Welcome to the Onshape forum! Ask questions and join in the discussions about everything Onshape.
First time visiting? Here are some places to start:- Looking for a certain topic? Check out the categories filter or use Search (upper right).
- Need support? Ask a question to our Community Support category.
- Please submit support tickets for bugs but you can request improvements in the Product Feedback category.
- Be respectful, on topic and if you see a problem, Flag it.
If you would like to contact our Community Manager personally, feel free to send a private message or an email.
Saving an OnShape file for sharing
harry_keith
Member Posts: 5 ✭
I have really become proficient (as an amateur!) in OS. I've made dozens of designs, some rather complicated, for 3D printing (both 3D printing and OS are new to me in the last year).
I'm also a "sharer." I like others to benefit from my work. So I've started uploading my 3D designs to various sites. I can share the design as a STL or STEP, both of which are helpful to future users. The STEP is even somewhat editable (I've successfully imported STEP files from others, and edited them — but it is not overly robust).
But I want to share the "source." The actual design. So that another user can say "Nice, but my mounting pipe is 2-inch, not 1.5." Or "This would be nice with 3 pins, not 2." I've been providing links to my OnShape source — but that restricts me horribly. I can't move stuff around (I tend to organize related part studios in a single workspace — and then reorganize as they grow - so for instance, I have one for "garden stuff" and one for "boat stuff"), modify it, delete it, or anything, without breaking the links. I assume anyone reading this post can find my files — go ahead and take a peek.
I'd love to be able to take a workspace and save it. I know I can do that in numerous formats (STEP and STL, for starters). My question is which is the "best, most universal." I'd like to be able to save a file, then upload it with my 3D model. Someone else, in 5 years, can download it, open it in whatever package he uses, and begin modifications. The vast majority of my designs exists in a single part studio, so an ideal process would be to click the part studio tab and select export.
What's the best, most universal format to save a part studio?
Answers
That's a big question!
What file format will be most useful in five years time!
The future is uncertain :)
The best way to share an Onshape model…share a link to the public document! Then it can be copied, altered and exported in the latest file format!
STL is a waste of disk space. Don't share that format. Share STEP format instead if you want an actual file to share.
Otherwise, sharing a link is definitely the OS way.
A link to the public document is the best way to share it — but I don't want to have management responsibility. I want to be able to completely change it for another purpose, I want to rename it for my own sanity, I want to be able to move it into another document for organization reasons. And maybe I just don't need it anymore, and want to delete it. Perhaps I don't understand file management in OS yet, and I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. But already, I'm finding I can't find a design I worked on a few months back, so I'm struggling.
Linking to OS also requires that the new user be an OS user. I'm not entirely sure they can even just look at it without an account. And they have to learn OS to do anything.
Imagine someone saying to you, "here's just what you need. You need to tweak a few things, but I spent 80 hours doing this and you are welcome to it. Here's my Solidworks file (or Fusion, or whatever), you're welcome." Would you be able to use that? Or would you start over from scratch, and spend a week or two to get what was already almost done?
Yes, the future is uncertain. I fear for my entire photographic record sitting in Google, waiting for them to go bankrupt. I have DVD's with files on them I want to keep, but no longer own anything that will read a DVD. But I'm still putting up designs for people to share, and I do hope they will be useful for at least a few years. I routinely find posts online from a decade or two ago with DOC, PDF, JPG, and other file formats that I fortunately can still open.
This is what you want.
Tech Tip: How to Create and Share Publications in Onshape
Publicly viewable, read only, snapshot.
That might work, but it's not available for "Free" users, just the paid levels.
The truth of the matter is your design is not that important. I don't mean only you personally, but me, and everyone else too. It doesn't need to live forever. It's simply not relevant forever.
All of the design sharing sites use files. STEP is the only choice that makes sense there. STL should be banned from sharing, IMO. In the description, add the OS link if you like.
It's not your responsibility to train future downloaders on how to use cad. You share a neutral format (STEP), and they can then do as they please with it in their CAD software of choice. If they are an OS user, they may choose to use your OS link instead.
On your end, for documents that you DO share with a link, you should be making a version called "shared public link" and sharing the link to that version. Then you can do anything after that you like within the document, and if someone clicks on the link 5 years later, the document will look as you shared it.
You can move your document within your account, and the link will still work. The only thing you can't do is delete your document. Perhaps add the word "shared" in the document name to remind yourself not to delete it.