Improvements to Onshape - January 9th, 2026
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@SkillCoach that makes perfect sense, and you're right, this kind of thing in Move Face would be a good solution. Off the top of my head, the workaround (other than looking up the face angle of a dodecahedron and hard-coding it) would be to create some kind of geometry (like a sketch) and use the Measure Value custom feature to get the angle as a variable.
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I just noticed there is Measure command in drawings… and it has Dual Units!!
When can we get dual units in the Assemblies and Part Studios???
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I applaud for being able to import variables via CSV files. However, please let me know why I cannot import a variable that uses formulas referring to other variables. I created a simple CSV file with three variables. VarA is equal to "5", VarB is equal to "5", VarC is equal to "#VarA+#VarB".
I import the variable without assigning units. VarA and VarB import just fine, but VarC ends up as ="?+?" It will work if I create a new variable and write in the formula myself. However, if we are importing things in, might as well be able to do some basic formulas, as long as it is correctly written in.
Why can't a simple formula be imported? Or do I have incorrect syntax somewhere? Or is there a different kind of CSV file that need to be chosen (I picked the Comma Delimited option)?
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Pretty sure we should be able to evaluate5 + 5- could you share a document?Edit: oh, I see, you're importing the literal string
#VarA + #VarB. Yeah, we don't let the CSV drive the variable names we import into Onshape, so you'd have to manually syncVarAandVarBbetween the CSV and Onshape. I believe you may be able to do this with a custom feature, though.0 -
That's a real bummer. I thought that this variable input would be able to improve on my organization top-down design. Our current approach uses a Master Variable list of nearly 100 variables. It is easy enough to copy the list to create new product. However, my current gripe with the Master Variable list is that there is no way to organize the variables. Every time a new variable is added, it has to be done very carefully, so it is inserted in the correct order. Organizing an Excel file is much easier :)
Thank you.
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Simon, you are correct. I was incorrect in stating that there is no way to organize the Variable studio. When you have almost 100 variables listed in one table, and you can only drag one cell at a time, it becomes very cumbersome to add new variable or groups of variables and to make sure that they were moved to the correct order.
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I've just handled this with a custom feature script.
It's only a few lines of code to import a CSV and dump it into the part studio.
But this allows you to organize and do arithmetic on the data before dumping into the part studio.
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Very true.
It is also possible to group variables in multiple variable studios or tables. This can keep them more organized and potentially cut down on the number that might get imported into other part studios.
Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn
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Here's the custom feature that @john_mcclary made that imports the whole CSV at once if you'd like to give it a whirl or even fork it and vibe code it for your needs. https://cad.onshape.com/documents/75dfbb9091b5bea038398789/v/2d6edbf047281ce828b3923f/e/97a921379d1437bdaef7fcdf?jumpToIndex=1095
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@EvanReese thanks for posting that
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just before serious discussion starts regarding the imminent onshape update , I take it you all read that fantastic onshape blog last week 😉
https://www.onshape.com/en/blog/future-joinery-systems-bridging-architecture-manufacturing-cloud-cad
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I hadn't seen that. Really nice work you all are doing!
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Awesome
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What happens when we finally get sheet metal loft? We'll have nothing to ask about in the monthly threads. I'll have to comb the diffs for something else.
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@bryan_lagrange Great poster!
I could watch that movie every three weeks. To bad its only a fantasy movie and its not based on real events 🥺
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@Derek_Van_Allen_BD after loft we talk about adding Fonts and etching in sheet metal. 😁
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@bryan_lagrange ,
Don't forget the 3D sketches or sketch blocks2 -
Sketch Blocks… yes. Let's have them this year.
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Would it be possible to have the automatic DXF export of the sheet metal flat pattern on Release even if we don't use Arena?
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