Release notes for Altium Designer Update 21 (10.1181.24817)

Update 21: Updated plug-ins from release 10.1133.24352 to 10.1181.24817
Date: 24 July 2012


(click here to view the Altium Wiki reference) 




Key highlights


Improvements to Re-Annotate
Re-annotate has been improved and now includes options for what to re-annotate (top & bottom, top only, bottom only, selected), and optionally allows for the protection of component with locked designators. Another new option is a user-definable location tolerance (Comparison Threshold), which allows components that are slightly out of line to still be annotated in a logical manner. Re-annotate now also uses the component bounding rectangle (without designator), where it previously used the bounding rectangle that included the designator, which could result in undesirable annotation results. 
View Wiki info. 
View BugCrunch report #1453.


Auto-Zoom in Cross Select Mode
Auto-zooming in Cross Select Mode has been enabled, with three options available: 
           No Zoom
           Zoom to Last Selected
          and Zoom to All. 
View Wiki info. 
View BugCrunch report #1468.


Updated support for vendor tools
Xilinx ISE v14.1 and Altera QuartusII v11.1 and v12.0 are now supported.




System Components: Altium Designer Base

• 6252 Fixed a crash that occurred on some designs after compiling the document once.

• 6301 Fixed incorrect order of section selection entries in automatically generated LSL file.

• 6306 New auto-zooming options added for Cross Select Mode (No Zoom, Zoom to Last Selected and Zoom to All). View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #1468.

• 6323 DBLib performance has been significantly improved when using Oracle datasources by querying only the tables for the SCHEMA selected by the user.

• 6351 Variants now correctly support parameter variations for a New Value set to blank where the Original Value contains a value. View BugCrunch report #983.

• 6355 Added an option in the "PCB Printout Properties" dialog to choose the data to display in component designator. View BugCrunch report #153.

• 6356 A progress GUI in the VCS Command Dialog is provided to indicate the current progress in a time consuming process. The process can be terminated by clicking the Cancel button. View BugCrunch report #1060.

System Components: Altium Designer Localization

• 6308 Japanese localization of Altium Designer has been updated.

• 6309 Simplified Chinese localization of Altium Designer has been updated.

System Components: PCB System

• 2656 Re-annotate now allows for option of what to re-annotate (top/bottom, top only, selected, etc) and optionally allows to protect components with locked designators. View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #772.

• 3428 Re-annotate no longer uses the designator location for ordering the components - component bounding rectangle is used instead. New optional user-defined tolerance (Comparison Threshold) can be utilized to allow components that are slightly out of line to be annotated in logical manner. View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #1453.

• 5869 Fixed Interactive Diff Pair Router to change gap on layer change to match rule. View BugCrunch report #1092.

• 6225 DRC now properly detects disconnected stacked blind/buried vias when smart track ends option is used. View BugCrunch report #1859.

• 6296 Fixed application hang caused by erasing entry in the MaxVias design rule. View BugCrunch report #1525.

• 6306 New auto-zooming options added for Cross Select Mode (No Zoom, Zoom to Last Selected and Zoom to All). View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #1468.

• 6317 Fixed PCB crash when component is located outside of PCB workspace.

System Components: Schematic System

• 6282 User can start a new search from the "Find Text - Jump" directly. View BugCrunch report #1441.

• 6306 New auto-zooming options added for Cross Select Mode (No Zoom, Zoom to Last Selected and Zoom to All). View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #1468.

• 6350 Schematic wire mode will now remain in 45 Degree mode or Auto Wire mode when connecting to a hotspot, rather than always switching to 90 Degree mode. View BugCrunch report #1055.

• 6351 Variants now correctly support parameter variations for a New Value set to blank where the Original Value contains a value. View BugCrunch report #983.

System Components: Soft Design System

• 6165 Xilinx ISE versions up to 14.1 included are now supported.

• 6283 Altera QuartusII v11.1 and v12.0 are now supported.

Hardware Support Packages: Device Support - Lattice XP

• 6173 The right mouse click Program Flash With Current Project command in the Devices View is now working as expected when launched from a Lattice XP device.

Importers and Exporters: Exporter - IDF

• 1859 An issue has been corrected in the IDF Exporter whereby components would be placed below the top surface. View BugCrunch report #1847.

• 6187 Changed IDF Export/Import to use the PCB Board. View BugCrunch report #513.

Importers and Exporters: Importer - IDF

• 6187 Changed IDF Export/Import to use the PCB Board. 

                View BugCrunch report #513.
                Output Generators: Output - Gerber

• 6339 Now the Gerber Paste Mask generation is correct when Flipped Embedded Board Arrays are used with PCBs containing custom polygon region paste mask shapes placed on the Paste layer.

Output Generators: Printer - PCB

• 6304 PCB Variant Text for "not fitted" parts is no longer reversed in printouts. 

                View BugCrunch report #246.

• 6355 Added an option in the "PCB Printout Properties" dialog to choose the data to display in component designator. View BugCrunch report #153.

Development updating various modules
The development made for the following tickets required changes to our Run Time Libraries, and as a result require majority of the modules to be updated.

• 6286 Spansion S29GLXXXA/M/N in system flash programming no longer fails when Nios II processor is used.

• 6306 New auto-zooming options added for Cross Select Mode (No Zoom, Zoom to Last Selected and Zoom to All). View Wiki info. View BugCrunch report #1468.

• 6351 Variants now correctly support parameter variations for a New Value set to blank where the Original Value contains a value. View BugCrunch report #983.

• 6355 Added an option in the "PCB Printout Properties" dialog to choose the data to display in component designator. View BugCrunch report #153.

Integrating MCAD Objects and PCB Designs

Now we are going to learn how to integrate Mechanical CAD objects to the PCB designs in Altium Designer.


Altium Designer offers high levels of interaction with MCAD data. This means you can import, manipulate  nd check mechanical design elements against your PCB design  directly. MCAD data files can be linked to, which maintains the latest file information  within Altium Designer. 

Contents

• ECAD - MCAD Interaction Introduction
• STEP Format Integration
• What Interaction is Possible?
• Linked STEP Model Files
• MCAD Interaction
• Setting Up Watched Folders
• Placing and Linking STEP Files to the PCB Document
• Orienting and Positioning STEP Models
• Measuring Models and Placing Reference Snap Points
• Positioning Models Using a Single Reference Point
• Setting Model Height
• Orienting Models
• Orienting Models by Aligning a Face with the Board
• Orienting Models Using Three Reference Points
• Orienting Models Manually Using 3D Body Dialog
• Using STEP Models to Modify the Board
• Creating a Board Shape Directly From a 3D Body
• Component Clearance Checking Using 3D Bodies
• Using Design Rules to Check Component Clearances
• Setting Up the Free-floating 3D Bodies Clearance Rule
• Setting Up the 3D Body Infinite Clearance Rule
• Setting Rule Priorities
• Running Design Rule Checks and Solving Violations Between 3D Bodies and Components
• Resolving Violations Between 3D Bodies.
• Exporting PCB MCAD Data from Altium Designer
• Exporting a PCB Document as a STEP File
• Exporting a PCB Document as a DWG/DXF File
• 3D Body Placement Shortcuts

Getting Started with PCB Design

This introductory tutorial is designed to give you an overview of how to create a schematic, update the design information to a PCB and generate manufacturing output files. It also investigates the concept of projects and integrated libraries and provides a summary of the 3D PCB environment and creating 3D bodies for component footprints.




Below is the link to the tutorial:
http://wiki.altium.com/display/ADOH/Tutorial+-+Getting+Started+with+PCB+Design
                 

Contents

• Creating a New PCB Project
• Creating a New Schematic Sheet
• Setting the Schematic Document Options
• Drawing the Schematic
• Locating the Component and Loading the Libraries
• Placing the Components on Your Schematic
• Wiring up the Circuit
• Nets and Net Labels
• Setting Up Project Options
• Checking the Electrical Properties of Your Schematic
• Setting up the Error Reporting
• Setting Up the Connection Matrix
• Setting Up the Comparator
• Compiling the Project to Check for Errors
• Creating a New PCB
• Transferring the Design
• Ready to Start the PCB Design Process
• Setting Up the PCB Workspace
• PCB Workspace Grids
• Component Positioning and Placement options
• Defining the Layer Stack and Other Non-electrical Layers
• Physical Layers and the Layer Stack Manager
• Configuring the Display of Layers
• Setting Up the Design Rules
• Positioning the Components on the PCB
• Changing a Footprint
• Interactively Routing the Board
• Tips for Routing
• Automatically Routing the Board
• Verifying Your Board Design
• Viewing Your Board in 3 Dimensions
• Output Documentation
• Generating Gerber Files
• Creating a Bill of Materials
• Further Explorations
• See Also

We will be creating an actual board design from schematic to CAM files on the succeeding blogs. Watch out for the series of tutorials on September 2012! Have fun!

Altium Designer Features

Here is the link to Altium discussing the features of the Altium Designer software.

http://www.altium.com/switch-now/features.cfm

_____________________________________________________________________

Altium’s unified solution equips you with the tools you need to take full advantage of the latest design techniques and technologies. It provides this in a way that’s intuitive to use and does not require acquiring expensive additional expertise. For example, if you’re a board-level designer or embedded software developer, you can use your existing skills to create sophisticated systems based on FPGA-based embedded hardware. It’s never been easier to create innovative, next-generation products.

Do your current design tools still have that same 'kick'?

Key features

PCB design

Altium unifies the process of board-level design by providing a single application environment for capturing design data, verifying the performance of the circuit, and designing the PCB. The single system and single model of the design data redefines the way you can work by enabling real-time design synchronization, single-point data management and smooth design collaboration with all domains.

FPGA design

Today these devices have sufficient capacity to implement more than just some of the hardware in a product – they can be programmed to implement an entire digital system, including the processor, peripheral components and the interface logic. To do this the engineer needs a design environment that solves the system integration issues – where they can capture the hardware design, write the embedded software for the processor, and implement, test and debug both the hardware and software on the target FPGA.

3D PCB layout environment

Today's designs demand tools that make it easier to view your designs - some things are just easier to see and jump out at you when you see the real thing! Taking advantage of DirectX capabilities, PCB Visualization brings powerful new capabilities that allow you to customize and configure your design view for both 2D and 3D displays so that you can inspect and edit objects such as pads, via barrels, tented vias both on the surface and internally from a 3D perspective.

3D Mechanical enclosure checking

Altium Designer offers high levels of interaction with MCAD data. This means you can import, manipulate and check mechanical design elements against your PCB design directly. MCAD data files can be linked to, which maintains the latest file information within Altium Designer.

Version control

The basic approach to working with a version control system is to "update", or "check-out", the project files that you want to work on, from the repository, into a working folder. These can then be modified and saved, and when you decide it is appropriate, the updated files can be "committed", or "checked in" to the VCS's repository. Check-out and check-in is performed through a version control system interface, which Altium Designer has built into its Storage Manager panel and Projects panel.

Push button manufacturing release package The design release process needs to be tightly managed in order to control the design source data at release time, and after the release. Altium Designer helps to control source data at release time and beyond by providing a clear vision of projects history, as well as their dependencies through releases. It provides the ability to identify the point in time at which the design was released, go back to this point and retrieve, modify and re-release the design with the correct dependencies. Hierarchical project management The starting point for every design created in Altium Designer is a project. An Altium Designer project is a set of design documents whose output defines a single implementation. For example, the schematics and PCB in a PCB project include the fileset required to manufacture a single printed circuit board, while the schematics and HDL in an FPGA project output the fileset required to program a single FPGA. ECO with change history Developing an electronic product in an environment like Altium Designer results in a large number of electronic files. These files are valuable, they are your company's IP (Intellectual Property), and must be stored and maintained in an appropriate way. Altium Designer includes a number of features to ensure that your files remain safe, are backed up, and older versions can be retrieved if necessary. 95,000 Library Components Altium Designer delivers over 95,000 components out of the box.  Not only are all parts IPC compliant, but it includes a table driven IPC footprint builder.   Need pricing information?  Altium Designer has Live Links with Digi-Key, Farnell and Newark to automatically populate your library with component information.  Need 3D models, Altium Designer fully supports the STEP standard for 3D PCB layout and MCAD integration. Instant FPGA Prototyping Altium Designer is a complete FPGA design platform that supports Actel, Altera, Lattice and Xilinx.  The award winning NanoBoard 3000 provides an instant prototyping platform that includes a Spartan 3AN or Altera Cyclone III FPGA, Ethernet, USB, PS/2, color TFT LCD panel, SVGA interface and much more.  Also included is a royalty-free IP core library and software compilers for code development.

Click here to read the latest features in Altium Designer:

New Features in Altium Designer 10

Altium Designer Overview

Altium Designer is an EDA software package for printed circuit board, FPGA and embedded software design, and associated library and release management automation. It is developed and marketed by Altium Limited of Australia.

Schematic capture module provides electronics circuit editing functionality, including:

• Component library management
• Schematic document editing (component placement, connectivity editing and design rules definition)
• Integration with several component distributors allows search for components and access to manufacturer's data
• SPICE mixed-signal circuit simulation
• Pre-layout signal integrity analysis
• Netlist export.
• Reporting and BoM facilities.
• Multi-channel, hierarchical schematics and design re-use

Printed circuit board design module of Altium designer allows:

• Component footprint library management
• Component placement
• Manual trace routing, with support for differential pairs, multi-trace routing, pin-swapping and gate-swapping
• Automatic trace routing
• Automated multi-channel layout and routing
• Interactive 3D editing of the board and MCAD export to STEP
• Signal integrity analysis
• Manufacturing files generation with support for Gerber and ODB++ formats

Altium Designer 10 Update 19 build 10.1089.24016 
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: 
Altium Designer Update 19 (Platform Build 10.1089.24016) May 23, 2012 

Key highlights 
- 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 improvement 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:

About Altium 
Altium believes that anyone who wants to make a difference using electronic products should be able to do so. And we help designers do this by giving them everything they need to be able to make this difference. 


They develop, create and sell electronics design tools software and development hardware that unify the entire electronics design process in one application, that is easy to use and as affordable as we can make it. 


This unified electronics design environment it's called Altium Designer is the result of years of development work but is now just one part of AltiumLive, a web-based portal that is the means by which we help professional electronics designers connect people and devices. The two go hand-in-hand. Altium Designer and AltiumLive together create an ecosystem that is greater than the sum of the parts. They bridge the gap that separates the design of a product and how that product is manufactured. 

Name: Altium Designer 10 
Version: Update 19 build 10.1089.24016 (23 May 2012) 32bit 
Creator: www.altium.com 
Interface: english, russian 
OS: Windows XP / Vista / Seven