Question on how to place a circular board cutout in CS

Hi James, a few suggestions that may help.

1) The fab house may be able to convert a larger drill hole to a routed hole, worth asking them.

2) When using the Home | Board Cutout to draw the cutout polygon use SHIFT+SPACE to alter the type of lines drawn (just the same as when routing a track), it can switch between direct, 90 degree, 45 degree and arcs (hence allowing you to make a circle).

3) Use the technique described in this article https://www.element14.com/community/community/manufacturers/altium/blog/2017/10/19/working-with-dxf-board-outlines-in-circuitstudio. First drawn a circle (Home | Circle) and then check out the instructions in the article from just over half way down where CREATE REGION is mentioned. This allows the circle to be turned into a board cutout.

Hi James,

The way to do this with the most control is use version 1.3.  It has the option of defining the board shape from a 3D object: "Board Shape" -> "Define from 3D Body". This feature has been removed in 1.4 and 1.4.1 for an unknown reason (although I have my suspicions).

The process involves treating the board like any other custom electrical component with a user defined footprint (with an empty schematic) and leveraging the "Define from 3D Body" option in CS 1.3.

This is my workflow:

1. Create an integrated library for "Custom Board Shapes"

2. Add a .SchLib and .PcbLib to this libary.  I name these files like this "Project Name + Board Outline"

3. Use a 3D CAD program to draw the board with the cutouts (whatever shape you need).  Fusion 360 is a good one if you need something free.  Save the file as a .STEP

4. Open the .PcbLib file in the Custom Board Shapes library and select "3D Body" from the ribbon.  This is where you add your STEP file you just created.  Save the .PcbLib file.

5. Open the .SchLib file in the Custom Board Shapes library.  At the bottom left of your screen you should see a tab "SCH Library".  Click that and then double click "Component_1".  Under "Models" select "Add".  Select "Footprint" from the dropdown.  This is where you link the STEP file to the Schematic.  Select "Browse" and you should be able to select the model you just linked to the .PcbLib file.  Select OK and save the .SchLib file.

6. Compile your Custom Board Shapes library by right clicking the name and selecting "Compile Integrated Library PROJECT NAME".LibPkg

***You should be ready to add the board outline to your project now.***

7. Open your project's .CSPcbDoc.  (NOTE: It helps if you do all of this stuff before you place your circuit but not necessary)

8. Open the "Libraries" panel and navigate to your Custom Board Shape library.  Drag the desired board outline into your file just as you would any other library component.

9. Switch to 3D view (press "3" on your keyboard or go to the "View"- > "Switch to 3D").  You should see your board shape.

10. From the "Home" ribbon select "Board Shape" -> "Define from 3D body" and select the board shape and press enter.  The holes won't show up properly until you cycle one time between 2D and 3D.

11.  You will need to go in and define the non-circular regions as cutouts and lock all of the cutouts because they can be moved around.

I'll try and throw together a quick video showing the process.  It's not bad once you have it down (takes a few minutes) but it is obnoxious you have to go through all that to define the board shape from a model.  Hope this helps.

PLEA TO DEVELOPERS: Make defining from a 3D object a simple, straightforward process.  There is absolutely no reason this should require hacking around the software.