A mere three weeks have passed since the last HUGE update, so that means it’s time for another HUGE update – jam-packed with new features and user-requested enhancements. There’s never a dull moment here at Onshape, so enjoy!

MULTIPLE SECTION PLANES

The way you create section views in Part Studios and Assemblies has now completely changed – you no longer have to preselect a planar face before activating the Section View tool. You can also now select up to 3 planar faces to define your section, each with its own section view manipulator that you can drag by a defined distance, snap to model geometry, flip and rotate.

COLOR PALETTE WITH CUSTOM COLORS

The Appearance Editor now has a default color palette to make it easier to assign colors to Parts. You can also store up to 55 custom colors (linked to your Onshape account) and use these colors in any Part Studio in any Document.

MESH REFERENCE GEOMETRY

Onshape now imports OBJ and STL files as meshes for use as reference geometry in a Part Studio. You can transform, pattern and mirror a mesh, derive it into other Part Studios, and use any vertex from the mesh as a reference for a plane, a sketch entity, or a feature.

INSERT SKETCHES AND SURFACES INTO ASSEMBLIES

Sketches and surfaces can now be inserted into an assembly and used as reference geometry. You can use sketches as layouts in your assembly and insert imported parts that contain surfaces only.

TRANSFORM SKETCH BY VALUE OR BY SNAPPING

The Sketch Transform tool now lets you translate and rotate by exact distances or angles and snap to existing sketch geometry.

RIB FEATURE

Onshape now has a built-in Rib feature! Simply create a sketch of the network of ribs and specify the thickness and direction.

Z-AXIS ROTATION

If you hold down the ALT key while rotating your model on screen, the Z-axis will remain vertical giving you a turntable-style effect.

TAP DEPTH AND CLEARANCE

The Hole feature now gives you separate control over tap depth and tap clearance (number of full threads clearance at the bottom of the hole). Adjusting the tap depth will adjust the hole depth accordingly (and vice versa) and adjusting the tap clearance will adjust the hole depth.

 

PLANE MANIPULATORS

Offset Planes and Line Angle Planes now have an on-screen manipulator to make it easier to approximate the position of the plane before entering a precise value.

SEARCH FILTERS AND RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN INSERT DIALOG

When inserting parts into an Assembly or creating a Derived feature in a Part Studio, a search field is now available when browsing Documents and using filters. This will help you find Documents faster. Also, when browsing for a Document containing a DXF file, image, or FeatureScript feature, the Insert dialog will show only the Documents that contain the object type you are looking for. The relevant Documents are displayed in bold and all other Documents are dimmed.

SCROLLING VERSION GRAPH

When a Document has a lot of branches, Onshape will now add scrollbars to the top and bottom of the Version Graph. If you are using a trackpad or a mouse with horizontal scroll capabilities, you can also scroll the graph when the scrollbars are not visible on screen.

TAB FOLDER NAMES

Now when you select one or more tabs in the tab manager, then right-click and choose "Add selection to folder," Onshape will prompt you immediately to enter a name for the new folder. If you want to accept the default name, press Enter or Esc.

IMPORTED PART VALIDATION

When 3D data is imported into Onshape, each body is checked to ensure it is a valid solid. In this latest update, Onshape now lists the names of all the parts that failed validation to make it easier for you to locate the troublesome parts.

DRAWINGS

      •  Automatic Graphics Refinement – The Refine Graphics button in Drawings is no more. Onshape will now automatically refine ALL graphics based on zoom level.

      • Performance Improvements For Notes – Performance has been significantly improved when editing long notes or notes that use TrueType fonts.

FEATURESCRIPT

FeatureScript notices now appear at the bottom of the graphics area in a separate resizable panel. This gives you the full width of the screen to read messages and ensures your model is visible at all times.

That’s just about everything we have for you this month. Expect another update real soon.