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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
CIRCUITSTUDIO’S PLATFORM APPROACHMany other PCB Design Tools treat board-level design, simulation (SPICE), generating Production data, Library Management
and managing Design rules as independent processes or tool-chains. Moving into the future, this point tool approach will
increasingly present a barrier to efficient electronic product development. An alternative approach is a unified design platform
that allows you to combine all those tasks into a single executable. This next generation solution to electronic design has shown
to significantly boost productivity when compared to the tool-chain approach.
The diagram to the right illustrates the architecture of the software
platform. The foundation is a unified data model adjacent to a
data management layer. This combination brings significant data
management capabilities to the design process. A hierarchical
project combines all disciplines of PCB Design into a single view.
Another advantage of the platform architecture is the inclusion of
IP which is fully integrated into the design process. The platform
approach eliminates all the tool integration and data management
headaches creating more time for product innovation.
This document guides you through the process of moving from
Eagle to CircutiStudio.
THE CIRCUITSTUDIO ENVIRONMENT Main article: Exploring CircuitStudio, Design Environment
The CircuitStudio environment offers a complete electronic product development environment for all areas of design - from
schematic capture, simulation within that same schematic, to the generation of PCB and production Data. The environment
has a ribbon based user interface, making it familiar and comfortable to any windows user. Consistent selection and editing
paradigms across the different editors allow you to easily switch between various designs tasks all within the CircuitStudio
environment.
CircuitStudio is based on a single executable allowing you to start one application and only change the active view to create
and edit all design files, regardless of the type of file - schematics, PCB, library, text, and so on. No longer will you have to switch
between different windows when you want to move from viewing the schematic to the PCB. All the files (also referred to as
documents) open in the same executable, each appearing on a separate Document Tab within CircuitStudio. As you move from
one type of document to another the menus and toolbars automatically switch, giving you the right editing environment for
that document.
GETTING HELP
Main article: CircuitStudio Documentation
The best way to learn is through doing, CircuitStudio provides a number of ways to help you do that:
Clicking F1 over any object, editor, panel, menu entry or button to open a brief description in the online CircuitStudio
documentation.
Clicking F1 while running a command for a list of shortcuts you can use in that command.
Share ideas and get help from other CircuitStudio users: CircuitStudio Forums
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
CIRCUITSTUDIO.COM
The CircuitStudio website allows you to access the forums where you can share all your thoughts with your industry peers. It
is the central place for users of CircuitStudio. This includes a complete Ecosystem to deliver content, knowledge and shared
experiences with tool users like you. Also, it is a place where you can provide feedback on software bugs or feature requests.
Software: You can download CircuitStudio together with a 1 month trial version
Resources: Search the technical documentation or discuss your topics with Element14 staff and users on the forum.
Blogs: What’s new, technical and commercial topics around CircuitStudio.
Getting Started: a series of getting started videos and product FAQ
PROJECT-BASED DESIGNMain article: Driving A PCB Design Through CircuitStudio
The starting point for every design created in CircuitStudio is a project file. There are two project types supported, each
targeting a different final implementation, PCB project and Integrated Library project. The project file stores links to the actual
design documents that are part of the project, as well as project-specific settings. This acts as a central storage place for your
complete design.
PREFERENCES
Main article: CircuitStudio Preferences
Global Preferences are accessed by selecting File>>System Preferences from the menus. The preferences configured here are stored as part of your installation, they do not travel with the design files. File-specific settings, such as schematic document
options and printed circuit board options are accessed via the Project>>Content>>Document Options menu or inside the design document - Right Click>>Options>>Document Options(Schematic) or Board Options(PCB) in each editor.
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
PCB LAYOUT AND DESIGNSuccessful board layouts rely on design systems that unify the design definition with the physical layout and routing. CircuitStudio
offers such a PCB system which includes a number of familiar features to help you place and route your board. When the PCB
Editor is active (i.e. a PCB document (*.CSPcbDoc) is open and active) the main application window will contain:
A main design window in which you can start designing, capable of display in both 2D and 3D (shortcut: 2, 3)
Menus and toolbars that are specific to the PCB Editor
Workspace panels that are either global or editor-specific
VIEW CONFIGURATION AND THE LAYER STACK MANAGER
View Configurations are settings that control many PCB workspace display options for both 2D and 3D environments, and apply
to the PCB and PCB Library Editors. The view configuration last used when saving any PCB document is also saved with the file.
Select View>>Switch to 3D>>View Configurations>>View Configuration from the main menu to open the View Configurations dialog.
PCB BOARD OPTIONS - DOCUMENT SETTINGS
All options for the placement grid, measurement units, sheet position, and designator display mode are set in the Board Options
dialog. With a PCB document active in the main design window (for this and all of the following context-sensitive dialogs), inside
the design document - Right Click>>Options>>Board Options to open the Board Options dialog.
For multi-channel designs, you can select between logical and physical designator display on the PCB in the Board Options
dialog.
INTERACTIVE ROUTING
Main article: Interactive Routing
CircuitStudio has different interactive routing modes for interactive routing for single tracks, differential pairs and busses.
There are a number of different routing obstacle avoidance modes:
Ignore obstacles
Push obstacles
Stop at first obstacle
AutoRoute on current layer
Additionally routing also supports width driven impedance routing based on the width rule.
To open the Layer Stack Manager select
Home>>Board>>Layer Stack Manager from the menus. The Layer Stack Manager dialog shows the
current layer stack up of the board (Shown in Figure
6). Signal and plane layers can be added, removed,
or their order changed. Double-click on an electric
or insulation layer to configure layer properties,
such as: thickness, net association (plane layers),
or the dielectric constant.
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
DESIGN RULES
Main articles: PCB Design Rules Reference
CircuitStudio’s PCB Editor is a rules-driven design environment. You can also transfer your favorite design rules from another
board. Design rules can be exported from, and imported to, the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor dialog.
SEE ALSO FOR PCB DESIGN
A great place to start learning about PCB Design is Tutorial - Driving a PCB Design Through CircuitStudio
PCB Inspector Panel which displays the common properties of different objects and lets you filter and edit them
PCB Filter Panel to learn more about filtering objects in the PCB Environment
Autorouting Tools covers the configuration and setup of autorouting features in CircuitStudio
MIXED-SIGNAL CIRCUIT SIMULATIONMixed-signal circuit simulation is a unified part of the capture process, and is fully integrated with the schematic editing
environment. Before you launch the Mixed-signal circuit simulation, make sure that any schematic sheet within the project is
open. Simulation models need to be associated with every component in the schematic document before simulation can be
launched from the command Design»Simulate»Mixed Sim. Simulation is done for the entire project.
You can use the same Schematic for both Simulation and PCB because of CircuitStudio’s unified data model. This integrated
simulation environment is fully SPICE compatible and additionally supports some PSPICE models.
COMPILATION - A CORNERSTONE OF CIRCUITSTUDIOCompilation is a cornerstone concept of the CircuitStudio environment. Compilation is a process that allows you to harness
many powerful design features.
When you complete your Eagle schematic design, you are used to generating a netlist and importing this information into your
PCB tool. With CircuitStudio you do a compilation instead. With that you transfer any available information into the unified
database for your project. From here, it is available to any other domain available inside this powerful toolset. For the transfer
of data from one domain to the other CircuitStudio will offer you an engineering change order process (ECO). With that ECO,
you have full control over what can be transferred.
When you select Home>>Project>>Compile the compilation process works out the structural relationships between the source schematic documents in the project, then determines the net-level connectivity within each sheet, and finally the
connectivity between the sheets. All this component and connective intelligence from your schematics design is written into
CircuitStudio’s unified internal data structure that can then be used for many post-compilation activities, such as comparing
and showing differences between schematics, cross probing back and forth between the schematics and PCB, and much more.
CONFIGURING DESIGN CONNECTIVITY
CircuitStudio supports different types of design connectivity, and this must be set to suit the structure of the design. The type of
sheet-to-sheet connectivity is called the Net Identifier Scope. This is defined in the Options tab of the Options for Project dialog
and saved with the project. From the Project menu go to the Content section and select the Project Options menu command,
and go to the Options tab.
In the Net Identifier Scope dropdown you can select from the following connectivity options:
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
Automatic (Based on project contents)
Flat (Only ports global)
Hierarchical (Sheet entry port connections)
Global (Net labels and ports global)
You can import Eagle design content using the File>>Import menu. The Import process handles connectivity automatically through the translation process and will give you the Automatic (Based on project contents) configuration by default. Hierarchical
blocks are mapped as sheet symbols, and they will translate to sheet symbols in CircuitStudio. In Automatic mode, the design
compiler then looks at the sheet symbols on the top sheet. If there are sheet entries (hierarchical pins) in them, it will assume
vertical connectivity, and internally use the Hierarchical option. If there are no sheet symbols on the top sheet, or if there are
sheet symbols but they do not include any sheet entries, it will assume horizontal connectivity for which there are two ways
that CircuitStudio supports this: Flat and Global. In order to determine which of these two options to use, the design compiler
looks for ports or off-sheet connectors on the sub-sheets. If there are any it uses the Flat option, if there are no ports it uses
the Global option.
You can easily go back and change the configuration after translation through the Project Options dialog from the Projects
menu.
VERIFYING YOUR DESIGN - EXPANDED ERROR CHECKING
Main articles: Project Compiler Error Reference
Another benefit that results from compiling a project in CircuitStudio is built-in error reporting. This is completely configurable
for your needs and can be done before your project is compiled. Right-click either on the project file and invoke the Project
Options command, or also through the Project menu.
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
DESIGN SYNCHRONIZATION
Main article: Engineering Change Order
Design synchronization is fully integrated in CircuitStudio without the need for passing a net list. Synchronization in CircuitStudio
is also bi-directional, allowing you to make annotation changes and component property updates in both directions between
your schematic and PCB, in a single operation.
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
COMPONENTS AND LIBRARIESMain article: Component Libraries
CircuitStudio supports working directly from the source symbol or
model libraries, an ideal approach when the schematic and PCB
are designed by separate organizations.
The logical symbol is assumed to be the essential starting point of
a component. It can be initially defined, at a minimum, as a name
in a schematic library to which pins and any graphical symbols
or alternative display options needed for implementation may be
added. This flexibility allows a component to be represented in
different ways during the design and capture process. This may
not only be as a logical symbol on the schematic, but also be a
footprint on the PCB or even as a SPICE definition for simulation.
WHERE ARE MY LIBRARIES? SOME BASICS ON LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
You’ll be able to view your source schematic and PCB library
files immediately after translation through the Projects panel.
Your translated libraries are automatically grouped into one PCB
project.
To make their components available in all open projects, Libraries
are installed (added) to the CircuitStudio environment through the
Libraries Panel.
Display the Libraries panel, from there you can install and remove
libraries. Libraries can also be linked to any project, and you can
also define project search paths, useful for referencing simulation
models.
See Component Management in CircuitStudio for a further discussion on using Integrated Libraries.
PROJECT OUTPUTS
Generating documentation has always been an essential part of your work. Generating all of the necessary files with all of the
necessary settings is just a few mouse-clicks away. The Output Generator allows you to select, configure, and generate all the
required files to build your design. To access the Output Generator go to the Project>>Generate Outputs menu.
To learn about generating manufacturing output see Generate Output Files.
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
STEP-BY-STEP IMPORT INSTRUCTIONSWith the change to the XML data Format in eagle, CircuitStudio provides a native Importer to support you in data migration.
Start the Import process with File»Import
Select Types of Files to import g EAGLE Files(*.SCH,*.BRD,*.LBR)
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
Ctrl select or group select (with the mouse) the EAGLE Design and library files you would like to import.
Now you’ve finished and can work with your imported files.
SEE ALSOBelow are references to other articles and tutorials in the CircuitStudio Documentation Library that talk more about the
conceptual information as well as walking you through specific tasks. Remember, you can also browse through the Help
contents, and use F1.
For quick reference design steps, refer to the tutorial, Tutorial Steps.
Driving a PCB Design Through CircuitStudio for a detailed guide.
For help on component management read, Component Management.
For help on the different CircuitStudio design panels, Panels.
To explore how to use Design Variants read, Variants.
A great place to start your journey through all of the new possibilities with your CircuitStudio installation. On the View tab of the
CircuitStudio Ribbon you can find the Start button.
From here, you can easily access the CIrcuitStudio
homepage. Under Explore Documentation you can get more information about “Creating Your First PCB Design
with CircuitStudio”.
http://www.altium.comhttp://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/Tutorial+Stepshttp://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/From+Idea+to+Manufacture+-+Driving+a+PCB+Design+through+CircuitStudiohttp://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/Component+Management+in+CircuitStudiohttp://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/PCB((Panels))_CShttp://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/CircuitStudio+-+((Variants))
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
MULTIPLE MONITOR SUPPORT
CircuitStudio has full support for multiple monitors. If you have multiple monitors on your PC you can easily drag a document
or Workspace panel out of CircuitStudio and drop it on the second monitor, greatly enhancing your design productivity. Multi-
monitor support is configured in Windows.
COMPONENT LINKING THROUGH UNIQUE IDS
CircuitStudio uses several methods to connect and synchronize data between the schematic and the PCB. With components in
particular, rather than relying strictly on matching designators, CircuitStudio employs a UniqueID for each component in your
design, allowing your SCH and PCB to be linked together at a lower level, which allows a more simplified forward and backwards
annotation. This is essentially a serial number that is given to a component when it is placed on the schematic, which is then
transferred with a hierarchical path to its corresponding footprint when the schematic data is brought over to the PCB forming
the Component Link.
Unique ID in Schematic Symbol
During a “normal” design process starting at the schematic then going to PCB, the Unique IDs are automatically passed so it’s
a transparent process for the user. For translated files, however, the Unique IDs do not automatically get synchronized. Not to
worry – CircuitStudio has a tool to help you quickly generate these links by matching designator!
In the PCB editor, select Tools>>PCB Links>>Component Links. The dialog will show (on the right side) the components that currently have matching Unique IDs. Those in the left and center columns are unmatched:
Matched Components Un-Matched Components
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ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR EAGLE® USERSMOVING TO CIRCUITSTUDIO® FROM EAGLETM
CONCLUSION
With its unified approach to electronics design, the modern professional interface, and the ability to read in your existing work
and continue with it, CircuitStudio is a great alternative if you are looking for a way to continue Electronics Design and PCB
Layout without being forced into a subscription only plan. Visit CircuitStudio.com to start your free trial and see for yourself
that there is a better way forward.
Clicking the Add Pairs Matched By>> button will link the Unique IDs using various methods – the simplest and default being reference designator matching. Components whose reference designators match will then be placed in the Matched
Components column. Clicking Perform Update will change the Unique IDs in the PCB to match those found in the schematic.
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