Working with a Board Fabrication View Object on a Draftsman Document in Altium NEXUS

Created: April 22, 2021 | Updated: October 6, 2021

Contents

Summary
Availability
Placement
Graphical Editing
Non-Graphical Editing
- - Editing Multiple Objects

A placed board Fabrication View set to the Top view side

Summary

A Draftsman Board Fabrication View is an automated graphic composite of the PCB project's unpopulated (bare) board, as viewed from the Top or Bottom. The drawing data is sourced from a specified physical board layer, and polygon copper fills can be displayed as solid, hatched or as simple outlines. Its drawing representation and data sources are all configurable in the Properties panel.

Availability

Board Fabrication Views are available for placement in a PCB project Draftsman document from the Draftsman Editor as follows:

Choose the Place » Board Fabrication View command from the main menu (Place Board Fabrication View).
Click the button on the Active Bar located at the top of the design space.
Right-click in the drawing design space then select Place » Board Fabrication View from the context menu.
Click the entry on the Drawing Views toolbar (View » Toolbars » Drawing Views to enable).

Placement

After launching the command, drawing data is retrieved from the source PCB file, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and the rendered Fabrication View is attached to the cursor. Move the cursor to the desired position then click to confirm the placement.

Note that drawing data is retrieved from the PCB document specified in the Source section of the Properties panel when in Document Options mode. To change the panel to that mode, deselect all objects in the design space (click in free space).

Graphical Editing

Both the position and size of placed Board Fabrication View can be graphically modified.

A selected Board Fabrication View will show a node handle at the top right of the selection outline, which can be dragged to a new location to modify the view's size. To move a Board Fabrication View, drag and drop it to a new location.

Drag a selected Board Fabrication View's resize node to change its scale.

The default settings for the Board Fabrication View are available in the Draftsman - Defaults page of the Preferences dialog.

Non-Graphical Editing

Properties page: Board Fabrication View Properties

The non-graphical method of editing a Board Fabrication View is available in the Draftsman Properties panel, which provides a comprehensive range of editable properties, options and design content settings for placed Draftsman views.

The Properties panel when a Board Fabrication View is selected.

To open the Properties panel and access the properties of a placed Board Fabrication View:

After selecting the Board Fabrication View object, select the Properties panel from the Panels button at the bottom right of the design space or select View » Panels » Properties from the main menus.
Double-click on the Board Fabrication View object in the design space.
Right-click on the Board Fabrication View then select Item Properties from the context menu.

If the Properties panel is already active, click on the Board Fabrication View object to access its properties in the panel.

The Board Fabrication View properties can be accessed prior to entering placement mode from the Draftsman – Defaults page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the Board Fabrication View object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent Board Fabrication Views.

Editing Multiple Objects

The Properties panel supports multiple object editing, where the property settings that are identical in all currently selected objects can be modified.