Improvements to Onshape - May 11th, 2020

NeilCooke · May 2020

The last time I was let loose on a What's New forum post was over 2 years ago – that's 37 updates! So without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to present Onshape - Release 1.113:

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

CREATING AND RENAMING DOCUMENTS

New Documents can now be created directly from your browser's address bar using the new, unique URL: cad.new

Google has created a new top-level domain name extension called .new exclusively for performing new actions online. Onshape has registered the domain name cad.new for your convenience as a quick and memorable shortcut to create new Documents without having to go to the Documents page first.

You can also perform the same action using the longer URL: cad.onshape.com/new. Documents can be named before they are created using the URL pattern: cad.onshape.com/new?name=<docname>, so to create a Document called "Library Parts", using standard URL notation, enter cad.onshape.com/new?name=Library%20Parts. This capability is currently not available in Onshape Enterprise due to the use of custom domain names.

Once a Document has been created it can be renamed by simply clicking on the Document title and entering a new name – this works on any open Document to make Document renaming much faster.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/njlrmd8usm?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

HIDE ALL CONSTRUCTION GEOMETRY

Modeling can be a messy business with Origins, Planes, Sketches, Curves, Mates, Mate Connectors and Derived construction geometry cluttering up your view. So a new keyboard shortcut, Shift + P, has been added to hide all these construction types to leave you with solid and surface geometry only. This also works in Assemblies, hiding all construction geometry in subassemblies at the same time. Note: there is no equivalent Show All because who would want to do that?

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/zoiq3ndg2w?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

DIMENSION PALETTE IMPROVEMENTS

Radial dimensions can now be converted into Diameter dimensions and vice versa via a dedicated button on the Dimension Palette. Note-style Chamfer dimensions can also now be customized with the usual options available in the Dimension Palette.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/822mh3yu0v?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

MULTIPLE HOLE CALLOUT LEADERS AND NODES

Hole Callouts can now have multiple leaders to annotate similar sized holes to improve drawing clarity. Only holes having the exact same properties, either created by the same feature or by multiple features, may be selected. Leaders may also have one or more nodes (or "jogs") to make drawings easier to create and read.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/q5omm8u5am?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

BROKEN VIEW ALIGNMENT

Broken Views now maintain alignment with any projected views using the center of each view as the point of alignment.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/wm8aswbrj2?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

CURVES IN DRAWINGS

Curves can now be displayed in Drawings. A new filter button is available on the Insert dialog that will allow you to select Curves from a Part Studio. Curves that belong to a Composite Part can also now be shown on a Drawing.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/dxgn1iqa27?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

GROUPING CALLOUTS AND DIMENSIONS

Callouts such as item balloons, flags and revision markers can now be attached or grouped to drawing dimensions. When the dimension or view is moved, the callout will move with it. Callouts can either be grouped manually or snapped to different locations around dimension text. After snapping or grouping, the positions of each callout can be finely tuned. Highlighting makes it easy to determine which callouts belong to which dimensions.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/co3f84s6n9?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

UPDATE NAMED POSITIONS

Named Positions provide a quick way to move parts in an assembly to a known location. Now, when you need to change an existing Named Position, you can simply move the parts to their new location and press the update button on the Named Positions dialog.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/xhuyw0h2ty?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

Every release of Onshape includes dozens of performance improvements, most of which are under-the-hood. Significant performance improvements that you'll see in this release include:

Speed improvements in Hole features that contain many holes.
Assemblies that contain multiple configurations of the same part now load much faster.
The frequency of required Drawing updates has been significantly reduced.

API: GLTF EXPORT

The translate API endpoint has been improved to be able to export an Onshape element in GLTF format. This will make transferring graphics data between applications much easier.

PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

PREVENT RELEASE OF ASSEMBLIES WITH PENDING REFERENCE UPDATES

A new release condition has been added to Release Management that prevents an assembly from entering a release workflow if it has links to references that are out of date. If this condition is not set, an error will be shown in the Release Candidate dialog, but the assembly will be permitted to enter the workflow.

https://onshape.wistia.com/medias/8nu56dht2v?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

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 and over the next few days these features will also be available in Documents created before the date of this update.

john_mcclary · May 2020

Wow...

Nice Job on nailing down cad.new before someone snatched it up

Broken views and grouping notes. Niice

Lavon · May 2020

Great updates! I especially like the Update button in named positions.
Just curious, is there a reason to use Alt to copy a leader on a hole callout rather than Ctrl? Personally I would prefer Ctrl, as that is fixed in my mind as the copy button...

Jolly · May 2020

Two big things strike me as pretty much immediate use:

Shift+P and converting Radial to Diameter dimensions.

Thanks! Love the updates.

Theo_R · May 2020

Shift+P, Drawing improvements and Pending Reference Updates!!
Thank you

EvanReese · May 2020

very nice! shift-p is going to become a daily staple. I was trying to convert radius to a diameter just a few days ago. new.cad is one of the many things Onshape knows I want before I do.

emagdalenaC2i · May 2020

Great improvements

alnis · May 2020

These are some fantastic and very useful improvements! The cad.new functionality and Shift-P are both extremely useful.

Something fun you can do is set up a "search engine" with Google Chrome which makes a new document with a name you specify! It makes making a new document even more convenient!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/j3/df6wkoyg8ult.gif

To do this, go to chrome://settings/searchEngines, click Add, and fill in the fields like this:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/r5/f204dibh1i0w.png

The "Search engine" and "Keyword" parameters can be whatever you'd like. The "Search engine" one is what shows in the address bar, and the "Keyword" one is what you type so that you can launch a search with the "Tab" key on your keyboard. The URL should be http://cad.onshape.com/new?name=%s for it to work properly.

brooke_spreen · May 2020

alnis_smidchens said:

Something fun you can do is set up a "search engine" with Google Chrome which makes a new document with a name you specify! It makes making a new document even more convenient!

Ah cool, this is possible in Firefox as well! Create an arbitrary bookmark, then "show all bookmarks" (Ctrl-Shift-B). Edit the new bookmark so that the URL is http://cad.onshape.com/new?name=%s and the keyword is "newcad" (or another keyword of choice).

Usage example: type "newcad New Document Name" in the address bar, hit enter. Voila!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/ul/pktbicz6kgeo.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/ue/9q011ul0p68u.png

PS-- Thanks for another great release, Team Onshape!

pmd · May 2020

Great update, aligning cut views was something I missed only last week.

Grouping Callouts and Dimensions now allow somewhat clunky leader-less part property callouts but it requires lots of clicks:

Select callout (e.g. Part Name)
click on dimension to place callout
Exit callout dialog
click back on dimension and grouped callout
click on callout itself
drag callout to (e.g.) center of part

It would be really nice to have leader-less part callouts in a simpler way.

MBartlett21 · May 2020

NeilCooke said:

The last time I was let loose on a What's New forum post was over 2 years ago – that's 37 updates! So without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to present Onshape - Release 1.113:

CAD IMPROVEMENTS
CREATING AND RENAMING DOCUMENTS
New Documents can now be created directly from your browser's address bar using the new, unique URL: cad.new

Google has created a new top-level domain name extension called .new exclusively for performing new actions online. Onshape has registered the domain name cad.new for your convenience as a quick and memorable shortcut to create new Documents without having to go to the Documents page first.

You can also perform the same action using the longer URL: cad.onshape.com/new. Documents can be named before they are created using the URL pattern: cad.onshape.com/new?name=<docname>, so to create a Document called "Library Parts", using standard URL notation, enter cad.onshape.com/new?name=Library%20Parts. This capability is currently not available in Onshape Enterprise due to the use of custom domain names.
[...]

@NeilCooke
This method of creating the documents with a custom name does not work if I have a slash between the new and the question mark, or if I use cad.new .
Both cad.new/?name=test and cad.onshape.com/new/?name=test do not work for a custom name.

NeilCooke · May 2020

@MBartlett21

cad.new is not able to take parameters at present which is why I discussed the long-form URL - you shouldn't have the slash between new and name - cad.onshape.com/new?name=test

MBartlett21 · May 2020

@NeilCooke
I noticed cad.new, when given parameters, redirected to cad.onshape.com/new/?query
Example: cad.new/?name=test redirects to cad.onshape.com/new/?name=test

On another note, do you know about the onsha.pe redirect to cad.onshape.com?
For some reason, it only works on http, not https.

NeilCooke · May 2020

MBartlett21 said:

On another note, do you know about the onsha.pe redirect to cad.onshape.com?
For some reason, it only works on http, not https.

I have seen you use it before - did you create it?

EricGauthier · May 2020

A lot of great improvements in a single release!

My favorite release this year!

Sujan_Patel · May 2020

Powerful and meaningful release after a very long time...job well done!!!
Mostly all improvements will be used everyday.

Drawings and PDFs are not going away anytime soon !!!

HuguesLessardWRI · May 2020

A great release overall! It takes care of a lot of little annoying thingies from the daily routine.

EvanReese · May 2020

alnis_smidchens said:
Something fun you can do is set up a "search engine" with Google Chrome which makes a new document with a name you specify! It makes making a new document even more convenient!

So cool! I set it up.

romeograham · May 2020

LOL what are we supposed to do with all the "new" and "test from browser" and "this is a new document made from my URL" (etc) documents we're making? Is there an automatic tool to clean up empty new documents?

BTW, you can also "automate" this from a spreadsheet too.
Set up your "project setup" sheet or whatever to concatenate cad.onshape.com/new?name= with your new document name...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/nh/1ttd7f45s8ob.png

Depending on the complexity of your concatenation (for instance, you could use REGEXREPLACE to replace "space" with "%20" etc) you can make it as complex as you want.

The benefit, is that you have a whole list of new CAD documents that will be created when you visit the link (but not before).

Lots of interesting options here!

Oh - and for Shift+P:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5022071/uploads/editor/k5/14c3cx8k3rab.png

Me. I would like a second Shift+P to restore the Construction Geometry visibility to what I had before. Often, I have a carefully-curated set of construction items visible...and need to get back to that view. The current implementation ("some necessary construction items" > none) is certainly helpful, but for me, I'd like something like Display States to work for this.

Thanks for the great update!

[EDIT]: not sure how to stop it, but everything after the link above is getting formatted as a link....there. fixed it.

tim_hess427 · May 2020

I was thinking the same thing about the "Shift+P" shortcut. I wouldn't want to show all construction entities, but I would like the ability to toggle a set of entities on/off. I wouldn't even need anything as complex as display states, just the ability for the system to remember what I turned off by using shift+p in the first place.

NeilCooke · May 2020

romeograham said:

Me. I would like a second Shift+P to restore the Construction Geometry visibility to what I had before. Often, I have a carefully-curated set of construction items visible...and need to get back to that view. The current implementation ("some necessary construction items" > none) is certainly helpful, but for me, I'd like something like Display States to work for this.

You're right, there is a definite need for this, beyond Ctrl+Z to undo. Make an IR?

lougallo · May 2020

NeilCooke said:

@MBartlett21

cad.new is not able to take parameters at present which is why I discussed the long-form URL - you shouldn't have the slash between new and name - cad.onshape.com/new?name=test

I am working on supporting params soon.

lougallo · May 2020

MBartlett21 said:

@NeilCooke
I noticed cad.new, when given parameters, redirected to cad.onshape.com/new/?query
Example: cad.new/?name=test redirects to cad.onshape.com/new/?name=test

On another note, do you know about the onsha.pe redirect to cad.onshape.com?
For some reason, it only works on http, not https.

The trailing slash is something Google is adding which we are trying to adjust on our side.

billy2 · May 2020

Well this is going to blow my weekend.

API: GLTF EXPORT

Now we can have spinning stuff on our websites.

GLTF is a graphics transfer language for webgl. Now we can ask OS for a part or assembly display list and include it on our website using three.js. Thank you OS. You're going to start seeing more company websites with OS geometry spinning around on their front page.

john_mcclary · May 2020

Thanks for explaining that @billy2 I didn't know that's what GLTF was. I wass thinking an image, like TIFF

thomas_aa · May 2020

And I was going to use Shift-P for Perpendicular. And yea, "Show All" or "reverse my hide" would be handy (was that an ironic comment from the editor to the developers?) Nifty with the top level domain, though!

brucebartlett · May 2020

An awesome idea on the Shift- P to hide all construction geo, I do a lot of screenshots and am always hiding to clean up theses views, I was thinking last week of adding an improvement request to add another selection on the RMB drop down to do this but Shift-P is better.

Great to see the drawing improvements. All I can say is drawing is so smooth now and getting better and better. Please, please now can we have a tolerance tool to make life easier here.

MBartlett21 · May 2020

NeilCooke said:

MBartlett21 said:

On another note, do you know about the onsha.pe redirect to cad.onshape.com?
For some reason, it only works on http, not https.

I have seen you use it before - did you create it?

@NeilCooke
No, I didn't create it. I think it was used in a link on the blog a long while ago.
I looked up a whois on it, and it seems to be registered by Philip Kania from Onshape:

Domain Name: onsha.pe
WHOIS Server: NIC .PE
Sponsoring Registrar: 1API GmbH
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registrant Name: Philip Kania
Admin Name: Philip Kania
Admin Email: philip.kania@onshape.com
Name Server: ns1.p14.dynect.net
Name Server: ns2.p14.dynect.net
Name Server: ns3.p14.dynect.net
Name Server: ns4.p14.dynect.net
DNSSEC: unsigned

lougallo · May 2020

NeilCooke said:

MBartlett21 said:

On another note, do you know about the onsha.pe redirect to cad.onshape.com?
For some reason, it only works on http, not https.

I have seen you use it before - did you create it?

Yes I am aware of onsha.pe.. it will be used at some future time.

danny_payne · May 2020

These updates are great additions. Thank you. I am excited to use these.

jaschaaa · May 2020

Suggestion: could Shift-P be used to toggle visibility of construction geometry?

Improvements to Onshape - May 11th, 2020

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

CREATING AND RENAMING DOCUMENTS

HIDE ALL CONSTRUCTION GEOMETRY

DIMENSION PALETTE IMPROVEMENTS

MULTIPLE HOLE CALLOUT LEADERS AND NODES

BROKEN VIEW ALIGNMENT

CURVES IN DRAWINGS

GROUPING CALLOUTS AND DIMENSIONS

UPDATE NAMED POSITIONS

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

API: GLTF EXPORT

PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

PREVENT RELEASE OF ASSEMBLIES WITH PENDING REFERENCE UPDATES

Comments

CAD IMPROVEMENTS

CREATING AND RENAMING DOCUMENTS

API: GLTF EXPORT

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