Documents

Access to older versions of CircuitStudio

pchan — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 21:46:42 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by pchan on 12/6/2021 9:46:42 PM

Sometimes it can be necessary to reinstall CircuitStudio, examples include:

Upgrading to a new computer
Operating system corruption requiring reinstallation
Reassigning license to a new user (who's computer has never had CircuitStudio)

Download the most recent version that your license will support based on your Maintenance Subscription expiry date. You license is perpetual but limited to running versions of software that were released prior to expiry of the subscription.

Downloads

CircuitStudio Download	Release Date
CircuitStudio 1.2	29-Jun-2016
CircuitStudio 1.3	29-Nov-2016
CircuitStudio 1.4	24-Mar-2017
CircuitStudio 1.4.1	19-Jul-2017
CircuitStudio 1.5.1	24-May-2018
CircuitStudio 1.5.2	01-Mar-2019

Activating Your License

On your main workstation where the license is controlled by a user sign-in:

Run CircuitStudio
View | Start to display the Home screen (if not already showing)
My Account > Sign In and enter your email address & password
My Account > Licenses to find your license and then click Activate / Reactivate

On a secondary computer where the license is controlled by a standalone license file (*.ALF):

Run CircuitStudio
View | Start to display the Home screen (if not already showing)
My Account > Licenses and then click Add Standalone License to install your license file

Tags: licensing, circuitstudio, installation

Altium CircuitStudio Community Poll

e14phil — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:11:12 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14phil on 10/11/2021 3:11:12 PM

Altium CircuitStudio Poll –

Altium and the e14 Software Team would love to get your feedback on CircuitStudio and PCB Design Tools overall.

Congratulations to the 5 lucky community members who won Altium CircuitStudio Poll subscriptions in our Community Poll.

The competition has now closed but feel you have not given your feedback yet? There is still time to enter this poll!

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions in this survey, it really helps us to get a sense of how you use your software, areas you feel would be most impactful to you for improvement and to give you an opportunity to provide that feedback in a targeted way.

This poll was a competition which has now been drawn. For more info see announcement in the comments below.

Tags: altium, altium circuitmaker, pcb, pcb’s, pcb tools

Nanoboard 3000 English Documentation

Former Member — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:49:00 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by Former Member on 10/7/2021 12:49:00 AM

Here is the link to get straight to the english documentation for the nanoboard 3000.

http://wiki.altium.com/display/ADOH/NanoBoard+3000+Series

Hope this helps...

Richard

Tags: 3000, altium, fpga, nanoboard

4671 US NB3000 0709 Datasheet

nlarson — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:46:09 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by nlarson on 10/7/2021 12:46:09 AM
10R0248

Access to older versions of CircuitStudio

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 22:02:37 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 10:02:37 PM

Sometimes it can be necessary to reinstall CircuitStudio, examples include:

Upgrading to a new computer
Operating system corruption requiring reinstallation
Reassigning license to a new user (who's computer has never had CircuitStudio)

Downloads

CircuitStudio Download	Release Date
CircuitStudio 1.2	29-Jun-2016
CircuitStudio 1.3	29-Nov-2016
CircuitStudio 1.4	24-Mar-2017
CircuitStudio 1.4.1	19-Jul-2017
CircuitStudio 1.5.1	24-May-2018
CircuitStudio 1.5.2	01-Mar-2019

Activating Your License

On your main workstation where the license is controlled by a user sign-in:

Run CircuitStudio
View | Start to display the Home screen (if not already showing)
My Account > Sign In and enter your email address & password
My Account > Licenses to find your license and then click Activate / Reactivate

On a secondary computer where the license is controlled by a standalone license file (*.ALF):

Run CircuitStudio
View | Start to display the Home screen (if not already showing)
My Account > Licenses and then click Add Standalone License to install your license file

Tags: licensing, circuitstudio, installation

Exporting CircuitStudio schematics to SVG and DXF

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:47:37 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:47:37 PM

Sometimes it can be really handy to export for documentation purposes or importing into other CAD applications. Although CircuitStudio can generate PDF documents it doesn't directly export to any graphical image formats. As a Microsoft Windows program it does support the clipboard making exporting images possible without the need for dedicated options within the application.

PCIe 4 port serial interface example provided with CircuitStudio.

Using copy and paste it is possible to copy the image into Microsoft Word or other Windows applications.The one big drawback is the lack of title block - this does not copy so it may be necessary to perform a screen capture (as above). The following free applications can be used to convert the image into DXF or SVG format.

SVG with Inkscape

This free application Inkscape has the capability to export both DXF and SVG. In CircuitStudio use Select > All then Copy and in Inkscape paste the drawing into your document. One minor issue you may notice with text is that the background is white rather than transparent and a very fine bounding box to the text.

After that is it just a matter of using File > Save As > Plain SVG. The SVG export works well as you can see in the image below.

The DXF export is not usable because of the loss of text. When copy and pasted from CS the text comes across as bitmaps and so does not convert to DXF format.

DXF with Inkscape via PDF

To work around the issue of bitmap text, from CS print the schematic sheet to a PDF file and open with Inkscape. Once open ungroup the objects (you might need to this a couple of times) and then select all objects (in particular the text) and run Path > Object To Path. This converts the text fonts into outlines. Once complete File > Save As > Desktop Cutting Plotter (AutoCAD DXF R14) (*.dxf). The resulting output is an outline drawing as can be seen below (viewed using the free online Autodesk viewer).

Tags: howto, export, circuitstudio

Board shape altered by DXF import

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:44:57 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:44:57 PM

CircuitStudio version at time of writing : 1.5.1

The CircuitStudio PCB editor provides a facility for importing DXF files which if often used to bring in board outlines but can also be used to import other information. The import allows assigning drawing data to user selected layers so the process is very flexible. It is not well documented that the import process can alter the board shape (the one seen in 3D View, the black board area on the grey workspace). For more background information please see our article Creating a board outline from DXF in CircuitStudio.

To import a DXF file use File > Import... and then select file type AutoCAD PCB Files (*.DXF; *.DWG). The import dialog that follows allows assigning layers in the drawing to layers in your PCB document and allows setting how the imported data is scaled.

Once the import completed you may find your board shape has been redefined. How it is altered is a little complex and depends on the layers imported and existing design data.

Preserving your existing board shape

If you had a defined board shape and wish to keep it then the follow method allows you to save a copy (before importing) and then restore that copy (once import completed).

Step #1: Run Home | Board Shape > Create Primitives From Board Shape

The layer you save the primitives to should be a spare layer not currently used for anything else. It is easiest to select Delete Existing so that you can easily select the generated primitives when re-creating the board.

Step #2: Import your DXF data.

Step #3: Restore your board shape by selecting the primitives from the first step and then running Home | Board Shape > Define From Selected Objects. To make it easier to select the primitives you can going into single layer mode with View | Single Layer Mode, select the Outline (or other layer used for saving the primitives) as the current layer (bottom tabs in editor window) and then selecting all items on the layer with Home | Select > All.

How your board shape may change

Assuming there is no data on the Keep-Out layer...

The board shape will be extended to incorporate the newly imported objects.
If there are components or similar that were outside the board area the board will be extended to include these.
The board shape will be a rectangle (bounding all objects).

If there is data on the Keep-Out Layer...

The board shape will try to take on the shape of any enclosed object on the Keep-Out Layer.
If there are multiple shapes on Keep-Out then the board shape may become a bounding rectangle enclosing the shapes.
The board outline may be undefined (does not exist) sometimes.

It is common to have a copy of the board outline on the Keep-Out Layer, often a thick outline that acts to keep tracks and components within the defined board area. If you are importing DXF onto another layer then it can happen your board outline will expand slightly on each DXF import because the board will be re-defined from the outer bounds of the keepout.

If you import DXF onto the Keep-Out Layer...

Acts very much like above where you can assume the DXF data was already on the Keep-Out Layer. In particular if you import and enclosed shape and there were no other shapes on the Keep-Out Layer you will most likely end up with a board outline matching (or approximating) the imported data.

In Summary

Even though it may almost seem sensible of the software to use the Keep-Out Layer to recreate the board shape automatically in practice the outer edge of the outline is used and so the board outline will change. The motto of this story is to keep a copy of your board outline on a spare layer so that it's there in case you need it to re-create your board. Typically the Outline layer is used in Gerber generation and contains a copy of the board outline so this can be a good layer to make use of.

Alternative Workflow

A CircuitStudio user suggested an alternative workflow which is very much worth mentioning (thanks bugrobotics). Instead of importing directly into your PCB create a spare PCB document and work with that to perform the imports and then simply copy/paste across to the real design afterwards. This minimises any possibility of your real design getting altered unexpectedly.

Tags: importer, circuitstudio

Editing and recompiling an Integrated Library

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:41:07 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:41:07 PM

Integrated libraries are a useful feature of CircuitStudio (and Altium Designer). These libraries contain schematic symbols, footprints and 3D models all compiled into the one single file. Many integrated libraries are made freely available by Altium at https://designcontent.live.altium.com/. This type of library can be considered 'read only' because you cannot directly edit the contents - a great format for distributing libraries to engineers to use for their designs when you have an engineering library manager. In this article we explain how to 'explode' the library, edit the contents and then rebuild back to an integrated library.

Let's assume you have been given an integrated library MyComps.IntLib and asked to update with a new component, and also assume you have not worked on this library before.

Create a folder MyComps in your CircuitStudio project directory.
Copy MyComps.IntLib into the new folder.
Run CircuitStudio and use File > Open Library...
Click Extract Sources to break the library into its constituent parts
Within your project folder a new folder MyComps will have been created containing your SchLib, PcbLib and LibPkg project file.
Within the Project panel you will see Source Documents and the SchLib and PcbLib files
Edit the individual SchLib and PcbLib files as normal using CircuitStudio's library editors
Once finished compile the library - right click on the LibPkg entry in the Projects panel and select Compile Integrated Library
The compiled library will be in the Outputs folder of you library project

The key points are that the newly compiled IntLib will be in the Outputs sub-folder and you right click on the project to find the compile option.

Tags: pcblib, schlib, library, intlib, circuitstudio

How to transfer a license to a new engineer

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:40:12 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:40:12 PM

CircuitStudio licenses are assigned to a person (email address). It can often be the case then when an engineer leaves or is replaced the license they were using needs to be assigned to a new or replacement engineer and will need to be used on a different computer.

You will be pleased to hear this is a simple process. In a nutshell you (1) request a license transfer and (2) move the software onto a new computer. Here's how it works in more detail.

License Transfer

Locate your existing license details, either serial number (SN-124567) or activation code (AB12-CD34), along with the license email address.
Email software@element14.com with the license details and contact name / email address for the new user
An activation email will be received by the new user once the license transfer is complete
Activate the software (from the email link) ready for use

Software Installation

Stop using the software on the old computer
Uninstall the software
Download and install CircuitStudio on the new computer
Sign-in using the new users license details
Click on Activate/ Reactivate button as necessary to complete the license installation

That's it - you are up and running.

Tags: altium, faq, licensing, howto, circuitstudio

Can you run CircuitStudio Offline?

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:39:06 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:39:06 PM

Some companies have policies of not allowing computers to have an internet connection so we do get asked if it is possible to run CircuitStudio completely offline. The simple answer is YES.

Installation

The software is only available online so it will be necessary to download the installer. The easiest option is to temporarily connect your PC to the internet and run the setup process as normal. If this is prohibited then please contact us at software@element14.com to request access to the offline installation files.

One time license activation

After making a purchase you will receive an email containing an activation link. Once this link has been followed to set up your license email/password and activate the license there is no need to use this procedure again. This step must be completed but can be from any computer - it does not have to be from the PC on which the software will be installed.

Licensing

CircuitStudio licenses are assigned to email addresses and normally you never have to worry about actual license files - simply sign in using the software from your PC. For offline use you have two choices (1) temporarily connect to the internet and sign-in for the first time to enable the software, or (2) have the software installed on an internet connected PC and sign-in then from the license page use Save Standalone License to generate a license file that can be transferred across to the isolated PC.

Day to day use

The online content vault and supplier links are two services that make use of the internet but both are entirely optional services, the software will run without any internet connection. To workaround the loss of access to the vault we recommend downloading libraries from https://designcontent.live.altium.com/. These don't always cover every single component available from the vault but there are a huge number of libraries available. Once downloaded the files can be unzipped and the libraries transferred to the offline computer.

Tags: faq, licensing, circuitstudio, libraries, installation

Making mass changes to designator text properties

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:38:41 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:38:41 PM

[Applies to versions: 1.5.1]

Setting Default Designator Properties

Although there is no dedicated user interface option for setting a default font & text size for the PCB designators it is possible using this tip.

The following assumed you have have a schematic prepared and have open an empty (no components already placed) PCB. In the PCB editor pick any random component from a library and start to place, the component should be 'on the cursor'. Hit the TAB key to bring up the property dialog and from there set the designator text properties. Finish placing the component - you have now successfully set the default properties. Perform an update from the schematic to add all the components to the PCB, the newly added component designators will take on the default text properties you have just set.

Mass Updates to Placed Components

If you need to update the designators of already placed components follow the steps below.

Set the filter to components using Home | Components
select all with Ctrl+A (or select just the subset of compnents you wish to change)
Change the filter to all using Home | All Objects
Activate the object inspector (if not already visible) using View | Object Inspector
In the PCB Inspector panel click on the Name link
Change the text properties as required using the inspector panel (Text Height, Text Width etc)

Tags: pcb, howto, circuitstudio

Resolving license errors

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:38:39 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:38:39 PM

License Errors

Very occasionally you may encounter a license error, this is quite rare but obviously worrying when it happens. Some changes that can trigger an error (but are certainly not guaranteed to) are:

Restoring a PC from a backup
Performing a system restore
After requesting a change of license details
When moving the software to a new computer
Installing a full license with an evaluation license

Some of the error messages you may see include:

"Warning: License Renewal Failed ~ You can use this license only on a single PC"
"Licenses are not available"
"You are not using a valid license. Select a license below and select Activate"

If you encounter the above or anything similar then please try the following. This wipes existing license details so that a new copy of your license can be obtained from the Altium servers.

Quit CircuitStudio
Rename (or delete) the folder (where guid will be a long number unique to your installation)
C:\ProgramData\Altium\CircuitStudio {guid}_Security
Launch CircuitStudio
Sign in using your license email address and password
If necessary navigate to the license page View | Start followed by My Account > Licenses
Click the Reactivate button next to your license
If you get the following message just agree (click Yes) - no harm will come of it
"This license has already been activated. Using this license again may conflict with another user on your network if they are using this license. Are you sure you want to continue?"

Your license issue should now be resolved. If your problem persists then please contact us at software@element14.com and include your sign-in email address and a screenshot of any error messages.

Maintenance Subscription Expiry Dates

Although not strictly a license error you may sometimes find that your maintenance expiry date shown on the My Account > Licenses page is different to that shown on the My Account > Extensions and Updates page. If the second date is wrong then this can prevent you from installing software updates to which you are entitled. To force an update use the Reactivate button next to your license.

Evaluation Licenses

These are very different from the normal commercial license in the following ways:

Time limited to 30 days
Locked to exactly the one software installation
Cannot be moved between computers
Cannot be used to license another installation of the software (even on the same computer)

Normally these differences do not matter but the following may cause the license to stop working:

Reinstalling the software
Attempting to run the software on a different computer
A system restore
Copying or changing a virtual machine (if CS is installed within a VM)

If you license stops working then you will not be able to successfully start a new trial. One workaround is to request a new trial using completely different details (use a different email, address and phone number). If this cannot be done then please contact us for assistance at software@element14.com.

How to disable Supply Chain Insight

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:36:36 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:36:36 PM

Many vault components have supply chain data and will display a panel overlay in the schematic editor if the mouse hovers over the symbol for a short period.

The list of supplies is taken from those enabled in system preferences, File > System Preferences : Suppliers : Available Suppliers. You can uncheck all suppliers but the panel will still pop up even though it has no data to display (no data because all suppliers are disabled).

To permanently disable the Supply Chain Insight panel you need to use regedit.exe so this modification is entirely at your own risk. Make sure you know what you are doing and have any necessary backups in place. Navigate to the following registry path where {guid} is a long number unique to your installation:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Altium\CircuitStudio {guid}\DesignExplorer\Preferences\Client\Client Preferences

and change SupplyChainInsight to 0 to disable the feature or to 1 to enable. You will need to re-start CircuitStudio for the change to take effect.

Tags: sch, howto, circuitstudio

Using componentsearchengine.com libraries with CircuitStudio

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:36:32 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:36:32 PM

SamacSys provide a large online component library that supports a number of different PCB design tools and they have now added full instructions for using their library with CircuitStudio. The parts are free and it's great to see support for our favourite PCB design tool.

Online library - click here

CircuitStudio integration instructions - click here

One great feature of the component library is that they will create parts on request - click here.

Note that the current integration method uses the Eagle library format so always check results after importing, as with any CAD package never assume data imports are going to be 100% accurate.

Please note that componentsearchengine.com is a third party product and is neither endorsed or recommended by Altium or element14.

Tags: pcblib, schlib, library, circuitstudio

Student and Educational Licenses

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:35:34 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:35:34 PM

There are student versions of both CircuitStudio and Altium Designer available by special request (they are not available to order online). There are no 'free' versions (so please don't ask) however at around $100 to $150 they are low cost options worthy of consideration. The software is identical to the full commercial version but differs in licensing terms - the licenses are for a set period of 12 months rather than lifetime (perpetual), the software should not be used for commercial projects and the user is not entitled to technical support (you can still make use of the user forums).

Which to choose.. that is the question. In general Altium Designer would be the correct choice because it is an industry standard leading edge package with high end features and features floating licenses which are ideal for classroom teaching situations. Each product has its own strengths in terms of use in an educational environment, follow the questions below to help decide which is best for you.

Are students being trained for specific industry roles?

If the aim is to train students in the use of a particular CAD package then it makes sense to use that software in the learning environment be it CS or AD. Please be aware that CS is not available to license on a class basis but only to individual students.

Is it a classroom teaching situation with many students?

AD features floating licenses which allow installation of the software on a large number of computers (e.g. a teaching lab) with the number of licenses purchases enabling that many students to make active use of the software. This style of licensing is easy to administer because it is centralised and there is no need to worry how many copies of the software are installed. CS cannot be licensed on a classroom basis, only directly by individual students.

Are students expected to use the software away from class?

The floating license feature of AD will work across a network so if students can access the campus network then the licensing should continue to operate and allow students to use the software outside of the computer lab. Software asset management is made easy due to the licensing - there is no need to control how many copies of the software installed because the number of users is limited by the licensing scheme.

Are you running an advanced PCB design course?

AD, as an industry standard high end package, has many features dedicated to complex and high speed board designs. If the teaching course requires use of rigid-flex designs, very high speed circuits that require trace and impedance matching, advanced design rules, repeated circuit elements and similar then AD is the best choice.

Licensing

The educational product is covered by different licensing terms to the commercial product that restricts the use of the software. An academic use license is for use by:

Faculty and academic staff performing software administration, teaching, and non-commercial, academic research [AD only]

Enrolled students, meeting classroom requirements of courses and study offered by approved educational institutions [AD and CS]

Prohibited uses include any use for purposes of supporting:

Research and development for any commercial (for profit) entity even if a portion of such research is for pure academic reasons
Government agencies or not for profit entities

How to Order

Altium Designer Educational information and contact form can be found at https://www.altium.com/solutions/by-industry/education.

Student versions cannot be purchased online or through the in-app purchase mechanism, the product is available by special quote only and proof of student or educational status will be required.

Tags: licensing, circuitstudio

Why can't I import a DXF file into my PCB?

jamesharrimanaltium — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:35:18 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by jamesharrimanaltium on 10/6/2021 9:35:18 PM

On rare occasions the third party conversion utility didn't install correctly.

Please uninstall/reinstall the installation of TeighaX. The installer is located here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium\CS\System\Installation\TeighaX_Setup_3.9.0.msi

TeighaX is a 3rd party utility used during import of dxf/dwg.

Can I use my license on more than one computer?

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:32:52 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:32:52 PM

A question often asked involves the ability to have CircuitStudio installed on more than one computer even though the user only own one license.

The EULA (license agreement) allows for a user to install on two computers of theirs, for example a desktop and work and maybe a home computer or laptop. In practice nobody will complain if you need to use on three computers (perhaps work, laptop and home). In this scenario you are the only user (your license) and only one copy of the software must be running at any one time.

Installing the software on two computers is quite simple. On the primary computer install as normal and use your email address and password to sign in and run the program. From the license screen (View | Start; My Account > Licenses) you can highlight your license and click Export Standalone License to generate a standalone license file (*.ALF). On your secondary computer install the software and then rather than use your normal license hit the Use Standalone License button and load up the *.ALF file you saved earlier. Do not attempt to activate this license, it is ready to go with nothing further needed.

If you make use of any online services such as the Altium Content Vault then you will need to set this up on your second computer. When adding in the Vault (via File > System Preferences) use your email address and password associated with your license, you can request these to be saved so you do not need to keep re-entering. Note that this is separate to signing in to CS using your email, on the secondary computer you continue to rely on the license file you loaded.

Should you have any more complex license usage scenarios then please feel free to contact us directly at software@element14.com as personal information and licensing details are often not suited to public discussions on the forums.

Adding logos to your PCB layout

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:32:50 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:32:50 PM

If it often a requirement to include one or more logos on a PCB, this may be a company logo or regulatory mark. There are a few different ways to accomplish this and it may be a little bit of trial and error to see what works best for your particular design. Once a logo has been imported or designed you can save as a library component to allow easy re-use. This document covers the following methods:

Design With CircuitStudio
Bitmap Import
DXF Import
Custom TrueType Font

1. Design With CircuitStudio

For simple designs the tools available within CS can be sufficient to create a graphic.You have a good range of tools including lines, arcs, circles, text, fills, regions and polygons.

A little explanation of the difference may help.

Home | Fill - a filled polygonal shape with any number of vertices

Home | Solid Region - a simple filled rectangular shape

Home | Polygon Pour - a filled polygonal shape that will repour around other objects

Some useful tips to help control the drawing process, these apply to both drawing shapes and routing tracks so well worth knowing if you are not familiar. Whilst in the drawing process where the cursor has changed and you are placing vertices you can change the elbow direction and the placement mode (angle constraints and straight lines/arcs). Hit F1 (or SHIFT+F1) when drawing to see the available shortcuts.

The most common shortcuts are described below.

SPACE (Toggle Elbow Side) - Changes the initial starting direction of the line segment, for example toggling between a horizontal or vertical start.

SHIFT+SPACE (Cycle Placement Mode) - Toggles though the various placement modes which are Line 45/90; Line 90/45; Line 90/45 with Arc; Line 90/90; Line 90/90 with Arc.

BACKSPACE - Undo the last vertex placed

, or . or SHIFT+, or SHIFT+. - Adjust arc radius (small increments, larger increments with SHIFT)

2. Bitmap Import

CS includes the ability to import a bitmap graphic using Home | Image. The supported graphic formats are BMP, PNG, JPG and GIF.

Although you can import colour and greyscale images remember that they are always converted to just black and white (or more accurately filled and transparent pixels) to fit with being drawn on a single PCB layer. You will need to resize your image prior to import, once imported you cannot resize each pixel is fixed at 8mil (0.2mm) square. This pixel size can be an issue for some designs, especially if needing very fine detail to be reproduced which leads to the import looking a little 'blocky'. Technically it is possible to manually resize/reshape the image because it consists of region objects and bringing up the property dialog for a region allows the vertices to be edited although this is not normally a practical method.

3. DXF Import

DXF is a very common format to use for importing logos, typically only an outline will be imported and any solid fills from the original design lost due to the file format, only outlines will remain.

Here's a simple example of a logo drawn using a graphics package, exported to DXF and then imported to CS. As we can see the DXF version has lost the fills so we will aim to restore within CS.

Fill using Regions

There are a couple of techniques that can be used to fill the logo. For simple objects you can often select an outline and convert to a filled region. To access the required command you first need to select the outline that is to be filled and then type "convert region" into the search box and click on the command.

If successful a solid region will be created. If the outline was non-contiguous or a composed of a set of complex line segments (as can often happen with DXF exports) this command can fail and no region will be created. All is not lost though, we will move on to using a polygon pour to fill the logo.

Fill using Polygon Pours

To have polygon pours work make sure all logo objects (DXF import and polygons) are placed on a copper layer (e.g. Top layer). Once the work is complete the logo can be moved to a different layer.

Draw a polygon pour using Home | Polygon Pour over the entire outline logo. Because the polygon will not be connected to a new it is important to untick Remove Dead Copper otherwise the whole polygon will self-delete as it has no electrical connection. We give the polygon a name so that we can identify it easily.

Once poured we get something like the image below. Note that if your imported DXF consisted of thousands of segments then polygon pouring (in particular bringing up the properties dialog afterwards) can be slow.

The default clearance rules are affecting the pour causing a large gap to be left between the outline and the pour. To correct this we just need to configure the design rules using the following process.

Bring up the classes dialogue using Home | Classes.
In the Object Class Explorer dialog select Polygon Classes, right click and Add Class. Right click on the new class and select Rename Class, change to Logo (or whatever you prefer).
With Logo class selected move your polygon (named LogoPoly) across from Non-Members to Members.
Close the Object Class Explorer dialog.

Next define the design rules that will adjust the clearance around the logo polygon.

Bring up the rules editor with Home | Design Rules.
Define a new Electrical > Clearance rule (highlight rule type then click New Rule button)
Edit the rule properties - change name to Clearance_Logo, match against Polygon Class = Logo, all constraints to 0 or 1 (using 1 lets you see the original DXF outline easily).
Click OK the accept the new values then close the dialog.
Select the logo polygon, right click and execute Polygon Actions > Rebuild Selected

Once done we have a polygon that very closely matches the DXF outline. Next we turn it into a fixed object (so it doesn't repour) and delete parts to just leave behind the fills we need.

Select logo polygon, right click Polygon Actions > Explode Selected Polygons To Free Primitives.
Left click on areas that are not to be filled and delete them.

That's it, you now have a logo. If necessary you can use View | Object Inspector to change the logo onto the desired layer (e.g. Top Overlay).

4. Custom TrueType Font

A completely different approach that can overcome the limitations of DXF where too many drawing objects are created when importing for CS to easily work with. The exact details of this method will depend on the software you have access to and the format of the logo.

Create a SVG logo file
- e.g. Use Inkscape* or Adobe Illustrator* to draw a logo and save as SVG.
- e.g. Use QCAD* to import an existing DXF logo and export as SVG.
Convert SVG to a TTF font file
- e.g. icomoon.io can be used to create the font file
- Assign the new glyph to an easy to access key (.e.g. 'a')
Install your custom font file in Windows
- Right click and select Install to make the font available to Windows programs.
- This font will need to be available on any computer you use with CS.
- Your manufacturing partner will not need the font file if you are supplying Gerbers.
Open the PCB document in CS and place text using your custom font
- Add text, type in the character associated with your logo (.e.g 'a').
- Change text properties to use TrueType font and select your custom logo font.
- Adjust the logo size as you would for any text string.

*These are examples only, we are not recommending this software/service or suggesting that it is fit for purpose.

Tags: pcb, howto, circuitstudio

Error launching Layer Stack Manager

e14softwareuk — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:32:15 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14softwareuk on 10/6/2021 9:32:15 PM

We have a couple of suggestions to try if you encounter this error (which seems to be a very rare occurrence).

#1 : Remove Projects and Reboot

Close all projects and documents, the View | Projects panel should be empty.

Shut down CircuitStudio then reboot the computer.

Add back in a project and test the Layer Stack Manager.

#2: Repair .Net Framework

The Microsoft .Net components of Windows (for example, version 4.5.1) may require repairing.

To fix this, run the .NET Framework Setup Verification Tool available at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/10/13/8999004.aspx.

If the .NET Framework installation is available in the Windows Control Panel: Program and Features section, double click on the application, select to repair the .NET Framework to its original state. (This may not be available in newer versions of Windows).

Tags: platform, circuitstudio

Schematic Editing and Navigation Tricks\Tools you might miss in the beginning

csiemer — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:30:53 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by csiemer on 10/6/2021 9:30:53 PM

Applies to Versions : All

Most software has these little nuances, and they are generally mentioned in documentation, but rarely in a way that would help you understand why it is there, or when you might use it, and human nature causes us to miss these bits when we are first learning… so I wanted to create this Knowledge Article to draw attention to a few of these. They are not major features, but I sometimes find these little things to be extremely helpful, once you know they exist.

Always Drag and the CTRL Key

The default behavior when moving connected objects in Altium CircuitStudio is to “Always Drag” this was enabled by default to match behavior of other tools. However, this is not the native behavior of Altium Schematic tools so I wanted to use a section here to briefly explain the behavior.

Traditionally Altium\Protel Schematic tools would not default to keep items connected while moving, if you wanted to drag the items and keep them connected you would hold the CTRL key prior to moving. This traditional behavior is only active if the Always Drag preference is Disabled, so if you are used to, or prefer, this way of working and wish to restore that behavior uncheck the Always Drag preference in the Schematic >> General page of the System Preferences.

While Always Drag is active(Default Behavior), this behavior is toggled. Instead of CTRL invoking a drag command, with Always Drag enabled, the CTRL key instead Suppresses the drag functionality.

Either way, knowing that the CTRL key will toggle this behavior will allow you to better utilize the default behavior you prefer, just in case this was not yet discovered

Changing defaults during placement

When initially placing an item, such as a Net Label, a Port, or a Power Object, after you have invoked the command, but before you have placed the item into your design and it is still held on your cursor - Press TAB and alter the properties of the item prior to placement, and this will update the defaults for your next placement. If you place the object first, then access the properties of the placed item, it will only change that item and the defaults will remain unchanged.

This is good to know for a few reasons

You may have changed a default on accident and not know how it changed
You changed a default, but now want to change it back
You may not like the existing default, and intentionally want to update it to suit your preference

Morph tool

Hovering over an item, while another is held on your cursor, you have the ability to press the Insert key on your Numpad and this will do one of two things.

If you are holding a component, and hovering over another component and press INS the component on your cursor will morph and pick up the properties of the component underneath.

If you are holding a text item such as a Net Label, Port, Power Object, etc and you press INS while hovering over another object, it will pick up the text of that object, without turning into it. E.g. I can hover a Port over a Net Label and press INS to pick up the text underneath. This can be very handy when creating ports for a group of signals you plan to pass to another sheet, as seen in the animation here.

Shift+Drag to copy and Increment

If you hold the SHIFT key, then click and drag on an item, or selection of items, within the Schematic a copy of that object will appear on your cursor, automatically incremented if applicable. This is a quick and easy way to continue placement of a group of similar objects, in the event you did not do a continual placement and need to add new parts without starting over again from the Library for instance. Keep in mind that the autoincrement does not check existing designators or values, and duplicates can be created. It’s effectively a copy/paste with an autoincrement and requiring a few less clicks. But handy in a pinch to save a little time here and there if you know it’s available. Where I find myself using it most often is creating a set of equal length wires, instead of clicking to create each one.

Alt+Click on an electrical object for a quick net highlight

Quick note on ‘dim’ highlighting:

A ‘dim’ is just a reductive highlight method and does not prevent editing as ‘mask’ does, although they can be difficult to distinguish if your view levels are similar.

Use the Dim Level slider on the View tab of your ribbon to control the strength of the ‘dim’ effect on the other objects

Now, back to the ALT+Click highlight…It is important to mention this will only work if your Project has been compiled, so if you have not compiled yet access Home | Project >> Compile With the Project Compiled hold ALT and Left-click on an electrical item in the Schematic you will dim out all other objects and this will give you a quick graphical highlight and zoom of where that net connects on your current sheet.

CTRL+Double-click on a Sheet Entry or Port for quick navigation through your hierarchy

While hovering over a Sheet entry or Port CTRL+Double-click will take you to a corresponding sheet entry, or port on another sheet. You can continue CTRL+Double-click to navigate through the hierarchy. This will also ‘dim’ other objects to help highlight what you are targeting, but again this will not prevent you from continuing your navigation.

I hope this is helpful!

Tags: tutorial, altium, protel, tips, schematic, cskb, professional pcb design, getting started, circuitstudio, tricks