Tutorial - Collaborative Design in Altium NEXUS

This documentation page references Altium NEXUS/NEXUS Client (part of the deployed NEXUS solution), which has been discontinued. All your PCB design, data management and collaboration needs can now be delivered by Altium Designer and a connected Altium 365 Workspace. Check out the FAQs page for more information.

 

Parent page: Tutorial - A Complete Design Walkthrough with Altium NEXUS

Project History

Main pages: Project History, Project History (in an Altium 365 Workspace, in a NEXUS Server Workspace)

Altium NEXUS, in conjunction with a connected Workspace, allows you to view and interact with an advanced graphically orientated Project History timeline. The dedicated History view provides a progressive timeline of major events relating to the project – its creation, commits, releases, clones, and MCAD exchanges – with various actions supported where applicable.

The History view of the Multivibrator project.
The History view of the Multivibrator project.

The History view can essentially be broken down into three key sections:

  • Main trunk of the timeline. Direction of event chronology is from the bottom up. The first event – the creation of the project – will appear at the bottom of the timeline. Subsequent events appear above, with the latest (the most current event) appearing at the top of the timeline.
  • Events. Each time a supported event (including project creation, saving to the Workspace, and project release) happens in association with the project, that event is added to the timeline as a dedicated tile. Each type of event will have a different colored tile and will either be linked directly to the main trunk of the timeline.
  • Search. Click the control at the top-right of the view to access a search field that facilitates basic searching of the project history. As you type your search string, filtering will be applied to the timeline to present only the events relevant to that search.

Viewing the Design in a Browser

Main page: Web Viewer Functionality (on the Altium 365 Platform, in a NEXUS Server Workspace)

The Workspace's Web Viewer interface provides universal access to PCB project documents through a standard Browser. Much more than just a web-based viewer, its advanced browser technology allows users to navigate through the project structure, interact with design documents, highlight areas or objects for commenting notes, and search, cross-probe, select and inspect components and nets throughout the design.

The Web Viewer interface provides an immersive and interactive experience for reviewing a design. Shown here is the board in 3D.
The Web Viewer interface provides an immersive and interactive experience for reviewing a design. Shown here is the board in 3D.

To ensure a smooth experience with the Web Viewer, ensure you have the latest version of a supported Web Browser installed, that WebGL is enabled for it and that the video drivers for your computer are up to date. For more information, see Altium 365 Viewers – Troubleshooting Guide (for Web Viewer on the Altium 365 Platform) or System Requirements – Web Browser Requirements (for Web Viewer of a NEXUS Server Workspace).

The Web Viewer interface presents information across distinct data views. The views presented will depend on the type of data being viewed. When viewing design source, four data views are used to present the source schematic(s), board in 2D, board in 3D, and Bill of Materials respectively.

The Web Viewer interface for a specific project can be accessed directly from the Workspace browser interface, or indirectly from within Altium NEXUS.


Document Commenting

Related pages: Web Viewer Functionality – Comments (on the Altium 365 Platform, in a NEXUS Server Workspace), Project Commenting

The Web Viewer interface supports commenting on your design documents. A comment is a user-added note that is assigned to a specific point, object, or area (as applicable) on a supported data view, and may be replied to by other users. Comments promote collaboration between users without altering the shared data itself because comments are stored by the Workspace independently of that data. Comments applied in the Web Viewer interface in the following places become available in Altium NEXUS and vice-versa.


Project Share

Related pages: Workspace Projects – Sharing a Managed Project (on the Altium 365 Platform, in a NEXUS Server Workspace), Sharing a Design, Management of a Specific Project – Sending Data to Your Manufacturer

Once a project is saved to the Workspace, you'll want to determine which users can actually access that project, for collaborative design and/or reviewing this project. This is done by sharing the project, or rather, by configuring its access permissions. This can be performed through Workspace's browser interface, and also directly from within Altium NEXUS.

A design saved to Workspace can be shared with other users (including those outside the Workspace) and roles, for editing or for viewing and commenting only.
A design saved to Workspace can be shared with other users (including those outside the Workspace) and roles, for editing or for viewing and commenting only.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Altium 365 infrastructure platform is its support for collaboration on a global scale. At the heart of this is the platform's support for Global Sharing. With Altium 365, you can effortlessly share your current design progress with management, or purchasing, or a potential manufacturer.

Once the project is released to an Altium 365 Workspace, you can share this data with your manufacturer through a defined Manufacturing Package, which they can then peruse through the Altium 365 platform's dedicated Manufacturing Package Viewer – without them having access to your Workspace and therefore keeping your design data out of sight. They can then download the Build Package with which to get your board fabricated and assembled.

Congratulations! You explored project management features for collaborative design and finished the tutorial.

This tutorial has introduced you to just some of the powerful features of the Altium software but we've only just scratched the surface of the design power available to you. Once you start exploring, you will find a wealth of features to make your design life easier. See other pages of the Altium NEXUS Documentation set to learn more.

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