How to Change 0,0 point in grid?

On 4/26/12 2:49 PM, tony wrote:

Hello, I often find myself needing to change the zero point in the

layout grid. For example, I develop board, then I change size or shape,

for example, I add rails to the PCB or something, and I want to change

the 0,0 point so that the new board shape and size is correctly placed

within the grid. Is there a way to do this without having to copy the

entire design and manually move that entire selection, aligning it by

eye to the 0,0 marking?

 

Thanx,

 

Tony

There's no easy way to change the 0,0 point as far as I know. You could

always use the "mark" command to set a relative 0,0 point, but that's

not a particularly good solution.

What I do is:

• Figure out where the lower-left origin of your design actually is (say

(0.15",0.25") for example)

• Type 'disp all' to display everything (and make sure nothing is locked

down)

• Group everything

• Type "grid 0.15" to prepare to move everything to the left

• Move the group to the left by one mouse jog, which will be 0.15"

because of the grid

• Repeat the process by setting the grid to 0.25" then move the group

down, which should then land on the origin.

If there's a ULP that does the above, I'd love to know!

Andrew.

On 4/26/12 4:24 PM, Andrew Sterian wrote:

On 4/26/12 2:49 PM, tony wrote:

>> Hello, I often find myself needing to change the zero point in the

>> layout grid. For example, I develop board, then I change size or shape,

>> for example, I add rails to the PCB or something, and I want to change

>> the 0,0 point so that the new board shape and size is correctly placed

>> within the grid. Is there a way to do this without having to copy the

>> entire design and manually move that entire selection, aligning it by

>> eye to the 0,0 marking?

>>

>> Thanx,

>>

>> Tony

 

There's no easy way to change the 0,0 point as far as I know. You could

always use the "mark" command to set a relative 0,0 point, but that's

not a particularly good solution.

 

What I do is:

 

• Figure out where the lower-left origin of your design actually is (say

(0.15",0.25") for example)

• Type 'disp all' to display everything (and make sure nothing is locked

down)

• Group everything

• Type "grid 0.15" to prepare to move everything to the left

• Move the group to the left by one mouse jog, which will be 0.15"

because of the grid

• Repeat the process by setting the grid to 0.25" then move the group

down, which should then land on the origin.

 

If there's a ULP that does the above, I'd love to know!

 

Andrew.

Thanx for the response.

Yeah that is similar to what I am doing. I just dis-like moving things

around like that. Many times I forget about parts that are locked, or I

forget to turn on all layers or something, and I really whack things!

A way to just change the 0,0 Mark would be excellent.

tony wrote:

>On 4/26/12 4:24 PM, Andrew Sterian wrote:

>> On 4/26/12 2:49 PM, tony wrote:

>>> Hello, I often find myself needing to change the zero point in the

>>> layout grid. For example, I develop board, then I change size or shape,

>>> for example, I add rails to the PCB or something, and I want to change

>>> the 0,0 point so that the new board shape and size is correctly placed

>>> within the grid.

>[...] Many times I forget about parts that are locked, or I

>forget to turn on all layers or something, and I really whack things!

if you don't need the parts relocked after move you could expand on

Chucks command sequence by inserting

  lock (CS> 0 0)

between "group all" and "move ..."

You could also use the mark command to indicate the new origin.

In that case the move command does not need to deal with absolute

coordinates at all, so you can put the commands in a script file.

  move (R> 0 0) (0 0)

(see "Editor Commands - Command Syntax" in the online help for an

explanation of the modifiers)

If you want the locks preserved, you will need to write an ULP that

records the names of the locked parts and puts the lock in place again

after the move.

--

Lorenz

tony wrote:

>On 4/26/12 4:24 PM, Andrew Sterian wrote:

>> On 4/26/12 2:49 PM, tony wrote:

>>> Hello, I often find myself needing to change the zero point in the

>>> layout grid. For example, I develop board, then I change size or shape,

>>> for example, I add rails to the PCB or something, and I want to change

>>> the 0,0 point so that the new board shape and size is correctly placed

>>> within the grid.

>[...] Many times I forget about parts that are locked, or I

>forget to turn on all layers or something, and I really whack things!

if you don't need the parts relocked after move you could expand on

Chucks command sequence by inserting

  lock (CS> 0 0)

between "group all" and "move ..."

You could also use the mark command to indicate the new origin.

In that case the move command does not need to deal with absolute

coordinates at all, so you can put the commands in a script file.

  move (R> 0 0) (0 0)

(see "Editor Commands - Command Syntax" in the online help for an

explanation of the modifiers)

If you want the locks preserved, you will need to write an ULP that

records the names of the locked parts and puts the lock in place again

after the move.

--

Lorenz