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Hide/Show vs Isolate or Make Transparent
This video from Onshape about some very basic functionality showed up on Youtube today:
What is really disturbing to me is how one of the fundamental differences between Hide/Show, Isolate, and Make Transparent is completely left out. Hide/Show is persistent and affects all users looking at the same workspace, or loading/reloading that workspace. Isolate or Make Transparent are temporary (active as long as the dialog is open) and are per user/workspace. (Hide/Show is not persistent when reloading Versions)
In my mind, Hide/Show should be used very carefully. Since they do not affect the BOM, but they do affect what other users see, they can be dangerous in a multi-user environment. They can lead to misleading models. Why is a bunch of stuff "missing"? - "oh it's just hidden." Why did another engineer Hide a part? What did they mean? Did they just forget to leave things in a good known state? If I "show all parts", is that always the correct state of an assembly? At the bare minimum, Hide/Show is very distracting with multiple users working in the same workspace. Parts randomly disappear and reappear as you're trying to work.
What compounds this frustration is that the ways of adding to or reducing the parts affected by Hide/Show and Isolate or Make Transparent are also completely different. Hide/Show states of large assemblies can be toggled in infinite combinations, and you can continue to Hide or Show parts all day - adding or removing parts from view. Isolate or Make transparent either has to be turned off and parts reselected, or you can use the slider to go by connectivity (or distance). There's no quick way to add/remove a specific part from the Isolate (or Make transparent) states.
In my mind, Hide/Show should be used very carefully. Since they do not affect the BOM, but they do affect what other users see, they can be dangerous in a multi-user environment. They can lead to misleading models. Why is a bunch of stuff "missing"? - "oh it's just hidden." Why did another engineer Hide a part? What did they mean? Did they just forget to leave things in a good known state? If I "show all parts", is that always the correct state of an assembly? At the bare minimum, Hide/Show is very distracting with multiple users working in the same workspace. Parts randomly disappear and reappear as you're trying to work.
What compounds this frustration is that the ways of adding to or reducing the parts affected by Hide/Show and Isolate or Make Transparent are also completely different. Hide/Show states of large assemblies can be toggled in infinite combinations, and you can continue to Hide or Show parts all day - adding or removing parts from view. Isolate or Make transparent either has to be turned off and parts reselected, or you can use the slider to go by connectivity (or distance). There's no quick way to add/remove a specific part from the Isolate (or Make transparent) states.
I realize that not every quick video can fully explain every feature, but these distinctions definitely tripped me up when learning Onshape. They still seem frustrating and like they were designed by different teams.
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