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Pet hates

andrew_troupandrew_troup Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
Apart from the obvious ones Onshape explicitly sets out to address, what are some things which (we have learned from using other solid MCAD packages) don't work for us?

Comments

  • michael3424michael3424 Member Posts: 674 ✭✭✭✭
    Flexera licensing procedures.  A couple others in GeoMagic that don't fully apply to Onshape.  The main gripe though, would be paying maintenance for several years with few feature enhancements.
  • andrew_troupandrew_troup Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One of my recurrent peeves actually concerns a pair of related issues in existing packages:

    1) : a myriad of different ways (the "arsenal" approach) to achieving the same objective, and

    2) : the need for that arsenal, because in any given instance, several of those ways will not work as designed.

    This combo gets fairly tiresome when modelling forms which are both complicated and exacting. (Which is when the need for alternative strategies typically comes into play).

    It is relatively commonplace to dive into a particular area of a tricky model thinking "if this doesn't work, there are four or five other options", and hoping that it doesn't come to having to try them all in turn.

    The arsenal approach, in my experience, makes it unnecessarily difficult to acquire and maintain mastery of the feature set for a given package.

    When a particular workflow does not achieve the intended result, I would rather the entire development focus was directed to making it work, rather than being diluted across the provision of alternative tools and workflows, in the hope that one of them can always be found which will pinch-hit.

    So far, Onshape seems promising on this front, consistently "doing more with less".

    It will get progressively harder to hold that line, as the package matures.

  • brucebartlettbrucebartlett Member, OS Professional, Mentor, User Group Leader Posts: 2,137 PRO
    ATM the moment I waiting for drawings, sketch text and ability to do BOM's, hopefully these will be in very soon.

    I hate that you can not import parts to a part studio/ reference to parts outside of the doc or even part studio and interrelate parts to a construction sketch unless it is all done in the 1 part studio from the start. I know this is going to be hard to achieve without sacrificing a bit of stability but absolute required for me to use Onshape on larger projects.
    Engineer ı Product Designer ı Onshape Consulting Partner
    Twitter: @onshapetricks  & @babart1977   
  • andrew_troupandrew_troup Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sorry I didn't phrase my OP more clearly: the pet hates I refer to in the title are things we have come to dislike about OTHER, earlier packages ---

    because it seems to me these bitter experiences can provide useful signposts to help Onshape avoid falling into known, existing pitfalls. 

    It'll be much more fun if they can find new ones!
  • brucebartlettbrucebartlett Member, OS Professional, Mentor, User Group Leader Posts: 2,137 PRO
    edited July 2015
    Yeah got you, thought it was a bit negative.

    Just spent time on Onshape now I am back on SW and so want to be back using Onshape again.

    That said, SW is an awesome program and have enjoyed using it over many years.
    Engineer ı Product Designer ı Onshape Consulting Partner
    Twitter: @onshapetricks  & @babart1977   
  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,014 PRO
    Bruce-

    I agree with you.

    The assemblies are non-functional to me because it's impossible to construct a layout of your design. I can hardly wait for this to be fixed. 

    I was thinking I could live with just importing a sketch into a part studio without any outside references. This minor change would be a big advancement for controlling a project.





  • juan_avilesjuan_aviles Member Posts: 78 ✭✭
    edited July 2015
    I searched for this here on the forums, but I'm not sure if I'm using the correct terminology.  

    I'd really like a way to change the default controls.  Sorry, but right mouse button to rotate is extremely annoying to me.  Almost every 3D graphics or CAD program I've used has a way to change your controls, but I can't seem to find a way to do this in Onshape.  I'm used to the middle mouse button only being used for rotate...this is probably because most programs I've used come this way as the default.  It doesn't have to be the default for Onshape, but please let me change it if I want.  Pan and zoom can use the +shift and +ctrl keys with the MMB, but rotate is used much to often to require two buttons to accomplish.  Put a context menu on the right mouse button.

    Sorry if this is a feature that is already provided...I don't see it. 
  • jakeramsleyjakeramsley Member, Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 657
    Hi juan_aviles,

    We use right mouse button for rotation.

    We don't allow users to change their preferences yet.
    Jake Ramsley

    Director of Quality Engineering & Release Manager              onshape.com
  • _Ðave__Ðave_ Member, Developers Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭
    Luv the RMB for rotate!!
  • pete_yodispete_yodis OS Professional, Mentor Posts: 666 ✭✭✭
    Sorry I didn't phrase my OP more clearly: the pet hates I refer to in the title are things we have come to dislike about OTHER, earlier packages ---

    because it seems to me these bitter experiences can provide useful signposts to help Onshape avoid falling into known, existing pitfalls. 

    It'll be much more fun if they can find new ones!
    @andrew_troup Pet Peeve.... Treating models as second class citizens relative to drawings.
  • 3dcad3dcad Member, OS Professional, Mentor Posts: 2,470 PRO
    What I hate in other packages is.. BUGS! and also hate waiting years to have them fixed and then I hate to see a bunch of new bugs implemented together with fixes to old ones.. For now Onshape has been very stable, but I'm sure there will be bugfixes after updates when we have more strings attached to each feature.. Ons guys are still partly humans (I think).. But I hope they will fix things faster than others since they only have 'one version' to maintain.
    //rami
  • kirk_2kirk_2 Member Posts: 34
    A big gripe with a lot of PC packages is lack of downward compatibility,  Unable to save models in formats compatible with older versions.  That applies pretty widely, not just with solid modeling programs.
  • imagineeredimagineered Member Posts: 57 ✭✭
    Pet Hate from other packages - bringing out new release less than 12 months apart but total reconfiguration package - can never find anything & have to relearn the package.
    We don't all have the time availability to start all over again.
  • imagineeredimagineered Member Posts: 57 ✭✭
    COST
  • imagineeredimagineered Member Posts: 57 ✭✭
    speed......or lack thereof
  • andrew_troupandrew_troup Member, Mentor Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Another recurring disappointment about Solidworks (which, to be clear, I consider was far from disappointing overall, and remains an awesome force to be reckoned with to this day): they routinely put more emphasis on introducing new features than on finishing or refining the ones they already had.

    Some of the features never worked as described from day one until (for all I know) the present day. "Pierce", for instance, never worked for axes (at least, not last I checked) but it was clearly intended to, according to the documentation, and finishing it off in this way would have led to simpler feature trees. Some users needed some way to provide a robust location for where an arbitrary line would pierce an arbitrary plane if extended sufficiently far, and an axis is the obvious (and conceptually purest) way to implement that.
  • imagineeredimagineered Member Posts: 57 ✭✭
    Lack of automatic backups - something you guys appear to have sorted. 
    Sick of doing 15-20min work then having a crash just when you go to save.
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