Variant feature usability

Question

Hello!

Lets imagine that on my PCB I have 4 "channels"(circuit pieces), that can be fitted or not fitted independently of each other. For example a temperature measurement piece, a MEMS piece, a pressure measurement piece, and a light intensity measurement piece.

So my question is: should I create in variant manager a 2^4=16 variants of my PCB assembly and switch them from combo box? If yes, this is very sad.

Why I can not just using a 4 check boxes to switch on/off this "channel" from assembly files. I think this can be much more convenience way do manage variants on PCB.

Thanks.

jamesharrimanaltium · Accepted Answer

Hi Dmitry,

CircuitStudio does not have this feature as it only has the basic variants to fit or not fit, or vary parameter values. There is also the multi-channel feature as you are probably aware but it doesn't have the control over variants that you've requested (let me know if you need an example of multi-channel).

Altium Designer has more advanced variants and since V16 has the feature you've requested: http://www.altium.com/documentation/display/ADES/NFS_16_0((Multi-Channel+Support+for+Variants))_AD however currently this is not planned for CircuitStudio.

Best regards,

James Harriman

Altium