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New Episode – Circular Placement for Multi-Channel Designs – Altium’s Design Secret Video Series

Watch a selection of short videos featuring tips, tricks and processes to get the most out of designing with Altium.


Circular Placement for Multi-Channel Designs

Altium Designer’s Multi-Channel capability lets designers power through new designs that re-use common schematic sheets (channels) multiple times. Having settled on the component placement and routing of one instance of the design block, the same relative placement and routing can be pushed into all other instances of the same block thereby dramatically decreasing the time it takes to complete the PCB layout.

Altium Designer’s standard support covers circuits that are laid out on a cartesian grid, but what about circuit blocks that must repeat in a circular fashion? For that, you’ll need to know a couple of nifty tricks which I’ll show you in this latest Design Secret.

Watch this video to see how the experts do it!

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Using 3D Component Body Features for Precise Component Creation

Many Altium customers are very happy to have the ability to add 3D models to components in the library for accurate mechanical outputs and clearance checking. But a not-so-obvious benefit of this capability, is that you can use features of the 3D mechanical model to precisely position pads, mounting holes, and even 2D silkscreen and assembly drawing outlines – rather than having to manually place these objects first and then trying to position the 3D model to line up with them.

In this video I’ll show you how to do it the other way ’round – by adding the 3D model and then placing mounting holes with the aide of “snap points” which are easily added to the 3D component body.

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How to Use Via Stitching for Advanced Copper Thieving/Venting Patterns

In this Design Secret, Senior Applications Engineer Colby Siemer shows a nifty alternative application for the Via Stitching feature that was added in AD update 21.

In order to balance the etching of each layer of the PCB, and in turn improve the fabrication yield and also thermal stability of the PCB, many PCB fabricators recommend using a “thieving pattern” on signal layers, in areas of the PCB where there are open spaces with no trackwork or polygons. While the common rectangular patterns can be added after gerber generation, it is better to create the thieving pattern in the PCB editor before gerbers are generated, from a data management standpoint, and to eliminate an extra export of the gerber or ODB++ fabrication files.

The new Via Stitching feature in AD update 21 is a perfect tool for doing this job, and with a few extra steps can even create more complex patterns which can help reduce EMI and manufacturing issues.

Watch this video to let Colby show you how to do it!

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Adding Comments and Designators to Specific Layers

While some users include the top and bottom overlay layers (silkscreen layers) in assembly drawings, depending upon the assembly documentation requirements, it may be preferable to use a mechanical layer to include component Designators and Comments with other information such as courtyards.

Mechanical layers are well suited to this task, and using “”special strings”” in the footprints for Comments and Designators ensures you always have this essential information on the chosen mechanical layer.

In this Design Secret video, Applications Engineer Dirk Glaser from Altium’s German support team shows us how it’s done!

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Using Scripts in the Filter Panel 

Whether you’re an advanced user of Altium Designer or not, you can easily benefit from the power of the Filter Panel. We’ve explored some of the well known facets of using filters to find and select different objects in design documents in several other design secrets and training videos.

But, another really cool feature of the Filter Panel is the ability to call user scripts directly from it. User scripts can be written in DelphiScript, VBScript, JavaScript, and the Query Language, and user-defined functions which return boolean True or False can be used directly from the Filter Panel. With this in mind, you can easily extend the power of filters to practically unlimited uses.

Watch this video to see how it is done!

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Using the List Panel for Custom Mask Openings

Altium Designer not only allows for unparalleled management of your data, but also unparalleled access to data within designs. And, for performing multiple, intelligent design actions, the List Panel is one such place in Altium Designer where access to copy, paste and group-edit object properties is really elegant and powerful.

In this video, Altium shows how to use the List Panel to create an array of custom paste and solder mask openings for the heat-sink pad of QFN (or similar) packages for improved solder-ability and yield. Watch to see how it’s done!

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Using BoM Report Custom Autofilters

Here is yet another absolute GEM from Altium Designer that you didn’t know about  – Custom BoM filters. Have you ever wondered how, for example, to exclude specific parts from your BoM report, such as fiducials? Or ever wanted to run a report which lists only a very uniquely defined set of components, such as those with a designator beginning with Q and a footprint named SOT-223? With the BoM report generator’s Custom BoM Filters feature these types of reports are very easy to create. And remember, you can save them in your Output Job Files to automate the process for all your designs. Watch this Design Secret to see how it’s done!

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Use Rooms to Control Component Orientations for Manufacturability

There are many situations where the manufacturing process calls for strict component orientation rules. One such example is when utilizing wave soldering techniques.

In this Design Secret Video, Application Engineer Michael Heil from Altium’s European support team shows a really cool trick where you can use rooms to very specifically control the orientation of components within a region of the board that is to be wave soldered. This method can also be used for component placement and orientation control for other mechanical situations, so it’s definitely a good one for the kit bag!

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How to Rapidly Customize the Altium Designer User Interface 

Once you have been using Altium Designer for a while you’ll find the tool bar menu structure to be pretty intuitive, but you can realize even more productivity gains with a bit of customization of the user interface. Customization is centric to each editor whether it’s the PCB editor, schematic editor or any other editor within Altium Designer, but whichever area you are working in, the same approach can be taken – and it’s a LOT easier that you might think, with simple drag-and-drop actions. Watch this new Design Secret video to find out how!

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How to Make Your Own FPGA Port Plug-In Components 

If you have ever experienced the pain of diagnosing an FPGA project design error down to an incorrectly defined IO signal or constraint mismatch, then you will appreciate the concept of Port-Plugins. Port-Plugins are a convenient way to specify the correctly named and complete set of signal IO connections associated with specific peripherals interfacing with an FPGA.

While you may already be familiar with the Port-Plugin libraries specific to all NanoBoard products, did you know that you can easily create Port-Plugins for your own custom PCBs and third-party evaluation boards? Have a look at this Design Secret video to find out how. 

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Cursor Snap Tricks in Schematic and PCB

Description:  Any experienced designer will tell you that grids and mouse cursor “”snap”” are important – even critical – to efficient design. After all, imagine a schematic tool not being able to recognize the connection of a wire to a pin because it was a pixel or two out of alignment?

But Altium Designer goes way beyond the traditional simplistic grid based systems most EDA tools possess. With the ability to work in a true dual-coordinate (metric AND imperial) system, with electrical snap grids, as well as multiple user-defined Cartesian and Polar grids and work guides – every possible scenario from placing parts to obscure copper shapes will be made exact and easy.

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Optimizing Component Creation Using Component Libraries 

Description:  Beyond the initial vault migration tools like the Component Release Manager – which allows you to move from a statically managed library approach to a structured managed component model – there is a tool which enables highly efficient component creation and management, called the Component Library Editor.

This table-based approach to creation and management of components in the vault can save a lot of time and headache, so watch this video to see how to leverage its efficiency.

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Marking Documents with Identification Special Strings 

If you’ve ever reviewed a hard copy of a design – schematic or PCB – then chances are you’ve wondered at some point if the paper drawing in your hand matches the current assembly or fabrication.

With enterprise data management features like Version Control and Release Management, along with some dedicated special strings, you can remove any guesswork when it comes to document revisions. Take a look at this video to find out how!

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Downloading and Linking SPICE and PSPICE Simulation Models 

Altium Designer is a unified electronics development tool – which means it includes all the pieces you need to capture, tweak, verify, validate and output your next electronic product. One of the big advantages of this approach is driving XSPICE simulation from the same schematic you use to capture your PCB design – no need to redraw anything just to simulate it!

This video answers the question we commonly get asked in training and on support calls – how to correctly download, link and use SPICE and PSPICE simulation models. Check it out!

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Using Board Cutouts in Components 

Board Cutouts make it easier to create routed, non-round holes in the PCB for mechanical elements such as plastic mounting tabs and bosses. But in some instances it’s best to make the cutout part of a component. There are some careful considerations needed when doing this. Watch this design secret to find out more!

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Creating Custom Pad Shapes 

Altium Designer includes the ability to create custom pad shapes. Thanks to some powerful additions to the PCB Library Editor and the ability to add mask expansion properties to all copper shapes in the footprint, it is easy to make any pad geometry without jumping through hoops!

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Use Dimensions to Accurately Position Objects and Outlines! 

Dimensions are objects you can place within the PCB design to show distances and radii, and for most users they offer an easy way of documenting the geographical aspects of the design. But dimensions are also a great tool to use when you need to position objects at precise relative distances.

This design secret will show you the different types of dimensions available in the PCB editor as well as how to use them to get parts and other objects in the right spot.

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Scripting in Output Job Files 

Description:  Output Job Files enable repeatable, pre-configured generation of fabrication, assembly and report output files from your design. They also enable custom automation of the outputs by allowing project scripts to be executed as part of the output process. Even if the scripts are designed to use graphical user interfaces, the UI can be automatically configured from the Output Job file, allowing the script to execute as a batch process. Watch this design secret to find out how! 

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How to Create a Custom Pick-and-Place File

Chris Carlson has been an active Altium Designer user for years before coming to work at Altium. In fact he’s worked on a number of pretty high-end Mil/Aero and industrial projects, so around here when he has a tip to share, we listen.

In this video, Chris is going to show you the power and flexibility of the BoM (Bill of Materials) report generator, by using it to generate a customized Pick and Place file. There are so many options with this thing, yet it’s really easy to set up – watch the video and see for yourself!

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Click Here to see the complete list of Altium Design Secrets

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