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Silkscreen Cutout

r.gibson

I am building Capacitive Touch buttons for my project and am overlaying each button with silkscreen. At the center of each silkscreen area I want to cut out an icon to represent the buttons function (ie. a negative image). I am having trouble figuring out an efficient way to do this. I tried using a Polygon Pour Cutout on the Top Overlay layer, but it doesn't seem to work.

 

The best way I have figured out at this point is to draw a 360° arc, with a thickness of about 1/3 of the radius of the circle that it is filling (such that the outer radius of the arc is the same radius as the button) which leaves a 2/3 unfilled circle within. Then using filled rectangles, add to the silkscreen layer until the shape I want is formed. This is a huge PITA when all I really want are basic geometric shapes that would normally be easy to accomplish as a "positive" image (ie. make the shape out of Silkscreen instead of taking away silkscreen). Am I missing something?

  • 0

    Polygon cutouts do work on the silk screen layer, you may need to right click on a polygon and Rebuild All to see the cutouts. Don't forget you can also have curved edges on polygons, just as when routing tracks use the SHIFT+SPACE to cycle through the available corner styles.

  • 0 in reply to e14softwareuk

    Peter, thanks for the reply. I am using Altium Designer at work so I haven't had a chance to try your suggestion in Circuit Studio yet. I'll give it a try when I get home...in AD I'm having trouble finding the Rebuild All command. Is that a CS only function?

     

    Also, even in Designer I'm not able to subtract a simple geometric shape (triangle) from a circle. I'm using the Place->FullCircle function, which is not a polygon, so the Polygon Manager is not subtracting my Polygon Pour Cutout from it. How should I be creating a Polygon circle so I can then use the cutout?

     

    ...one more thing. Is it possible to rotate a polygon? For example, I have this circle with a triangle in it and I want to create alternate footprints with the triangle (arrow) pointing in various directions (D-pad). It would would be really convenient if I could just copy the footprint and then rotate the triangle, rather than having to redraw the triangle in each footprint. I tried selecting the polygon, then pressing the space-bar, which didn't work, and I don't see a rotate command anywhere else...Ahhhha, I just figured it out! You have to select and begin moving the polygon, THEN use the spacebar to rotate. Nevermind!

  • 0 in reply to e14softwareuk

    Ok...so I found a solution in Altium Designer...I'll see if I can reproduce it in Circuit Studio this evening:

     

    1) Select Place -> Full Circle

    2) Draw the circle

    3) Select Tools -> Convert -> "Create Polygon From Selected Primitives"

    4) Double-click somewhere in the center of the polygon to bring up the Polygon Pour menu

    5) Change Fill Mode to Solid and select OK

    6) Select Place -> "Polygon Pour Cutout"

    7) Draw negative image (to remove silk) inside the Polygon Pour (or outside, then drag in into place)

    8) Right click anywhere inside the Polygon Pour and select Polygon Actions -> "Repour All"

  • 0 in reply to r.gibson

    ...after trying the above method in CS, I'm beginning to realize how much simpler CS is than AD...as far as I can tell, there is no way to create a circular polygon pour in CS. Hopefully one of the e14 guys can come up with a solution...

  • 0 in reply to r.gibson

    Hi,

     

    Regarding your point 3.

    "3) Select Tools -> Convert -> "Create Polygon From Selected Primitives"

     

    It has been discusses before. The command is not in the GUI but you can access it by typing "convert" keyword in the top right Search field.

    In the list of results that pop-up you'll find the command: "Convert -> Create Polygon From Selected Primitives"

     

    BTW: by Trial and Error you'll find other useful commands.

     

    Result:

     


    image

  • 0 in reply to mars01

    Marius, thank you for the tip! I hadn't played with the search field yet. I'll experiment with it in the future.

     

    However, you are slightly mistaken on the command...it is "Create Region From Selected Primitives" not "Create Polygon From Selected Primitives." Unfortunately there appears to be a significant difference as far as Altium is concerned when using the Polygon Pour Cutout (at least in Designer)...so unfortunately, it still doesn't help in this case. It is a good way to create a disk from a ring however. I previously used a pad for that...I like this method better.

     

    Also, I can't seem to find a "Pour" or "Repour" command in the search either...

  • 0 in reply to r.gibson

    You have them both, although you've asked for Create Polygon ...

     

    image

    For Pour and Unpour, select and then right click on a Polygon, under the Polygon Actions selection there is a list with many possible actions, among them are those you mentioned.

     

    LE: If you want to access them through search field, type: "polygon".

     

    LLE: if I understood correctly, what you need is something like this:

    image

  • 0 in reply to mars01

    Ahhh, I think I see the problem...It appears to be context sensitive. The features that you showed are all available in the PCB editor, but NOT available in the PCB Library editor...I'm trying to create this as a footprint, so it's a reusable component that I can place as many times as I like. Any idea why those same commands aren't available in the footprint library editor? It seems to me that the two editors should share features...

     

    I was able to successfully reproduce the silkscreen that I want in the PCB editor, but even after copying and pasting the completed polygon back into the touch button in the library editor, it doesn't show up correctly...specifically it doesn't repour...I feel like I'm missing something here...why doesn't the PCB library editor allow me to do this?

  • 0 in reply to r.gibson

    Yes, the search function is context sensitive.

     

    Welcome to the world of CircuitStudio: everything is but not quite.You have to dig through it, the search function is the same as it is on Altium Designer 18 so I think that CS served at some point as a testbed for different features. This search function is quite powerful, you can search for components, nets, built-in commands that are not exposed in GUI (yet, I hope). I advice you to have a look in the Altium Designer menu structure and try to search for the names of those functions. Some they might be in CS.

     

    You can build your custom silkscreen on a PCB file and then copy/paste everything in the PcbLib file. Like in picture below.

    As for why the polygons are not automatically repoured (although there is a reference there) it might be because CircuitStudio is not a completely finished product and we are all waiting anxiously for the next update that should solve all those problems. I understand from another forum, that one Altium support guy promised that now everything is on track and the delay in CS updates is due of the release of Altium Designer 18 which, understandable, took the focus of the programmer team. Which I sort of suspected all along.

     

    image

  • 0

    Okay, so to answer my original question, in Altium Circuit Studio v1.4:

     

    1) Start from within the PCB editor window (Not Footprint editor)

    2) From the ribbon bar, select Home -> Place -> Full Circle

    3) Place and size the circle

    4) Double click the circle and select Properties -> Layer -> "Top Overlay"

    5) From the Search bar in the upper right corner of the window

    6) Type "convert" and select "Convert > Create Polygon from Selected Primitives"

    7) From the ribbon bar, select the drop-down under Home -> Pour -> "Polygon Pour" and select "Polygon Pour Cutout"

    8) Draw your cutout shape within the circle (Optionally cycling through corner styles using Shift-Space hotkeys)

    9) Double click within the cutout shape and select the Polygon Pour Cutout from the popup

    10) From the Region window, select Properties -> Layer -> "Top Overlay" and then select OK

    11) Double click inside the circle (but outside the cutout shape) to bring up the Polygon Pour configuration window

    12) At the top of the window, change "Fill Mode" to "Solid (Copper Regions)"

    13) Down below in the same window, select Properties -> Layer -> "Top Overlay" and then select OK

    14) From the pop-up, select "Repour Now"

    15) Select the entire circle (including the arc, the polygon fill and the polygon cutout. If you aren't careful it will only take the Polygon pour.) and either copy or cut it to the clipboard

    16) Switch to the PcbLib Footprint Editor and either create new footprint, or paste it into an existing one

    17) If you need to rotate it, you will need to do it from the original in the PCB Editor, not within the Footprint Editor, as it will not repour the polygon. Also, it is not sufficient to select and then rotate it using the spacebar, you must select and then begin moving it with the mouse, THEN press the spacebar to rotate.

     

    Thanks Marius for helping me figure this out. Definitely wasn't very intuitive, but glad we came up with a solution for now. Hopefully they fix this in an upcoming release!