Onshape’s second major update in a month

Onshape has released a second major update to its CAD software in a month, which includes a host of new features and user-requested enhancements.

One of the major added functionalities is support for multiple section planes, meaning users no longer have to preselect a planar face before activating the Section View tool. Three planar faces can now be selected to define a section, each with its own section view manipulator that can be dragged by a defined distance, snap to model geometry, flip and rotate.

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

Additionally, Onshape now imports OBJ and STL files as meshes for use as reference geometry in a Part Studio. Users 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.

The update also includes, among other new features, a default colour palette with custom colours to make it easier to assign colours to parts, a rib feature that allows the user to create a sketch of the network of ribs and specify their thickness and direction, Z-axis rotation, tab folder names and automatic graphics refinement.