Mobile Sections !?!

S1mon

I work on consumer products, not machined brackets. The exteriors are usually drafted, or have swoopy surfaces. There often aren't any simple rectangular outside things to pick for cross sections, or they aren't normal to the default X,Y,Z axes. 

So not only are sections difficult to use in assemblies without extra preparation (adding sketches, or mate connectors), but they're even more difficult on mobile. On the desktop I can select a cylindrical object, and hit section view and get something useful. Mobile says nope.

I realize that it's against the Onshape religion to add datum planes to assemblies, but the amount of extra work required to be able to take sections is insane. It's really user hostile.

S1mon

Related improvement request:
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/16948/cross-section-through-origin-by-default

Note that when I wrote this improvement request, I didn't realize that mobile is even more crippled than desktop when it comes to picking cylinders and cones as section references.

S1mon

Cross posted from the improvement request:

Here's a simple example of an injection molded toy (not a real product, but representative of something that could be). 



I challenge anyone to take any cross section of the assembly on mobile, especially the most obvious one that you'd want to do - through the mid (mirror) plane of the toy. 

On desktop, if you use the cylindrical or conical selections, you can at least pick something, but you have to spin from the default view, select an axle (or some of the conic parts of the wheel) and then rotate/move the section around to get the mid-plane.

steve_shubin

S1mon said:

I challenge anyone to take ANY cross section of the assembly on mobile

I’m still a little foggy in the brain. I know it’s late but I still haven’t had my 1st cup of coffee yet
I’m trying to figure out all the rules of this game here. So I don’t know if this is good enough
I am probably breaking one rule or another, but here’s one way you could do it.

S1mon

@steve_shubin

Ah you got me. I meant to not leave any flat surfaces. I just fixed that (see V2 or Main). Now it's not possible on mobile.

The real point is that if I share this file with a lot of people, they're not going to find that. They certainly can't get exactly to the mid-plane without knowing a lot about Onshape.

I was recently working on a project with a colleague with 40+ years of experience in product design/engineering. He's on countless patents, launched a ton of injection molding tools, etc. He's not really a CAD guy, but he can use eDrawings. If I shared this document, he'd be stuck. If I had added mate connectors or a sketch, I could make it work with some education, but it's really not ideal. I ended up just sending STEP files so he could do additional DFM review in eDrawings.

eric_pesty

I have barely used mobile and didn't realize it doesn't support cylindrical surface selection, but even then there would be cases where there is nothing obvious...
Even just a basic default to a "front plane" section if nothing is pre-selected would go a long way, you would still have to adjust with the manipulators as needed but at least you would have a starting point...

steve_shubin

@S1mon

Yeah. I know you were trying to avoid that. But I thought I’d have a little fun to see if I could find that one little chink in the armor

But I see what you’re talking about

You mentioned about creating the section IN ASSEMBLY.

So the only easy and relatively fast way I can think of right now — after my 1st cup of coffee — is by adding the mate in part studio, to do the section in assembly

But like you said — people like your friend, are most likely not gonna be able to figure that one out

steve_shubin

@S1mon

so the coffee is kicking in a little bit more

I could just as easily insert that mate while in assembly

S1mon

Yep, for myself right now, mate connectors are the best way to do this for CAD users.

With the link share option where the other person gets the view-only toolbar, there really needs to be some simple affordance for picking section planes. And if someone is on mobile it needs to be easier too.

steve_shubin

@S1mon

Yeah

I hear what you’re saying and I agree

I wish I could have planes in assembly

I also wish I could insert sketches in assembly on mobile

steve_shubin

By the way for any interested. I played around with this some more

So above I showed a section along the length that ran right through the origin

But what if I wanted to have a section cutting ACROSS along the X and going right through origin ?

well then I could resort to one of my favorite tools. Multimate connector

steve_shubin

@S1mon

Your toy car was reminding me of something and I finally put it together

buick grand national

https://wallup.net/1987-buick-regal-j47-grand-national-gnx-coupe-muscle-6/

as I understand it, those Grand Nationals used to be a pretty doggone hot car

Cory_Marty

So many problems can be fixed with having origin planes in an assembly, this being another one.