A modern multi-layer board is a busy space, crammed with fine pitch components and routing on many layers. Altium Designer 6 includes features to help you manage your view of the board.
Enhanced Single Layer display
User-definable Layer Sets
Changing layers with the mouse
The Insight magnifying lens
Heads Up display
Board's eye view of your multi-layer design
So you’ve knocked out plenty of double-sided boards, and have a couple of 4-layer jobs to your credit too. But this one is in another league, lots of high-pin count fine pitch devices, along with a 456 pin BGA requiring high-quality power routing, not to mention all those escape routes. You also need to keep the noisy nets on separate layers from the quiet ones, you’re guessing 8 or 10 layers this time.
Your standard techniques – switching layers on and off, or toggling in and out of Single Layer Mode as you route the board – just might not be enough this time.
The pleasure of board design
You’ve always enjoyed board design, it is the end result of the design process where you get to bring your concept to life. But more than that, you actually enjoy being immersed in that 3 dimensional design space, unraveling and taming the knotty mess of connection lines to form the ordered flow of routing across and through the board.
That process of moving across and through a double-layer board was easy. When you needed to see what was happening on the current layer you could switch to Single Layer Mode, see where there was some room for a track and via, push to the other side of the board, and continue routing. But look at the connection lines flowing out of that BGA, you’re feeling a bit nervous right now.
Working with Insight
There are many aspects to managing your view as you design a dense, multi-layer board. You use techniques like de-cluttering your view by controlling what layers are displayed, constantly switching the current layer to understand the contents of each layer, and highlighting nets of interest. Then there is that perennial task – changing your zoom from the whole board, down to an object that is only a fraction of a millimeter in size, and then zooming back out again. These are all actions you perform constantly. To work efficiently these actions need to be muscle memory, so that your focus can remain on the routing challenge.
These requirements are understood, and Altium Designer 6 delivers a set of features that can become muscle memory. As a collection, the features are called the Board Insight system. Let’s look at how they can give you insight into your dense multi-layer board.
More than just a Single Layer
Shift+S, everyone who has designed a board in Altium Designer knows this shortcut. Shift+S toggles you in and out of Single Layer Mode, ahhh, suddenly you change from seeing 12 layers to just the current layer. In Single Layer Mode you’re free to focus on just the current layer, now you can see where there is space to route the set of nets you are working on. But – don’t you hate it when there is a but – you’ve always found one frustration with Single Layer Mode. It has helped you route across this layer, but because you can’t see what obstacles are on other layers you have no visual cues to potential layer-change sites.
How about if you could sort of see what was on other layers, see well enough to know where there are obstacles, but not enough to distract you. Well now you can, in Altium Designer 6 Single Layer Mode includes Gray Scale and Monochrome options. In these modes all other layers are rendered in a grey color, making it possible to see where objects are on other layers, but not see their detail.
Single Layer Gray Scale and Monochrome modes are enabled in the Board Insight Display page of the Preferences dialog, the Shift+S shortcut will then cycle through all enabled modes. The intensity of the background layers can be set by clicking the Mask Level button at the bottom right of the workspace.
Switching layers with Layer Sets
Another standard technique you will have used to manage your view of a dense multi-layer board is to switch different layers on and off. You might want the Top, Mid1 and Mid2 layers displayed as you route the quiet nets, and then you want the Top, Mid3 and Mid4 visible as you route the noisy nets. Or if you are positioning designators on the bottom side of the board, then you will want the Bottom Overlay, Bottom Layer, Multi-layer and the Board Outline layer. Oh, and let’s not forget, when you enable that set of layers you will also want to flip the board and view it from the bottom, to make it easy to position the bottom side designators.
Well, no more manual switching of layer check boxes to reconfigure the displayed layers in Altium Designer 6. Now changing from one set of visible layers to another is as hard as choosing from a list, or pressing some shortcut keys. Click the LS button down the bottom right of the PCB editor to switch to another layer set, or access them through the Design » Manage Layer Sets submenu (shortcuts: D, T, + your choice of layer set).
New Layer Sets are defined in the Layer Sets Manager dialog (Design » Manage Layer Sets » Board Layer Sets). If you include the & (ampersand) character in the layer set name then the letter following it will become the shortcut key for that set.
Layer sets are stored with the board, so they travel with the design. You can also save out your preferred Layer Sets and load them into another board design in the Layer Sets Manager dialog.
Can I change layers with the mouse?
Another task you are constantly performing is changing the active layer. For this your muscle memory keystrokes have been the * shortcut to change copper layers and the + or – keys to walk back and forth through all layers. Wouldn’t you be pleased if you could change layers using the mouse though?
If you’re shouting yes, then another shortcut set that is sure to become second nature is Shift+Ctrl+Roll mouse wheel. Holding down Shift+Ctrl as you roll the mouse wheel will move you backward and forward through the currently enabled layers.
What is happening down there? – Zoom in with the Insight Lens
Ever get frustrated by having to zoom in to examine an object, then zoom back out to move your focus to a different part of the board? Zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out, there has to be a better way, you mutter. Well, there is a much better way to examine that area closely, without changing your overall zoom level – its called the Insight Lens. Press Shift+M to turn it on, or access it via the View » Board Insight submenu.
The Insight Lens works like a magnifying glass, it presents a zoomed in view of the area of the board. Well, it is actually more than a simple magnifying glass, because you can do a number of neat things with it, such as:
- Zoom the Lens view in and out, without changing the current board zoom level (Alt+Roll)
- Toggle the Lens to/from Single Layer Mode (Shift+Ctrl+S)
- Switch the current layer in the Lens (Shift+Ctrl+Roll)
- Park the Lens somewhere on the workspace, and pick it up again (Shift+N)
- Centre it around the cursor (Shift+Ctrl+N)
- and turn it off again (Shift+M)
Configure the Insight Lens in the Board Insight Lens page of the Preferences dialog.
If you like the Lens concept but would really like to be able to show that eagle-eye view on your second monitor, the Insight Panel will fit the bill. Not only does it include the Lens view, it also shows other detail about where you are currently working on the board. Display the Insight Panel by clicking the PCB button at the bottom right of Altium Designer.
What is that under the cursor?
Complimenting the Insight Lens is Altium Designer 6’s Heads Up display. Exactly as the name implies, the Heads Up display puts important information about what is under the cursor right in front of your eyes, giving you immediate heads up status on the objects. Heads up information can be as little as the delta distance from your last click location, through to a detailed list about the components, nets, violations and primitives currently under the cursor.
Font size, color, and other Heads Up display options are configured in the Board Insight Modes page of the Preferences dialog. As well as controlling it via the View » Board Insight submenu, you can also use the following handy shortcuts:
- Toggle it on and off as you work (Shift+H)
- Park the Heads Up display somewhere on the workspace, and pick it up again (Shift+G)
- Reset Delta origin (Insert)
- Toggle Delta display on/off (Shift+D)
A few more display management gems
Now that you have a handle on these neat Board Insight features, you’re probably ready to get back to routing. Before you do, there is a few more features that will help you manage your view of the board. These include:
Shelving Polygons
Probably every board you design includes numerous polygons. A convenient way to manage them as you work is to simply shelve them, select Tools » Polygons Pours » Shelve XX Polygon(s) to do this. Shelving polygons does not delete them, it parks them inside the PCB file so that their full definition is retained, but they are no longer present in the design workspace. To restore them whenever you are ready, select Tools » Polygons Pours » Restore XX Shelved Polygon(s).
Net Names on Tracks
If they are not already visible, you can now display net names on the track segments. Configure the Net Names on Tracks option in the Board Insight Display page of the Preferences dialog.
Highlighting nets
Another common display management technique is to highlight a net of interest. This will visually pull the net out of the crowded PCB workspace so that you can confirm the route path. As well as being able to select the net in the PCB panel to highlight it throughout the board, you can also Ctrl+Click directly on the net. Use the Mask Level control to set how much everything else fades when you highlight a net (Mask Level button, bottom right).
A powerful extension to net highlighting is the Ctrl+Alt shortcut combo. By holding these and hovering over a net you will invoke the net highlight feature. As you move the mouse around (with the shortcuts depressed) whatever net falls under the cursor will highlight, ideal for checking the flow of routing of nets in a bus across the board.
One last thing, if you use Single Layer Mode a lot, then you should enable the Show All Primitives in Highlighted Nets option in the Display page of the Preferences dialog. That way when you use net highlighting you will see all primitives on all layers, even when you are in Single Layer Mode.
Time to get back to routing!
Ok, if you are ready to route you might like to read… Place and Drag multiple tracks the smart way