Improvements to Onshape - September 14th 2016

mahir

Some greate updates. But I miss having the option to choose which side of the rib sketch to extrude.

chris_8

Chris,  

This is a powerful capability of Onshape, so let me try to add some comments that might help:

1. Creating a version allows you to mark a design at a "point in time." This version is immutable (it will not change), you can continue on with the journey and make additional changes and then create another version - think of it as "snapshotting."
2. Branching allows you to explore different variations of a design. You can branch the design yourself (think of it as concept A, concept B...) or you can branch the design to allow a colleague to work independently of your work. Of course, you can merge changes back.

Try watching this video to see if it helps:  https://www.onshape.com/videos/branching

Let me know what you think.

John

John,

First off:  Thanks for the reply and the suggestions.  If you're willing to delve into this I'm all for it.  It could get to be a long thread though, so maybe we should take it to a new topic?

My confusion with Branching begins at :34 in that video.  Why does the new yellow branch come out of the space in between the "Revision A" spot and the open white circle?  Looking closer, I think maybe the branch is intended to have a swoopy curvy beginning, but that swoopy curvy section is getting lost. It's blended in with the main branch, maybe?    Some branches appear to be stemming from a revision spot, while others appear to be coming from an ambiguous part of a trunk.  Here's an example from one of my documents:

Arcson

Excellent job with this update, the drawings are much more responsive. I don't have to wait to add notes, very happy with the optimization.

john_mceleney

@chris_8  Chris: perhaps we should have an offline discussion? But the reason the yellow line starts after revision A is that is the last saved state. What this means is that you could continue to model on the main branch and the version A branch will not see any of the changes. Similarly, you can model on the A branch and the main will not see the changes.

The open "0" on both the main and the rev A branch means that if you go to either branch you are working with the latest revision. Make sense? 

If not, send me an email at jmceleney <at> onshape <dot> com

John

coleman

@chris_8

I second what you are saying.  Branches & versions are confusing.  Its embarrassing to admit, but I do not understand branches and versions, therefore I do not use them. 

I am sure this a very powerful feature.  I have watched the video and webinar recording....still don't understand completely; I get lost in the cluster.  
Versions & branches are not for engineering change control but rather data version.  

If someone accidentally creates a version....how do you delete it?  


I suspect people do not use branches, versions and merging like onshape had thought we would.

It is a new concept.  

 https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/3656/how-do-you-personally-use-branching-merging-and-versions

3dcad

@coleman
I think things will be more clear (or total chaos) after we get configurations/variants in. Now we have to use document versions (or copies) for creating another configuration of model.

With Alibre file system if I had to test something out of existing assembly without braking the original, my workflow was:
1. Create copy of assembly
2. Create new configurations of parts and edit as needed
3. Edit assembly copy to use those new configurations
4. Do same for all sub-assemblies..

With Onshape same situation:
1. Create version to keep original model unchanged
2. Make changes as needed
3. Edit linked docs and create version after edit
4. Update links in main assembly

ps. You can't delete a version at the moment but Onshape is fully aware that we need to do so every now and then.

3dcad

@john_mceleney
Another thread for that version graph would be good, offline discussion can only benefit the participants.

ales_1

One of the best update after Onshape itself

fastwayjim

Fantastic list of updates again! Keep it up, OS!

fastwayjim

labern said:

Good start for meshes but keep the STL import features coming (Mesh to Solid)

I'm curious - What is the use case here? I feel like this is backwards. In my experience, if you want solid from mesh, it's usually a "reverse engineer" scenario, and in that case you'd want to use the mesh as a reference to rebuild a parametric ("perfect") CAD model.

owen_sparks

@fastwayjim
It'd be nice if there were an automatic "take a stab at making this parametric" option.  OK complicated things may fall outside the scope of this but say for an adapter plate with some holes in it it'd be nice to have a true solid built for the user.  We could then add some dimensions to move features etc.

I'm sure it'll often be easier to reverse engineer using the mesh just for reference.

Owen S.

ethan_1

That fishing reel model is sweet

tim_waldemer

Absolutely astonishing!  I work with meshes in Rhino all the time and now I can do it in Onshape.  You rock!!!

billy2

fastwayjim use case for mesh? Go buy a $300 scanner and bring the real world back into CAD. The use case is huge and exciting. I'll post some things I'm working on and show you the use case soon. You'll be buying a scanner soon.

peter_hall

That Mesh reference geometry looks very interesting. I feel certain it is a capability that will come in handy when dealing with pressings or car panels and fixture design around the curved parts. Ribs also a very useable feature. Only sheet metal and weldment environment now needed for this Cad package to tick all the boxes as a productive tool.