New FeatureScript - Point Derive

Alex_Kempen

Hello all,
I'm happy to release my latest FeatureScript, Point Derive. Point derive allows users to quickly derive parts into new positions in a part studio in a manner similar to @ilya_baran's Super Derive feature, but also adds powerful Point functionality. When a part is selected to be derived, any mate connectors which are attached to that part are automatically converted into selectable points. This allows the user to easily choose the exact position of the part relative to their selected reference locations.


This also makes it possible to derive parts into position correctly even if they weren't designed relative to the origin:


It's also worth mentioning that the orientation of mate connectors relative to the part is maintained, and that the first mate connector in the feature tree is automatically used as the default point manipulator selection.

It is also possible to create useful wrapper features for Point derive. For example, I've created a wrapper feature for my VEXU team which can be used to bring in 3D printed motor mounts and VEX C channels directly from our team's VEX CAD library. The wrapper feature automatically sets the configuration of C channels based on the length of selected edges and reports an error if it doesn't match correctly, thereby creating behavior similar in nature to the weldments feature (but for bodies with a repeating pattern).



The point derive feature can be found here:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/ad42d9d1532c5ea87446b1e8/w/2ed67f49f3f015638cdeb398/e/bfe56586fa6ae70539f185a4

My example VEX wrapper feature can be found here:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/6a4c34c32c5e682a7255943c/w/b0d6114e5fd1de57c398df5f/e/729d68c86586f8f213b69b4b?renderMode=0&uiState=6179827a18ba955d6910a9a5

Thanks, and I hope you find this useful!

MichaelPascoe

This something I have been wanting. Thanks for sharing @Alex_Kempen!

MichaelPascoe

@Alex_Kempen
I was having trouble getting the point manipulators to show. Is this because I'm deriving a multipart or composite studio?

Alex_Kempen

By default, the manipulators don't show until a location to derive in is selected. I could disable this behavior if it's undesired.

MichaelPascoe

That explains it. This is beautiful! Similar concept to what I was working on a while back, but this is even better. I still may release mine eventually, but not for now.

Yes, it would be more intuitive if the points showed up before you picked the first location. It also might be nice to have a text box stating "Select point manipulator" then display which point was selected. 

nick_papageorge073

Great work. I will try it out soon.

Axel_Kollmenter

@Alex_Kempen We use ur FS very often but now I got a "problem". I imported a custom sketchblock into a part via your feature. How can I scale it up or down? The usual transformtool does not work in this case. Maybe you can add a small imput field to the feature. Then you can type in % how big or small the imported file have to be.