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IMPROVEMENTS TO ONSHAPE - JANUARY 30th, 2026

Roy_MutalikRoy_Mutalik Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 41 image
edited January 30 in New in Onshape
Welcome to the new release! We're excited to share with you several different improvements spanning drawings, part and assembly analysis, and rendering - as well as a highly-anticipated sheet metal capability. Let's jump right in.

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

SHEET METAL LOFT

You can now create complex sheet metal parts by connecting two open or closed profiles. Lofted sheet metal parts automatically generate a flat pattern, and have full compatibility with other sheet metal operations such as flanges and cuts—plus support for multi-body workflows and merging lofted bends together.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/196ooy9zcu


SURFACE DEVIATION 

A new Surface deviation option is available in the Deviation analysis tool. Surface deviation compares two surfaces and reports the minimum and maximum deviation to verify fit and identify discrepancies. A color‑mapped display highlights areas within or outside specified limits, with options to adjust visualization settings and show extreme values. The tool extends Onshape’s curve deviation workflow to full surfaces, providing detailed insight into tolerance‑sensitive regions.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/xuqnkinex2


REFLECTION ANALYSIS

A new Reflection analysis tool is available, which renders your model with a reflective material and an environment map.
 
https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/tp5175r2oe


GRAPHICS PREFERENCES - AMBIENT OCCLUSION, TANGENT EDGES, MESH EDGES

More Graphics preferences have been added to customize ambient occlusion intensity for shadow effects, adjust phantom tangent edge width and color for clearer visualization, and control mesh line width.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/jfhn3zunow


TOUCH INPUT SUPPORT FOR BROWSER CLIENTS

Onshape now features native touch support for tablets and touch-enabled devices like a Microsoft Surface tablet. Use intuitive finger gestures to interact with your 3D models—single-finger rotation, two-finger panning and pinch-to-zoom, plus two-finger rotation and selection box creation.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/y2pmltdizk


IMPORT/EXPORT IMPROVEMENTS - 2026 SUPPORT

Onshape now supports the import of several new 2026 version-year files:
  • SOLIDWORKS 2026
  • CATIA V6 2026x
  • Solid Edge 2026
  • NX 2512 Series (until 2512.1700)

DRAWING IMPROVEMENTS

DEFAULT VIEW STYLES FOR NEW VIEWS

Onshape now allows users and organizations to define drawing view default styles. This includes Hidden Lines, Tangent Edges, Threads, Centermarks, Centerlines, Bend Lines, Bend Notes, and View Simplification settings. This saves users time creating drawings and allows organizations to better standardize drawing display.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/2efi3ena2f


DRAWING NOTES - START NUMBERING OR LETTERING

Individual numbered lists can now be created within the same note. You can modify the number of any item in the numbered list, and the numbered sequence will update for that value for each item after it. Different numbering schemes can also be used for each list to categorize or group notes for company-specific procedures.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/q9c32iftoe


AUTO CENTERMARK GENERATION - PERFORMANCE

Drawing performance is improved for drawings that contain a high number of automatically generated centermarks. Centermarks now more intelligently determine when they need to be updated, eliminating the need for unnecessary regenerations.

ONSHAPE FOR GOVERNMENT

THICKNESS ANALYSIS

Onshape Government Enterprise now includes the Thickness Analysis tool. This tool is identical to the one already available in Onshape commercial licenses, it has now been enabled for use in Government Enterprise environments as well. 

Onshape's Thickness Analysis helps users assess manufacturability by evaluating wall thickness in parts. 
It supports both rolling‑ball and ray‑based methods to identify thickness variations. The analysis runs in the cloud and integrates directly into existing Onshape workflows, enabling users to inspect and adjust designs for manufacturing requirements.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/e598631xgi


RENDER STUDIO IMPROVEMENTS

COSMETIC THREADS

Cosmetic threads on shaft and hole features now appear automatically in Render Studio. Insert a Part Studio or Assembly and threads are already present, updating automatically as appearances are applied.
https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/oosf0lpu9m


PREVIOUS VIEW

You can easily undo a view rotation and quickly return to your previous view orientation with a Previous view option in the View tools.
https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/e6f907jlgw


AUTOMATIC MODEL SIZE ADJUSTMENT WHEN ADJUSTING CAMERA

Adjusting Field of view or Focal length changes scene perspective, not model size. The model remains roughly the same pixel size while the surrounding perspective shifts, creating the effect of a wider or narrower camera lens without scaling or repositioning the subject.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/pephb98nf4


SELECTABLE AND TRANSFORMABLE VOLUMES

Render Studio Advanced now supports transforming volume entities like smoke and fog. Use translate, rotate, and scale functions to precisely position and adjust volumetric effects in your scenes.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/guyoce8yrh


APPEARANCE MASK

Render Studio Advanced now supports appearance masks for downstream image editing. When enabled during render, Onshape outputs the original beauty render, and a high-contrast appearance mask as separate tabs or downloads, making it easy to create selections and layer-based edits in tools like Adobe Photoshop without re-rendering.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/or5fpehfpe




Please take a moment to try out these new features and improvements and leave your comments below. For a detailed list of all the changes in this update, please see the changelog.

Remember: The updates listed here are now live for all users when creating new Documents. Over the next few days, these features will also be available in Documents created before this update.  Mobile app interface updates occur via the Apple App store or Google Play store and happen in the days following the update.

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