When modeling part that are geometrically reliant on one another, and when editing in-context, Onshape provides some convenient tools you can use for better accessibility to parts that may be hidden by other parts:

  • Hide (selection)
  • Hide other parts
  • Hide all parts
  • Isolate (selection)
  • Hide part on hover shortcut key y

Use these commands to access the parts required for your tasks, instead of painstakingly finding and moving parts out of the way to access the relevant entities.

Use the shortcut key y to hide a part under the cursor (part will show highlighting on hover). To show the part again, use the context menu Show all or Show all parts commands.

Access these commands from the context menu for selected parts in a Part Studio.

Onshape provides two convenient tools: Hide and Isolate. Use these tools to filter parts out of view.

Hide individual parts in a Part Studio or individual instances in an assembly using the eye icon. Hide multiple parts by selecting them and clicking Hide in the context menu, or Hide other instances if in an assembly and Hide other parts if in a Part Studio. Show all quickly by right-clicking an empty spot in the graphics area and clicking Show all instances if in an assembly and Show all parts if in a Part Studio.

Isolate individual parts or multiple parts at once. Select the part or parts to isolate and click Isolate from the context menu. The selected parts are isolated, and all other parts and their corresponding Mate connectors have their visibility muted and are unavailable for selection. Whether in a Part Studio or assembly, isolated parts can Expand by connectivity or by distance. Use the slider to isolate each successive part.

Check Hide transparent parts to hide the isolated parts completely. Click the X on the dialog to exit and return all parts to their non-isolated state. Use an Assembly folder’s context menu to Hide and Isolate the instances in the folder.

Hide all parts, selected parts, or ‘all other’ parts excluding those selected to aid in visualizing necessary entities. Select parts in the graphics area or from the Parts list; box select also works for selecting. This command is a toggle: hide/show.

Hide example

Select the parts to hide and click Hide in the context menu. The selected parts before Hide:

Model example before hide

The model after Hide:

Model example after hide

Hide other parts example

Select the parts you want to visualize and click Hide other parts in the context menu:

Hide other parts example

All other parts are hidden except those selected.

Shortcut: Shift+i

Isolate works similarly to Hide, with the difference that unselected parts remain visually present for reference, but muted in color and unavailable for selection until you exit Isolate mode. Any Mate connectors of non-selected parts are also muted and unavailable for selection. As with the Hide commands, you are able to select the parts in the Feature list, graphics area, and with the box select functions.

Use Isolate with individual parts, multiple parts, and groups.

Isolating parts example

Use the Hide transparent parts check box to fully hide the parts that appear faded. This can help improve visualization of visual parts and may improve render time in complicated assemblies. Onshape remembers your last setting for this check box when you use the Isolate tool.

Hide transparent parts enabled on the Isolate dialog

On iOS platforms, only Expand: distance is available. Select the part, then use a two-finger tap to open the Context menu, select Isolate.

Notice the dialog that appears. Use the Expand distance slider to slowly select parts in order of proximity to the isolated parts:

 

To exit the Isolate command, you can:

  • Click the X on the dialog to close the dialog and exit Isolate.
  • Open the context menu and select, Exit Isolate.
  • Use the Esc (escape) key.