A new update has been released for 14.3 - 14.3.16 (build 37051). This is the first maintenance update for 14.3 product line, as it was announced earlier.
Fixes in this update:
#4233 Changing PCB layer names could result in layer-related lists populating incorrectly and certain outputs not generating correctly, this has been fixed.
#4235 Improved performance of selection and zooming in Schematic in comparison with 14.3
#4236 STEP models from Inventor 2014 are now loaded without errors
#4237 Class generation settings are now stored for device sheets (BC:3840)
#4238 An AV could occur while placing a pin in a schematic library and pressing Esc to quit the command, this no longer happens.
#4239 With a specific combination of preferences, placing a component from the schematic libraries panel could cause Altium Designer to crash, this no longer occurs.
#4380 Performing a release after file-less editing an Item in the Planned state, no longer fails with the error (BC:4677, BC:4870).
Release notes
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
A new update has been released for 14.3 - 14.3.16 (build 37051)
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Announcement: Altium Designer 15.0
What's New in Altium Designer
Each release of Altium Designer continues the process of keeping you plugged into a continuous stream of new features, technologies and enhancements, designed to make it easier for you to create your next generation electronics designs. This page introduces new features as they are released so have a browse through – you may just find a feature or enhancement you have missed or overlooked. A design gem that may well prove an invaluable productivity-booster!
We're excited about the new features and functionality included in each and every update to Altium Designer, in addition to a host of other enhancements, crunched bugs and implemented ideas, and we're sure that you'll be excited too! And remember, keeping current with your Altium Subscription gives you access to new cool features and enhancements in future updates, as soon as they are released from development.
For each Altium Designer update, its release date and version is presented, along with a link to the associated page of release notes. Its key features are highlighted with links to more detailed pages where available. For information on which features were introduced in previous versions of the software, refer to the page Altium Designer What's New - Previous Releases.
For information on installing the software, see System Installation, Licensing & Management.
Altium Designer 15.0
Released:
17 November 2014 - Version: 15.0.7
This update to Altium Designer delivers a powerful array of new features and enhancements to the core technologies, while also addressing many issues raised by customers through the AltiumLive Community's BugCrunch system. In total, over 20 new features and over 120 fixes and enhancements across the software as a whole. Another sound release that reinforces Altium's ongoing commitment to providing you with a world class design solution.
Release Notes for Altium Designer Version 15.0
Altium Designer 15 - What's it all about?
Altium Designer 15.0 is a major update. It is not possible to update from Altium Designer 14.3, a new installation is required. You have the choice to continue with your current version or to install Altium Designer 15.0 to access the latest features. Alternatively, have both installed side-by-side, and use the version that best suits your needs.
PCB xSignals This new feature specifically enables the correct treatment of a high-speed signal path as just that - a path for a signal to travel between a source and destination, through termination components as well as y-splits. This means DDR3/4 memory routing and delay and phase tuning of the bus signals just got a whole lot easier. | Solder Mask Expansion Enhancements With this new release, it is now possible to specify different values for solder mask expansions for top and bottom layers. The capability of defining separate layer expansions for pads and vias is available through the matching properties dialogs, the PCB Inspector panel etc, and can be applied on a Design Rule basis. |
Polygon Enhancements Based on extensive feedback from designers, there have been a number of improvements and changes to polygon pours. Shelving of polygons has returned and the display of modified polygons has changed to make it easy to identify an edited polygon. Vertex manipulation has also been simplified, with the default move mode for both corner and center vertex set to unconstrained movement. | OLE Object Support in PCB Documents The PCB Editor now supports embedding OLE objects, such as Word or Excel documents, into a PCB document (Place » Object from File). As an OLE object it remains linked back to the source document, and an edit session can be launched from the PCB workspace. |
Support for Rectangular Pad Holes Adding to Altium Designer's pad hole options of round, square and slotted definitions, this release includes enhanced hole support through the addition of Rectangular shaped holes. Rectangular pad holes are ultimately routed, punched or cut out, depending on board fabricator capabilities. | Separate 2D & 3D View Orientations 2D and 3D view modes are now completely separate, each view mode retains the last-used orientation, zoom level, and layer configurations. |
IPC-2581 Support The IPC-2581 output format is a new standard from the IPC (Institute for Printed Circuits) that is now supported by Altium Designer. A significant advantage of IPC-2581 is that it generates a single XML file which is capable of including all information needed to fabricate and assemble the printed circuit board assembly. | Gerber X2 Support This release also includes the new Gerber X2 fabrication output format. Gerber X2 is an advanced extension of the existing Gerber RS-274X standard and provides an improved manufacturing output format that is backward compatible with existing workflows, software, and fabrication equipment. |
IDX Support Building Altium Designer's strong ECAD - MCAD integration, is the new IDX extension. This extension implements ProStep's Electrical Design, Mechanical Design (EDMD) standard for data exchange, based on the XML protocol. This collaborative standard is most commonly referred to by the name of the exchange file format – IDX (Incremental Design Exchange format). | Exporting to IDF in Unicode Format Altium Designer 15.0 sees an enhancement to the IDF Exporter, with support for generating files using Unicode (supporting the use of non-ASCII symbols). An example of the use of this aspect of the exporter, is when ensuring the generated files meet the compliancy requirements of the GOST standards. |
Reorganized Import & Export Menus Both the Schematic and PCB Editors now have all of their Importers and Exporters available through the File » Import and File » Export menu entries. The Save As and Save Copy As commands are now reserved for Altium formats only. | Output Job Editor Enhancements This release includes several enhancements to the Output Job Editor that make navigating and making selections within the OutJob generator listings much easier and more capable. The improvements include bulk OutJob enable/disable capabilities, scrollable window lists and drag & drop job reordering. |
Upgraded Duplicate UID Correction With this release, Altium Designer’s schematic compiler now detects duplicate UniqueIDs for all common circuit elements. Duplicate UIDs can be corrected and reset through a single command during editing, and are also automatically checked and corrected during the schematic loading process. | System & Performance Enhancements Altium Designer 15.0 delivers a number of system and performance-related improvements that collectively increase efficiency, while enhancing your overall design experience with the software. |
Vault Connection Enhancements Altium Designer 15.0 sees enhancements to the way in which you connect to your Altium Vault. The option for automatic future sign-in on starting Altium Designer is now more obvious, and you also have the ability to remember, and automatically reuse, a chosen environment configuration. Together, these features allow you to get back in to your vault as if you'd never left. | Controlling Parameter Visibility for Vault Components Altium Designer 15.0 brings you control over the visibility of parameters - or more specifically, their values - when placing vault-based components into your designs from the Vaults or Libraries panels. This facilitates the Visible On Add concept, long enjoyed by users of Database Libraries. |
Parameter List Templates Altium Designer 15.0 brings with it a stand-out enhancement to the Component Library Editor, by way of customizable parameter list templates. These simple, humanly-readable files can be built with a list of required parameters, that can then be loaded into the CmpLib editor with a single click. | Parameter-based Name Templates Parameter-based name templates allow you to precisely rename your components, based on the currently defined values of parameters available to those components in the CmpLib file. Include one or more parameters into the naming template using the format [<ParameterName>], for example CMP-[Part Number]-[Value]-{0001}. |
True Variant Enhancements Variants now support the selection of an entirely different component for a variant, referred to as an Alternate Part. A number of features have been added to support this capability, including DRC support for stacked alternate parts, improved output generation, and support for PCB re-annotation. | Vivado Toolchain Improvements The recent versions of the Xilinx Vivado toolchain are now supported by Altium Designer 15. These are detected and registered by the system, and their path can be manually entered in the FPGA Preferences settings. The support includes Vivado’s updated Checkpoint behavior. |
Schematic Smart Wire Back by popular demand, when a perpendicular wire is placed across multiple component pins and then dragged away from the pins, individual wires are created between each pin and the wire being dragged. | GOST Compliant BOM Templates Building on the support for the GOST standards (technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC)), three GOST-specific Excel BOM templates have been added. More information is available on Altium's Russian website. |
WEBENCH support for adding a new wave to SimView The WEBENCH® Altium Connector Extension, which interfaces to Texas Instruments WEBENCH® Designer, has been enhanced by allowing a new wave plot such as that for a dB( | |
Friday, October 17, 2014
Altium Designer addons
Altium Designer addons
This project contains set of scripts, examples and other content which is developed to provide extended features for Altium Designer unified design environment for electronics development.
The project is in Czech and English language. Updates are listed here.
Distributed "as is" with no warranty. In case of difficulties please contact leaders of this project (contacts are at the left sidebar <=) or create a record in Issues part of this page.
Altium Script Gallery was moved to Altium Wiki. You can find it and download on Examples and Reference Designs page.
Contributors (sorted chronologically): Petr Tosovsky, Petar Perisin, John Go-Soco, Mattias Ericson, Darren Moore, Colby Meyer, Juan Martinez, Rob Sterling, Jeff Collins, Ran Shahar, Tony Chilco, Ryan Rutledge, Erick Albach, Matija Markovic, Cyril Andreatta, Randy Clemmons, Miklós Zsikla
Google Code service is not supporting sharing files via Downloads section. This section was removed in this project and it is replaced by shared Google Drive folder as easiest solution of the situation. All content of Altium Designer Addons can be found there or you can use checkout via Subversion/SVN client (details on Source tab).
If you are interested to be committer, please send an email to retry.var (a) gmail.com. It is needed to have Google account (gmail) to access Google Code where Altium Addons is hosted.
You can read more about commiting your content here AltiumAddonsCommitersRecomendation
Altium Designer LIBRARIES available at Addons page:
- Libs_NetTieLib - set of components for joining and splitting signals on PCB. Details here NetTieLib
- Libs_CAndreatta - set of individual schematic symbols and footprints Cyril Andreatta. Plain SchLib and PcbLib files. Details here Libs_CAndreatta
- Libs_RRutledge - General Library by Ryan Rutledge. Plain SchLib and PcbLib files. Details here Libs_RRutledge
Thank you Ryan for this kick off in the Libraries section.
Altium Designer templates available at Addons page:
- AltiumPCBProjectTemplate - Sample project template for 2 and 4 layer board design in Altium Designer. Details can be found here AltiumPCBProjectTemplate
Scripts available at our Addons page:
- OpenComponentPCBLib script - opens the component footprint library of a selected component on PCB
- BoardAutoSizer script - Redefine Board Shape based on Embedded Board Arrays
- Fix Connections script - Fix Connections is a modified version of Fix Overlaps v2.2 created by Petar Perisin, there are some features and UI improvements for better usability.
- Via Soldermask Barrel Relief script - the script searches for vias on board with higher then defined hole size and opens soldermask for the vias by given value from the edge of hole to prevent possible mask damage.
- Calculator for converting units mil_mm_conv script - script allows easily convert entered value to all other units interpretations
- ShowHideDesignators script - script allows easily show or hide Designators and Comments in PcbDoc file
- RotationStep-Toggle-Modify script - easier way to modify PCB editor rotation step settings (when Spacebar is used to rotate an object)
- AutoHotkey Enhancement script - script provides several enhancements to Altium Designer, such as limited autocomplete for filter expressions, improved mouse wheel support, and various tweaks to save time on frequently-used tasks
- Distribute script - script that distributes distance between selected lines.
- Run_exe script - script that can open exe file from Altium. Currently supports PCB Toolkit, TraceSim and TX-Line.
- FilletWithRadius script - script that rounds connection on horizontaland vertical lines by fixed radius value.
- Arc8 script - script that connects arc tangent and via/Pad, or places tangent to connect two arcs.
- FixOverlaps script - script that will clean nets in chosen net class of overlaps.
- OpenSchDocs script - script will open all sch documents in current PCB project.
- UpdateNetOnclick script - script will update net of all selected objects to a net user chooses with a mouse click.
- LengthTuningHelper script - script that helps in length tuning of DDR3-FPGA interfaces, where you need to include length of lines inside FPGA. This one also helps in length tuning when you need to include via stack size to length of a net.
- LayerStackExporter script - script that exports layer stack to a CSV file.
- UpdateFootprintHeightFrom3dModelHeight script - script that updates Footprint height based on height of it's 3D model (in PCB library).
- SelectViaAntennas script - This script selects unnecessary vias on PCB (vias connected only on one layer).
- ReAnnotateSelection script - This can be used to re-annotate selected components on PCB.
- ZoomAndCenter script - This script invokes zoom and centers view on zoomed area. similar how PCAD worked with zoom.
- PlaceRectangle script - This script places a rectangle on the PCB.
- AutoRouter_Interface script - This script creates an interface to auto routers. It fixes some problems with rte importer and dsn exporter, and gives user the ability to import ses file.
- CalculateCopperArea script - This script calculates area of selected poly or region.
- LayersAndObjects script - This script creates a form similar to a panel, from which you can control layer and object display. Originated from LayersPanel script.
- SelectBadConnections script - This script checks weather Tracks and arcs on signal connect totaly on some other object. Center-to-center check is done. If not, it is selected. Tolerance (and zero tolerance) is supported.
- WheelSelector script - This script allows selection and scrolling through insight form using wheel.
- AddDatumPointsToArcs script - This script will add tracks to selected arcs. This tracks end in arc center, so after that you can easily move objects to arc center.
- AutoSTEPplacer script - This script will place STEP files on a footprint in a library if they have same name. STEP file must be in the same directory as library, or it's subfolder.
- PCBScale script - This script allows you to scale selected objects on a PCB by amount.
- LayersPanel script - This script creates a form similar to a panel, from which you can control layer display. Originated from ShowHideLayers script.
- Man2APDesignators script - This script will change manual designators to auto-positioned. Will operate on all or selected components.
- ShowHideLayers script - This script allows very easy turning layers on/off.
- SelectConnectedOnLayer script - This script is similar to SelectConnectedTracks, only it works with arcs, it's faster and objects do not have to have common point.
- ComponentPlacement script - This script allows user to equalize relative component placement between two groups of components.
- MoveAPdesignators script - This script allows user to modify distance between auto-positioned designators and component.
- ParamsToPCB script - This script allows user to transfer component parameters to the PCB.
- CreateTableOfContents script - Script that can be used to create Table Of Contents on newly created top level sheet in PCB Project.
- MultiPCBProject script - This Script enables Project to be used with multiple PCB documents, so that project is split among multiple PCB Documents. It is workaround solution that uses blankets to point which PCB document gets the circuit under it.
- XIA_Update_From_Database script - This is the script in use by XIA LCC to update schematic designs with respect to the company components database. This includes synchronization of user parameters (MFGNAME, Description, etc.), synchronization of footprints, and setting the Comment parameter.
- XIA_Release_Manager script - This is the script in use at XIA LLC to do all Altium output generation, packaging (zipping), and release-tag. Everything is done within Subversion (SVN).
- FilterObjects script - Script that filters objects based on type, layer and parent.
- LockNetRouting script - Script which locks or unlocks routing tracks, vias and components (possible to exclude components) on selected net. That aims to prevent some unwanted changes on PCB during routing.
- SingleLayerModeWithConnectionLines script - This script enables user to see all connection lines in a display similar to single layer mode.
- VendorTools script - Script that can be used to exchange info between different FPGA vendors and AD. Currently supports Altera
- ConnectionLinesOnSelection script - script that enables user to show/hide connection lines on selected objects
- TrimExtend script - Script that trims or extends tracks up to a point where first selected track is. This function is available in all 3D tools
- TestpointMaker script - This script creates test points for a net class.
- StitchingVias script - Script that generates stitching vias on a PCB. Vias are added to graphical component for easier use.
- ThievingPads script - Script that adds thieving pads to a PCB Document. Pads are added in a dummy component, that allows easier manipulation
- LR_Justify script - Script that switches selected text between left and right justification on a sch.
- AddWireStubsSch script - it search for unconected pins of components in schematic sheet and draw small segment of a wire on it equipped by net label according to the name or designator of the pin
- Adjust Designators 2 script - This script modifies designator position. It is based on AdjustDesignator script from Mattias Ericson, only user gets the form in which he can enable/disable and modify certain options, like layers, height etc...
- MechLayerNames script - Script that saves mech layer names to txt file. This names can then be imported it to another PCB Document.
- DeleteInvalidPCBObjects script - Cleans a PCB documents of some current invalid objects. Checks for invalid regions or polygons and deletes them.
- DrcOnOff script - This script toggles Online DRC check box in DXP->Preferences->PCB editor->General what enables/disables online DRC checks.
- LockMultiPartComponents script - This script can be used to lock parts in multi-part components. It searches for "Group" parameter in all components and assigns a value in it, based on current component designator.
- PrintAllvariants script - This Script saves variant information to CSV file, which can then be easily opened in excel.
- SheetParameters script - script that modifies document parameters in all SCH documents of focused project.
- FlipComponents script - Script flips selected components. If there are no selected objects it asks user to click on components that will be flipped. It uses smart mechanism for flipping, which tries to keep pads position.
- MoveToLayer script - This script moves selected copper tracks to selected signal layer, while maintaining connectivity with Vias that are automatically placed.
- IsPadCenterConnected script - This script checks weather pads have track in their center. if not, pad is selected.
- DesignReuse_v3.0 script - Script that simplifies true design reuse - route circuit once and reuse same routing in your next design. This automated design reuse is using Device Sheets or SCH snippets in SCH, and PCB Snippets in PCB. For more info read "How to use this script.odt" document (in OpenOffice or M$ Word) form the zip file
- SpiralTrackVer01.8 script - Spiral Generator script made by Darren Moore.
- PlanarTXv0.7 script - Script to create planar transformer made by Darren Moore.
- Fillet script - Script that places arcs to corners of selected tracks (Fillet command).
- DeleteSelectedSplit script - Script that can be used to delete selected split plane. It actually creates region based on selected split plane, with holes inside, so no copper will appear on that place.
- DeleteAllSelectedItemsInPCBLIB script - This script can be used to delete selected objects in PCB Library. Currently you can only delete selected objects that are part of currently visible footprint, but this script deletes selected objects that are in other footprints.
- FormatPaintBrush script - This script is used to copy formattings from one object to the others. Currently it works on dimensions, coordinate, String and poly in PCB and all sch objects.
- Current Calculator script - PCB script that gives the user a dialog box with current (Amperes) handling calculations for a selected track. The script determines if the track is on an internal or external layer, and provides current calculations for 1, 5, and 10°C rise above ambient.
- Hyperlynx Exporter script - Script for PCB export to hyp file. It adds fills, regions, polygons and split planes in hyp file.
- RenumberPads script - Script helps with changing order of pads mainly in Altium PCBLIBs. You just start script, select start index and increment and you create new designators of pads by clicking on them in the new order.
- RoomFromPoly script - Script to create room from selected objects or from selected polygon.
- AdjustDesignators script - it will center the designator in top and bottom overlay.
- ZoomComponent script - PCB function similar to Altium's Jump Component, but it also zoom, mask and/or select component.
- SCHSelectionFilter script - Script that uses select Touching trectangle, but user can choose object types that will be selected.
- SCH-SelectTouchingRectangle script - Script made because some people wanted select touching rectangle feature in Sch.
- IncrementingDesignators script - Script that enables user to set designators with mouse. Works on Components (in SchDoc and PCBDoc), pins (SCHLIB) and pads (PCBLIB). Designators can be swapped too. When working with pins it can also move pin names.
- IBIS Editor script - Script that overrides Selector and Submodel keywords in IBIS File.
- EagleToAD conversion package - package of scripts for conversion of PCB project from Cadsoft Eagle to Altium Designer (manual available only in Czech)
- CopyAngleToComponent script - script for copying angle of track to a component
- SelectConnectedTrack script - script for selection of connected NoNet track on Mech layers
- Custom Pick&Place report script - script for generating user defined P&P for SMD components only
SelectConnectedTrack script result screenshot
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Altium announces Altium Designer 15 to ease high speed PCB design woes
Sydney, Australia – 8 October 2014 - Altium Limited, a global leader in Electronic Design Automation, native 3D PCB design systems (Altium Designer) and embedded software development toolkits (TASKING), today announced the upcoming release of its professional printed circuit board (PCB) and electronic system level design software, Altium Designer 15.
"Altium's R&D engagement with customers is reflected in this software release. We're very happy with the clear feedback and technical advice about high speed PCB design offered by our dedicated beta users over the last 12 months," says Altium's CTO, Jason Hingston. "The PCB industry has also made it clear that fabricators need to move beyond 30+ year old file formats for design to fab hand-off. With IPC-2581 and Gerber X2 support, Altium Designer is ready for users who work with leading-edge fabricators who build complex PCB structures."
Altium Designer 15 demonstrates the continuing commitment by Altium to produce software and solutions that increase productivity and reduce user stress during challenging electronics design projects. It reflects Altium's commitment to supporting customer success by delivering products that customers both want and need. In keeping with these objectives, Altium Designer 15 includes powerful new enhancements for designing the next generation of high-speed printed circuit boards, and keeping up with the leading trends in industry with support for new fabrication output standards.
High Speed Signal Pin Pairs
Modern designs require signal propagation at rates up to 100 gigabits per second. Designing to these specifications in previous generation design software is challenging. This process traditionally required manual rework and careful signal planning outside of the design tool, typically in a spreadsheet program - causing additional steps and introducing lots of room for errors. With Altium Designer 15 a new Pin Pairs feature has been added to:
● Enable accurate length and phase tuning across termination components.
● Enable length, phase and delay tuning traversing an entire signal path.
Designers will no longer require external software or have to maintain complex lists of signals and nets, but instead will be able to plan and route groups of high speed nets with much greater efficiency and accuracy.
IPC-2581 and Gerber X2 Support
As a Computer Aided Manufacturing format, traditional Gerber has its origins in standard RS-274D published almost 35 years ago; many consider "standard Gerber" to be out of date. Ucamco have recently updated RS-274X to Gerber X2 to incorporate critical fabrication data previously missing, and the International Printed Circuit association has developed an entirely new standard, IPC-2581. Both resolve issues of ambiguous or missing data encountered when using older formats such as Gerber RS-274X to hand off design to fabrication, completely describing a PCB according to its design:
● Copper layer images.
● Plated and unplated holes, slots, routes, grooves and microvias.
● PCB design outline and cutout regions.
● Complex layer stack regions.
● Rigid and flexible board areas.
● Material specifications.
● Fabrication notes, tolerances, and other critical standards-compliance information.
Altium Designer 15 introduces support for both IPC-2581 and Gerber X2, keeping designers up to date while giving them a choice that broadens their selection of PCB fabrication partners.
Along with additional new features and ongoing maintenance based on solid customer feedback, Altium Designer 15 will enhance electronics engineering workflow and reduce communication bottlenecks between designers and manufacturers.
Availability
Altium Designer 15 will be released to Altium Subscription Customers later this quarter at no additional cost. For further questions, please contact
Friday, October 3, 2014
Announcement: Altium Designer 14.3.15 update available (02 October 2014)
Hi All
A new update has been released for 14.3 - 14.3.15 (build 35511).
Fixes in this update:
#3550 The BomDoc now correctly includes all of the defined solutions.
#3656 Users without Admin permissions can now log into a Vault when there is no TC2 configuration defined.
#3730 Multi-selection in the Variant Management dialog followed by an editing action no longer causes occasional exceptions.
#3496 The PCB Hole Size Editor now correctly includes blind and buried layer pairs in the list of holes to be drilled.
#3503 Vault login now supports including a protocol prefix, such as http.
#3555 Updating a PCB footprint from a library now correctly retains all objects and only updates modified objects.
#3589 Comments can now be added to a newly created managed project via the Comments panel.
#3599 If a managed project had a space character in the name, it could not be opened on a remote PC. This fix allows new projects to be created and opened with spaces in their names, it does not support opening an existing space-in-name project.
#3718 Opening a large CmpLib via file-less editing no longer causes an overflow error.
#3731 OpenBus Ports can now be correctly linked to in an OpenBus document (BC:4669).
#3372 When a multi-part component is varied, each part in the component now retains the same part in the new component.
#3426 The designer can now decide if parameter values come the database components, or the variant management dialog.
#3714 Generating a Pick and Place file from a variant no longer results in the duplication of Alternate Parts.
#3756 Setting a component to Fitted via the right-click menu in the Variant Management dialog now functions correctly.
#3855 Generating ODB++ after running Remove Unused Pads on a design with blind vias, no longer causes the application to crash.
Release notes
http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Release+Notes+for+Altium+Designer+Version+14.3
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
World Maker Faire
Altium's going to be at World Maker Faire on September 20 & 21, 2014, and we have 50 tickets to give away. The show is located at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY, and the tickets are first-come, first-serve (maximum 2 per person). Just go to the Will Call window and offer the phrase "Altium 2014" to get your free ticket.
Check out the Maker Faire website for more information about the show.
Hope to see you all there!
Kicking Off the CircuitMaker Community!
Makers, hobbyists, and DIYers are the people who come up with some of the most original and innovative ideas before they hit the market. What this usually means, however, is that someone more well funded tends to reap the benefits of those ideas. Fortunately, ventures like Kickstarter have made it easier than ever for makers to get their ideas off the ground and turn them into something real.
For electronics makers, tinkering is a way of life, and part of that is hacking, modding, and crudely working around any and all limitations to make everything work correctly. Finding electronics design software that makes it easy to create something quickly can be a pretty tall task most of the time, and it can sometimes be pretty hard to justify spending a lot of money for “that awesome idea you had once.”
With CircuitMaker, we’re creating tools tailored to the maker community. A free tool, so you don’t have to think twice about trying the software, with the type of power and streamlined interface to let you put something substantial together when inspiration strikes.
We want to grow this community into a really amazing place for electronics makers. Somewhere you can look for design ideas, creative inspiration, reference material, questions and answers, and all sorts of other great resources. But we can’t do it alone, so we’re asking for your help to build this thing into something worthwhile. Stick around and follow our progress as we try to make this happen, and please tell us your thoughts along the way. With your help we can make this a truly awesome design community, powered by the perfect set of tools custom built for makers.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Announcement: Altium Designer 14.3.14 update available (25 August 2014)
A new update has been released for 14.3 - 14.3.14 (build 34663).
Fixes in this update:
#3616 Comments are no longer posted with the wrong author name.
#3297 New Project dialog no longer prefixes each file with the project name, when the Create Project Folder option is enabled.
#3298 Switching a component from Alternate Part to Not Fitted now correctly clears the component parameters.
#3371 Creating a polygon from the Board Outline in the Polygon Manager no longer causes an exception.
#3488 When a copied polygon is pasted, it now retains the pour state of the original polygon.
#3516 In certain situations, changes made in the Parameter Manager were not applied to all objects, this has been resolved.
#2551 Generating a BOM from an Outjob now retains the Excel template formatting.
#3200 A schematic auto-junction at a 4-way + junction is now retained when a drag occurs.
#3209 An exception no longer occurs when the Class Generator is used to create a component class.
#3247 The Variant Manager now supports changing the order of variants.
#3254 Parameters varied in an Alternate Part can now be restored to the original values in the Alternate Part.
#3365 Alternate Parts no longer produce schematic compiler warnings stating that multiple pins are connected.
#3368 Alternate Parts now show correctly as fitted in the assembly drawing.
#3374 The number of clicks required to choose an alternate part has been reduced.
#3376 Hatched polygons now switch to the unpoured state correctly.
#3382 Pick and place data generated from a variant now displays the correct component data (BC:4344).
#3383 Creation of components with identical names in a Schematic library is now prevented.
#3384 Alternate parts now display the correct layer information in the BOM.
#3413 Random crashes no longer occur when working in the PCB Panel.
#3458 Performance while deleting schematic wire segments has been improved.
#3466 Document Insight now works for all schematic documents in the project.
#3467 The Include not fitted components BOM option now works correctly.
#3479 The Comment is now displayed correctly in the BOM for a component that has varied parameters.
#3480 ECO no longer detects unmatched nets for alternate components.
#3508 The order of variants can be changed by clicking and dragging the column header, this new order is retained between edit sessions.
#3509 Comment is now displayed correctly in an Assembly drawing for a varied component.
#3517 The values for multiple variant parameters can now be edited in a single editing action.
#3549 An Out of Resource error no longer occurs when printing a schematic document with an embedded Excel sheet.
#3161 If a design which uses ComponentLink parameters is PDF'ed with
the Include Component Parameters option enabled, you can now click on
the link in the PDF to open the referenced document.
Release notes
http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Release+Notes+for+Altium+Designer+Version+14.3