Why No Boolean 'Keep Tools' in Union and Only in Subtraction Operations?

larry_hawes

This may be pretty simple but I just experimented with Boolean operations and was wondering why Boolean 'Subtract' has a 'keep tools' option and Boolean 'Union' does not? And why the super obscure 'Tools' nomenclature? Is that something everyone but me inherently understands? Couldn't there be a simpler way to note "subtract 'this' from 'this' with the thises (yes thises is a word) being parts, faces, etc.?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axyw74NA8cA

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e4bbfb883fe6d1accc1d0b48/w/f969ce59832bec16e4489dbb/e/df22ba51f0ba3b24b12d8f0c

philip_thomas

Well Larry

After a quick chat with the implicated parties, I would offer up the following....

There are no hard-and-fast-rules as to how to go about performing booleans in CAD - in fact, as you have probably noticed, ours are different!
Ours are far more resilient and behave slightly differently than most CAD systems (main difference: its ok if the end result is 'n' bodies and ok if the result is a null set (most CAD systems fail if the end result is anything other than a single body)).

In light of the absence of rules and the fact that we are clearly doing our own thing;

• A tool is something that (could) change a target.
• There can be multiple tools.
• Where tools can be consumed, we offer the option to 'keep tools'.
• In a boolean union, all parts are 'targets' (the things that can change) and therefore 'keep tools' would not be appropriate.

If you really need to have the 'before' state, feel free to perform a transform/copy-in-place first.

I hope this helps

larry_hawes

I think after using the Boolean Tool for a bit I can adjust to its logic and even its obscure terms but it takes some effort. Not that learning software shouldn't take any effort but I find the terminology quite arcane and confusing. The more I think about it though I'm not sure what changing the terms would do to help. It will still take some study to learn the tool no matter what the labels are and I see your point re: Union and keeping Tools - wouldn't work, as you suggest - unless there were another option to select which of the potentially many tools in the Union operation to keep...hmmm. Nah never mind. Keep up the good work.

philip_thomas

Larry  - we appreciate your open-mindedness, but are always open to suggestions to make Onshape better

owen_sparks

philip_thomas said:

(we)  are always open to suggestions to make Onshape better

A capital s?

larry_hawes

owen_sparks said:

philip_thomas said:

(we)  are always open to suggestions to make Onshape better

A capital s?

tough crowd..........