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Custom Feature: Design Intent

DavisParker
DavisParker OS Professional Posts: 16 ✭✭
in FeatureScript

During design reviews I am often asking or being questioned as to why a model was formed the way it was. Usually the answer is in someone's head or personal notes and lacking from any formal documentation. If it is in documentation, then it is likely far from the CAD (unless you keep that in Onshape somehow) and took a long time to do properly.

I wrote this custom feature to allow designers to link their thoughts and decisions right where the geometry is being created. I think it is a good practice especially if other people are looking at your models or you are taking long breaks from them. This feature combined with folders could really make for a highly concise feature tree.
 

The feature itself does nothing. You could actually replicate this using comments if you're OK with one linked object at a time. I see comments as more of a temporary communication tool rather than something that lives with the model. I think the next step in this journey is keeping design notes right in the document as a rendered markdown tab.

I hope this feature fits into other user's workflows as well and please let me know any improvements you suggest.
Tagged:

Comments

  • MichaelPascoe
    MichaelPascoe Member Posts: 2,944 PRO

    Brilliant! @DavisCCR


    RENDERCAD
    rendercad.ai - Photorealistic product rendering.

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  • nick_papageorge_dayjob
    nick_papageorge_dayjob Member, csevp Posts: 1,257 PRO
    Wow that's a great idea. I could never figure out the built-in notes myself.
  • DavisParker
    DavisParker OS Professional Posts: 16 ✭✭

    If anyone is still using this I suggest moving to this one insteadhttps://cad.onshape.com/documents/afc74bf7462dbbdaf38eec8d/w/ef9a0f17f6e2e3b88b6a4ec5/e/856bb8c77f61f7ec3699d5fa.

  • martin_kopplow
    martin_kopplow Member Posts: 1,611 PRO

    Ooops!? I did not even know about it's existence. I like it, though. Shouldn't the DI note be an optional part of EVERY feature in the tree? That would make sense to me.

  • wille_j
    wille_j Member Posts: 118 ✭✭✭

    This is a great feature! Around the same time I had the exact same idea, sadly I can’t share it. I did find writing the design intent into a custom table too was useful, meant the information was accessible in table form on the right hand side, with querys added to the custom tables they also cross-highlight.

    Totally agree a comment/design intent should be an optional field to all native features, akin to programming in-line comments. nTop actually has a neat way comments are added as balloons above the features/variables, see picture. I'm sure Onshape can put together something super polished, would be pretty on top of folders and all features alike in the feature three and assembly instance lists!

    The new document notes tab is a good step in the right direction, but it's too broad. It's not able to capture the in-depth design intent of individual features.

    image.png
  • jelte_steur_info
    jelte_steur_info Member Posts: 676 PRO

    FYI:
    I've found this only after i programmed this alternative:

    Feature tree note
    it allows tagging of geometry as well as features by now.

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