The process of transferring a design from the capture stage to the board layout stage is launched using the Update command Home | Project | Project » Update PCB Document on the Schematic editor Ribbon (or Home | Project | Project » Import Changes from the PCB editor Ribbon).
When you run this command the design is compiled and a set of Engineering Change Orders created:
- List all components used in the design, and the footprint required for each. When the ECOs are executed the software will attempt to locate each footprint in the currently available libraries or available Content Vault, and place each into the PCB workspace. If the footprint is not available, an error will occur.
- A list of all nets (connected component pins) in the design is created. When the ECOs are executed the software will add each net to the PCB, and then attempt to add the pins that belong to each net. If a pin cannot be added an error will occur - this most often happens when the footprint was not found, or the pads on the footprint do not map to the pins on the symbol.
- Addition design data is then transferred, such as net and component classes.
Although not demonstrated in the video, the ECO process is used when revising a design. For example additional symbols can be added to a schematic, wired up and then all the changes transferred across to the PCB layout.