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Improvements to Onshape - May 17th, 2024
NeilCooke
Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,563 
This release is packed full of customer requested improvements and just really cool stuff. Check it out.
DOCUMENTS
MERGE LINES AND REALTIME UPDATES
The Versions and history panel now updates in real time as changes are made by anyone working in the Document, such as adding branches and versions. Merge lines can also be shown for a clear high-level overview of the development timeline.MERGE AND WORKSPACE UPDATES
Merging branches with different feature library versions has been completely reworked to be more efficient and more predictable.ADD COMMENTS TO COMMENT HISTORY
Comments can now be added to a Release or Task when viewing the comment history making it easier to follow an ongoing discussion.TRASH RETENTION PERIOD
For Onshape Enterprise customers, a new trash retention period of 90 days has been introduced. Any Documents that have been in the trash for 90 days or more will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored. For Onshape Professional and all other plans, the default 30 day retention period remains unchanged.PART STUDIOS
G3 CURVATURE FOR BRIDGING CURVES
A Bridging curve can now maintain G3 continuity with adjacent curves and surfaces to create smoother and higher quality geometry.THIN LOFT
The Loft feature now has a thin option.CURVE COLORS
Curves and Composite parts containing curves can now have appearances applied.PITCH AND THREAD CLASSES
Tapped holes now include their pitch classification (UNC, UNF, UNEF or UNEEF for Inch threads, Fine or Coarse for Metric threads) to make it easier to distinguish which type of fastener will be used. Also, Thread class is now optional for applications where this level of detail is not required.ASSEMBLIES
MATE CONNECTOR AT INSTANCE ORIGIN
Assembly Mate connectors can now be created at the origin of a Part or subassembly instance.EXPORT SELECTED PARTS AND STEP EXPORT UNITS
Multiple selected Parts can now be exported from an Assembly as a single file (so the part positions stay relative to the Assembly origin). The units of a STEP file can also be modified before export.DRAWINGS
DETAIL VIEW OF A DETAIL VIEW
To annotate small features or just to add more clarity to a Drawing, a Detail view can now be created of an existing Detail view.
INSPECTION TABLE CROSS-HIGHLIGHTING
The Inspection table in Drawings now highlights annotations on screen and vice versa.FEATURESCRIPT
NEW FUNCTIONS
Array functions:indexOf (container is array, value) returns number
- Return the index of the value in container, or -1 if the value is not found.
indexOf (container is array, value, startIndex is number) returns number
- Return the index of the value in container starting the search at a specified start index, or -1 if the value is not found.
insertElementAt (arr is array, index is number, value) returns array
- Returns an array with value inserted at index.
FULL TRIAD MANIPULATOR
A new manipulator with 6 degrees of freedom, similar to the drag manipulator in Assemblies, can now be added to custom features.RENDER STUDIO
INTEGRATED DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVED UI
Render Studio now has access to the full capabilities of Onshape's Versions and history including branch/merge and restore, plus a new, refreshed UI to make it easier than ever to use.MOBILE
BOM TABLES ON ANDROID
Assembly BOMs can now be accessed from the side panel on an Android device.COMMENT TAGGING ON ANDROID
A two finger tap now enables you to quickly add comments with geometry references.Please take a moment to try out these new features and improvements and leave your comments below. For a detailed list of all the changes in this update, please see the changelog.
Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
16
Comments
Update day is always great! Coloured edges is going to open up so many new opportunities.
I'm also liking all these new improvements to featurescript!
Custom FeatureScript and Onshape Integrated Applications
https://thesmoothcut.com/
Probably my top ones are the merge visualization and improvements and I can't wait to try out the new Render studio interface! Curve colors are also going to be helpful. I'm sure the MC at origin option will come in handy as well.
I'm going to have to re-assess my entire workflow.
-I haven't utilised the power of version control and really need to start, this give me a great excuse.
-Mate connector instance origin would have saved me time in the past. Excelent feature.
-Export selected parts from assembly just makes way more sense for my workflow!
-Detail of a Detail FINALLY! I've been suprised not being able to do this in the past.
-Great to know the 6D manipulator and Featurescript improvements await.
-Render studio suddenly makes so much more sense, I may even be able to justify using it more often.
Thank you so much!
More can be done with categorising dockuments and naming convention docs and part numbers.
I have problems find names for docs. and part. Bracket (fäste) and plate (plåt) stands for 30% in oure 30000 articles. And internationally there is 250 different languages. Considering that a number convention might be better.
Anybody else out there need a better sheet metal module, or is it only me?
So happy for merge lines, instance origin in assemblies, fine/course thread callout, and render studio updates.
But you're still missing the option to export multiple parts as step/parasolid files as individual files!
every time I release for manufacturing, I have 50 to 100 or so parts I need to export to step, one at a time, for laser / CNC / 3Dprint....
Let's hope we get this in the next update, pretty please!
Is there a way to get rid of unused materials (or just delete them to get back to the "default")? It seems every time you assign a material it adds an entry it adds an entry in the list so that it just gets longer and longer as you experiment with different appearances
If your willing to use a free account of retool, I would be willing to setup a little tool that would allow you to do that and customize the naming of the files. We do just what you are wanting to do using retool mainly because the parts within the step file when exported as a single step, do not contain the part number in the file name but just the part name.
Render Studio is starting to be more usable, still would like to feel it fully function like Onshape though, for example it should retain the mouse settings from Onshape, currently spin view speed is much higher in Render Studio than in Onshape for me.
MATE CONNECTOR AT INSTANCE ORIGIN!
This is going to be a huge timesaver! Thanks onshape!In terms of appearance assignment, in general if you are assigning the same appearance to multiple things you should first assign it to something and then assign the newly created appearance by dragging and dropping from the appearance in the scene graph rather than the library. That way new appearances will not be created beyond the initial one.
Of course there may be situations in which you want multiple appearances based on the same appearance from the library but edited which is why the library is setup the way it is. The appearances in the scene graph were what was previously in the "Scene appearances" folder in the library which made less sense since it was mixing library and non-library appearances together.
I used to have issues with mouse sensitivity as well, until I realized that the solution was right in front of me...
Logitech G305. Not only is it RF based, which means rock solid connectivity (unlike Bluetooth mice), but it has a neat little button right behind the scroll wheel, and each press lets you switch between one of five customizable DPI speeds.
It is a game changer.
Personally I always have the dpi maxed out.
I've been waiting for colored curves so long, this would make part creation so much better and add more clarity in design process. Seeing the colored sketches, I knew it will be just a short time before we get the colored curves as well. Now it would be really cool to have in the appearance menu also an option to select thickness and type (dashed, dotted...) of curves.
When will a robust multi-assembly management system, free of "floating parts in space," be implemented in Onshape? This enhancement is crucial for professional and manageable workflows in large projects.
Currently, each assembly and sub-assembly should have its own couplings:
The practice of grouping couplings is neither professional nor manageable for large-scale projects. This is not a matter of familiarity with SolidWorks, Inventor, or other software—I have over a decade of experience with all of them. This method is a fundamental principle outlined in every mechanical engineering textbook. Alternatives are merely hobby-level workarounds, undermining the otherwise excellent work you have done.
Please prioritize the solution of this BUG (I would not call it a feature or else it's just a big conceptual error)
Remove an appearance +1
Another nice to have; allowing saved selection sets so that is easier to apply and try different appearances. My assembly tree currently comes in out of order so I'm not able to use my organization there for this. Support number #351309
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