said:

.. I had forgotten that two half round fillets combine into a single full round one.

And it is very nice that you can only choose the bottom face of flat groove to get all the needed edges rounded

matthew_menard

3dcad said:

@andrew_troup @gonzalo_chomon
Single line fonts would work for this.

I first tried with draft but in the end I find it easier to chamfer the bottom of groove with same R as blade (1/2 of groove width). Ball head replication is just fillet in same way.

Am I correct that there is currently no way to define the chamfer as as 1/2<slot dim> and that you just have to manually update the chamfer or fillet size if you update the slot width?

3dcad

@matthew_menard Currently you are right but I know Onshape is working hard to bring custom parameters in, once they are available you just control both of these with one parameter.

andrew_troup

matthew_menard said:

3dcad said:

@andrew_troup @gonzalo_chomon
Single line fonts would work for this.

I first tried with draft but in the end I find it easier to chamfer the bottom of groove with same R as blade (1/2 of groove width). Ball head replication is just fillet in same way.

Am I correct that there is currently no way to define the chamfer as as 1/2<slot dim> and that you just have to manually update the chamfer or fillet size if you update the slot width?

A workaround is to  Extrude/Solid/Remove with draft (inwards, at 45 degrees) from the slot profile. This should update in the way you seek.

shashank_aarya

Slot tool is awesome. It helps a lot for creating cooling lines in mold cavities for low pressure die cast molds. Otherwise creating the slot sketch includes manual task of constraining and creating offset entities which was taking time. But now it saves considerable time.
Thanks Onshape team! 

juan_aviles

Thanks for improving the export issues!