Design Secret 47 Released! - Using Custom BoM Filters

Hi Everybody,

I'm very happy to inform you all that we have yet another Design Secret video released. This time, one of our great AE's from the USA office - Injy Gadalla - walks us through a little gem of a feature in the BoM report generator that I would bet most of you don't know about.

In this video, Injy shows us how to use the custom filter option at the report column headings to filter fiducials out of the BoM for purchasing, while leaving them in for assembly. There are many possible uses for this filtering capability.

Watch and enjoy: http://altiumvideos.live.altium.com/#Detail/1215/True

Stay tuned for more Design Secrets videos!

Announcement: Texas Instruments Content Update

The Altium Content Team is pleased to announce a new update to the Altium Vault and Content Store. We have added more board-level components to our TI Interface collection with the release of 27 new components in Interface 1394 and the following new families:

1. Texas Instruments Interface Digital Audio Interface
2. Texas Instruments Interface Equalizer and Redriver
3. Texas Instruments Interface RS-422
4. Texas Instruments Interface USB

These components can be found in the Unified Components section of the Content Store. You can also use these components directly from within Altium Designer via the Vault Explorer - where you will also find supplier links and pricing information. For integrated libraries, look for the ‘Download Library’ button on the Content Store pages.

A total of 787 new components have been released this week across these five Interface families. For details on TI’s Interface device offering you can find more information at their website.

Still more TI components just around the corner so stay tuned.

http://blog.live.altium.com/#Blogs/texas-instruments-content-update-14-06-12

BackUse Rooms to control Component Orientations for Manufacturability

There are many situations where the manufacturing process calls for strict component orientation rules. One such example is when utilizing wave soldering techniques.

In this Design Secret Video, Application Engineer Michael Heil from our European support team shows us a really cool trick where we can use rooms to very specifically control the orientation of components within a region of the board that is to be wave soldered. This method can also be used for component placement and orientation control for other mechanical situations, so it's definitely a good one for the kit bag!

 

http://designsecrets.live.altium.com/#Detail/1214/True

Announcement: Maxim Content Update

The Content Team is pleased to announce an update to our Maxim Real-Time Clocks family in the Altium Vault and Content Store. Working with Maxim source data, we have developed and released another 516 new components.

1. Maxim - Real-Time Clocks (RTCs)

These components can be found in the Unified Components section of the Content Store. You can also use these components directly from within Altium Designer via the Vault Explorer - where you will also find supplier links and pricing information. For integrated libraries, look for the ‘Download Library’ button on the Content Store pages.

A total of 2531 Maxim components have been released to date with more planned in the coming weeks. For more details on these Real-Time Clocks you can find more at Maxim’s website here. To read more about the our relationship with Maxim you can find the March press release here.

Stay tuned for more Maxim updates coming soon.

 

Announcement: Update 19 for Altium Designer

The Altium Development team are pleased to announce the 19th update for Altium Designer.

This release focuses on additional enhancements to Altium Designer, with some of the notable inclusions being:

SubVersion 1.7 support:

Support for the latest version of Subversion has been added. This also includes support for the new working folder format, as well as updating the built-in Subversion Client to version 1.7.4.

Improved Proxy support:

Users connecting to the Internet via a Proxy Server will now be able to get full access to all content stored in all of our Vaults & also any Vault they set-up & is cloud based. This will include downloading, uploading items and getting previews.

Added support for script parameters:

It is now possible to add parameters to Projects and Project Variants through scripts.

Air gap attribute added:

Added air gap attribute to Polygon Connect Style rule for finer gap control during polygon pouring process.

Continued improvements to importers and exporters:

This update includes additional improvements to the Hyperlynx exporter and the P-CAD importer.

Along with these inclusions, there were many other enhancements that were requested through BugCrunch, Forums and support channels. Full details can be found in the release notes.

Accessing the Update

To update your Altium Designer installation, first ensure you are using a license with valid subscription. Proceed to the Plug-in page (DXP >> Plug-ins and Updates) and select “Update All”. If you don’t see the update, use the “Refresh” link in the top right hand corner of the Plugins page.

This release includes changes to our Run Time Libraries, which requires the majority of modules to be updated. For those users who experience a lengthy update process due to anti-virus programs, using the full download option becomes a much faster process. For more info, see Wiki.

Installation of the updated modules will bring their revision up to 10.1089.24016. The Platform Build number will also update to 10.1089.24016 as the Altium Designer Base module is updated.

Note: If you are using a Private Server license or Standalone license and you have renewed your subscription since activation, you will be required to reactivate your license to obtain this and future updates.

For those who installed directly from DVD, you can access the updates by changing a setting in preferences: System >> Installation Manager, change the Remote Repository Location to http://installation.altium.com

If you are wanting to install a new build containing this update, we have also released a new version of the Altium Installer and Uninstaller. These

 

Altium Designer » How can you export dxf files with traces and pours/planes outlined?

The short explanation is this:
1. Set electrical clearance rule to 1 mil
2. Select all critical copper areas (tracks, arcs, pads, fills, etc) and do Tools>Outline Selected Objects
3. Delete all the items you used to create the outline. You are now left with 8-mil tracks with 1 mil clearance from deleted objects.
4. Publish gerbers and open in CAMtastic
5. Export to DXF as zero width lines
6. Import into SolidWorks as a 2D sketch
7. Select all sketch entities and use offset tool to inset them 5 mils so that they now represent all the objects you outlined (the contours might not be perfectly closed - the only way I know of to close them is to tell SW to extrude the whole sketch and it will prompt you to let it close them)
8. Extrude sketch of the copper and place onto board.
9. Cut copper with drill holes (not shown in picture)

It's a lot of work but it's something. I advise not exporting inverted text because SW has a hard time with all the contours.

 

 

 

Altium Designer » Design Secret 45 - How to rapidly customize the Altium Designer

In this design secret, Chris Carlson goes in to much greater depth and explains exactly how custom toolbars, button icons, drop-down menus and even the right-mouse-click context menus can be modified to include your most common commands. As an added bonus, he shows how you can even make placement of your most-used components like mounting holes, fiducials, and more, as simple as a single click on a toolbar button.

Check this and other great videos out at the Design Secrets area in the content store:

Design Secret 45 - http://designsecrets.live.altium.com/#Detail/1213/True
All Design Secrets - http://designsecrets.live.altium.com/