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Improvements to Onshape - August 12th, 2024
NeilCooke
Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,642 
Onshape delivers new updates every three weeks, but some of these projects take months to complete and it's exciting when we can finally reveal what we've been working on. Starting with my favorite...
CONFIGURATIONS
EXCLUDE FROM PROPERTIES
A new Configuration input option, Exclude from properties, ignores an input for the purposes of BOMs and Release Management. This is useful for flexible parts like seals, springs, and belts where the Part number and Part count do not change based on how the part is used in the assembly.VERSIONS AND HISTORY
SELECTIVE RESTORE
Individual tabs or the entire document may now be restored to a branch.IMPROVED BRANCH NAVIGATION
Tooltips and context menus make branch navigation simple.VISUAL CUES FOR ONSHAPE SUPPORT
An Onshape logo now appears next to any branches modified by Onshape Support. The Documents page also shows the same logo in the Modified by column if any branches within the Document were last modified by support. For Enterprise customers this behavior is present in the activity feed.SKETCH
MIDPOINT LINE
A symmetric line entity can now be easily created by selecting a midpoint first, then dragging the extent of the line in one direction.ASSEMBLIES
DEFAULT TYPE FOR BOM TEMPLATES
Set a BOM template’s default to either Structured or Flattened view. This setting can be overridden by the user in the Assembly BOM.NAMED POSITION MATE LIMIT WARNING
If a Named position places a Mate outside of its defined limits, a new error message highlights the issue immediately, before trying and failing to apply the Named position.DRAWINGS
DATUM SYMBOLS ON RADIUS AND DIAMETER DIMENSIONS
Datum symbols can now be attached directly to the leader line of a radius or diameter dimension.HORIZONTAL TEXT JUSTIFICATION
A new option in the Drawing properties panel controls the justification of dimension text.ATTACH GEOMETRIC TOLERANCE TO FACES
Geometric tolerance feature control frames now support region references (part faces) in drawings. By default, the leader's attachment point is a dot, but it can be changed to an arrowhead in the Styles panel.INSPECTION PANEL AUTO-SCROLL
The Inspection panel now scrolls the selected dimension or annotation into view for easier access and navigation.EXCLUDE CALLOUTS
Automatic inspection items are added to callouts by default. This behavior can now be prevented with a new Drawing property to Exclude callouts.FOLDERS
CONTEXT MENU FOR OPEN FOLDERS
The context menu for a folder on the Documents page can now be accessed while inside the folder by right-clicking the folder name in the breadcrumbs at the top.FEATURESCRIPT
IMPORT TEXT FILE
Text files uploaded to an element within a Document can now be imported and parsed in a custom feature, following the standard BLOB data import syntax. Imported text file size is limited to 100KB.<namespace>::import(); ... println(<namespace>::BLOB_DATA.textData);
VECTOR EVALUATION PERFORMANCE
Vector expression evaluation gets a performance boost.RENDER STUDIO
IMPROVED VIEWPORT INTERACTION
For faster interactive viewport performance, shadows are removed and rendering is simplified when zooming, panning, and rotating a model.UNASSIGN APPEARANCE FROM ELEMENT
Unassign appearances from individual or multiple parts or faces.DELETE INDIVIDUAL APPEARANCES
Individually delete unused appearances.BACKGROUND FIT IN RENDER PREVIEW
Background images set to Fill now fill the preview window in the Render scene dialog while maintaining the correct aspect ratio.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
14
Comments
Render studio appearance management should really help clean things up to. And some more "quality of life" stuff (like the midpoint line)!
Was hoping to see some sheet metal stuff but judging from the changelog it looks like there were/are still a bunch of bugs so probably wise to iron these out before adding new functions!
Version & history I'm using a lot and it's getting really good, I merged a tab a couple of days ago and didn't realize it was a new feature
Midpoint line I love that, everything's symmetrical in this world and it's going to be a real time saver. I did check, construction mid-lines work. Using it a lot, it would be nice to bind it to the keyboard for rapid access.
Feature script vector math, I didn't realize it was slow, will create a cable and will check for improvement
This was a really good release, thanks
Thanks to the hard working team at Onshape for another great update.
There were a bunch of improvement tickets all trying to solve this issue, and it's really nice to see how this has worked out in this release.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/18762/remove-configuration-input-dependency-from-configured-properties
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/20190/configuration-merge-for-release-management
How long until we get truly flexible parts? Oh, and what about nail-board versions of wires/cabling?
Thanks an incredible amount!
"Exclude from Properties" is a great and welcome improvement! Now I can get rid of my workarounds
That "Squeeze" FeatureScript you use for the o-rings looks very interesting, is this public?
Lots of other really good stuff in here, keep it up Onshape.
What? It's already available on all our licences without installing anything? 😮
More seriously, GREAT release! Really... 👏
Automatic Horizontal Text Justification is going to save me a lot of time. I've always been anal about this.
These are all major quality of life improvements.
Thank you Onshape team
I tried to download it starting 8/8
The SW site won't let me log in because it doesn't think I have an account. (Who F*ing cares... I have a serial number, just give me the DL!!)
So, I had to contact our distributor, thankfully they have a download page with the latest service packs that they hold on to. (only up to 2024SP3 currently)
My plan was to just go to 2025 and be done with it for a couple years, since we only use it part time now
But now my problem is I have a new employee starting soon, and I still can't log in to manage the licenses. They have been "trying" to give me access this whole time, filling my email inbox with dozens of notifications from the DSx system (so obviously my account is somewhat active)
every link they send me ends up with me repeating this same error to support:
All I want to do is transfer my license (I'm un-install SW for good finially!) to the new guy. He starts soon, but his first 3 projects are all SW re-release jobs to get him acclimated with our drawing structure, while he learns Onshape in the mean time.
Right now, it is a race between SW support and his start date. He may have nothing to do at this rate...
F SolidWorks
Exclude from properties only works on PartStudios not assemblies.
That sucks! assemblies are where I need this more often.
When will this be extended to Assemblies?
I'm sure it's just a matter of time and an "artifact" of agile development.
Maybe it was even supposed to be included but they ran into issues during testing on Friday which delayed the release to Monday (I'm just making stuff up obviously but that's my very rough understanding of how they operate)!
Thanks!
One possible situation is one I struggled with a lot at my last position - how to manage multiple colorways for a product. Some would argue that this should be done with different part numbers for each colorway, others use variants, which could be done as a "dash number" (e.g. <part number>-<variant>). I've also seen colorways managed more at the PLM level, and then the CAD model wouldn't want to be burdened with new part numbers, but we might want to have the ability to configure the assembly to show how the colorway would look.
The other common thing I could see is having an assembly with a flexible part (e.g. a spring) that needs to be shown in two (or more) positions. These positions wouldn't be done with Named Positions since configs (with exclude from properties) would need to be swapped for the different amounts of compression/extension of the springs. The positions would need to use configs (at least until there are true flexible parts like in some other CAD systems), and we wouldn't want there to be new part numbers for them.
Like @S1mon says, one common use case is an assembly shown with a door open or closed where some parts are flexible so named positions don't cut it. With "exclude from properties" the parts don't show as different items anymore which is great.
There might also be sub-assemblies that are affected in the same way like an OTS component that can be in two different positions, a limit switch for example. Even if named positions could work for this, if you need a separate "door closed" and "door open" config, you want to include the switch position in the config (not have to also pick a named position).
Another use case is when you have a top level assembly that can be assembled in different ways: for example a reversible bracket that the customer can install one way or another (or when a part is installed a specific way during shipping and gets re-positioned for installation). It's still the same assembly and part number but requires different configurations.
As far as the release is concerned, the process shouldn't be different from parts with excluded properties. A warning in the release dialogue would be a good idea if that's not already there (haven't tried that yet...).
Maybe a related question: does a part released with excluded properties allow switching its config in the released state (i.e. effectively releases all the config permutations as one PN) or does it only release the "Default"? I could see how this could be an issue if only the "default" is released...
When you have one cyl extended and one retracted etc. Then you end up with duplicate rows on the bom
With sensors, we have sub assemblies with swivel brackets, sometimes you need to flip the swivel around to get a different angle. So today we have to make a whole assembly just for this. I'd like to just configure that since it is all the same parts, just assembled one part upside down.
I released a test assembly with a part with an "excluded" config variable:
- I was able to release them as one part number/item as expected
- However if I want to insert a new instance of the released part I can only pick the default with no option to change the "excluded" value
And I can't change the config of the ones already in the assembly.
Basically the release only "creates" the permutations of configurations that were explicitly in the release but only the default is "accessible" after that.
We need to be able to change any of the "excluded" properties of a released part after the fact (since we've decided they are all the same part number anyway)...
I think this might also resolve the questions about sub-assembly behavior?
EDIT:
I found a workaround of sorts: insert the part with the excluded property from the workspace (or version should work as well presumably) and set the config to what you want. You can then "change to version" and pick the released version and you end it adds one count to the BOM row for that part.
See example: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d2d3382aa18189471db96624/w/bfdb4819bc7e743e462a92ad/e/6f9f5e6d135f553ea7e3a3df?configuration=default&bomType=flattened&renderMode=0&tangentEdgeStyle=1&rightPanel=BOMPanel&uiState=66bbadc0de9c134b5f7663bd
The good news is that this shows it's technically possible to "add" new permutations after the fact already, all we need is the UI to allow it! i.e. allow "change configuration" in the context menu for released parts with excluded properties and show the excluded config inputs in the list when instances are selected through "Configure assembly features".
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In addition to what @S1mon and @eric_pesty mention, we also tend to use configurations in assemblies to hide(suppress) different components. Fasteners, complex OTS parts, etc. Excluding these configurations from affacting BOM would also be great. I know using configuration to hide parts is not best practice, but currently this method is more user friendly than the Display state dialogue.
Another point is assemblies of linked parts, like e-chains or roller chains, where the different positions of the chain are controlled by suppressing and unsuppressing parts. Especially in bends and loops.
I can see that excluding configurations controlling suppressions is more difficult in terms of what to show in the BOM. But if we at least could have the "Set Default" functionality from the video above, then we would not have to worry about the suppression configurations being in the wrong state during release.