documentation.circuitstudio.comCircuitStudio Documentation | Online Documentation for Altium Products

Skip to main content Explore Resources Documentation Forums Support Download Blog Contact us How to Buy Free Trial DOCUMENTATION Search form Search this site Spaces All Spaces AAAHSE AAAHSE1 ADES ADEX ADOH ADOH1 ADRR ADRR1 AEE AEE1 ALEG ALEG1 ALIVE ALIVE1 AMSE AMSE1 ASIAE ASIAE1 ASSIE ASSIE1 ATPE ATPE1 CIIVA CMAK CSTU DMAN DMAN1 FPGA FPGA1 HWARE HWARE1 INTERNAL JAPROD JAPROD-old PCBW SCRT SCRT1 SystemSpace TempYuriySpace AAAHSE-migrator_switch_spaces-1382341618 ADBP ADDEV AEE-migrator_switch_spaces-1382341983 AID AMSE-migrator_switch_spaces-1382341750 ASFV ASIAE-migrator_switch_spaces-1382341828 ASSIE-migrator_switch_spaces-1382341882 ATINA BPS CSRR CZPROD DEPROD ELSD ESPROD FRPROD GAR GCS HRPROD HUPROD KOPROD PnP POPROD PUB REM RUPROD SWPCB VAULT ZHPROD Documentation / CircuitStudio Documentation Content CircuitStudio Documentation Modified by Susan Riege on Apr 12, 2019 Contents Getting Started Design Components Resource Reference Design Environment Schematic Capture PCB Design Text Editing PCB Design Rules Reference Project Compiler Violations Reference Quick Links System Installation, Licensing & Management Driving a PCB Design through CircuitStudio Component Management in CircuitStudio FAQs CircuitStudio Website CircuitStudio delivers a powerful design solution for those who create printed circuit boards on occasion, and require a professional-level tool at their fingertips with which to do so. With a streamlined interface built atop a powerful PCB design engine, CircuitStudio provides the tools necessary to capture and layout your boards, and produce the manufacturing data with which to turn your ideas into physical reality, all from within a single, powerful, yet intuitive, unified design environment. Getting Started Installing CircuitStudio Exploring CircuitStudio From Idea to Manufacture - Driving a PCB Design through CircuitStudio Design Components Related article: Component Management in CircuitStudio CircuitStudio offers a variety of component management methodologies to meet your preferred approach to working with the components used in your designs. Standard Component Libraries - Schematic Symbol ( *.SchLib ) and PCB 2D/3D Component Model ( *.PcbLib ) libraries. Integrated Components - in this model, the higher-level component is modeled within the schematic symbol in a Schematic library file ( *.SchLib ). Other models are linked from the symbol, and component parameters are added to the symbol. All source libraries – symbol and linked models – are defined within a Library Package project ( *.LibPkg ), which is subsequently compiled into a single Integrated Library file ( *.IntLib ). The advantage of compiling into an integrated library is that all component information is available in a single portable and secure file. Vault Components - this 'next-generation' model effectively maps the concept of a design component – in the traditional electronics design arena – to the component as seen by the rest of the organization in the bigger 'product arena'. This is a model that not only represents the component in the different design domains (Schematic Capture, 2D/3D PCB Layout) but is extended to include real-world physical component information, creating a component that spans, or rather unifies, the Design and Supply Chain arenas: a Unified Component . Libraries (SchLib, PcbLib, IntLib) can be made available to all board design projects in CircuitStudio by adding them to the Installed Libraries list through the Available Libraries dialog. Access this dialog directly from the Libraries panel by clicking the Libraries button. Alternatively, management of installed libraries can be performed from the Data Management - Installed Libraries page of the Preferences dialog. Vault components for use in your CircuitStudio designs are available from the Altium Content Vault . To connect to the vault, access the Data Management – Vaults page of the Preferences dialog ( File » System Preferences ), and click the Add Altium Content Vault button. Provided you have a licensed instance of CircuitStudio, a connection to the vault will be made instantly. This connection enables you to access and place content from the Altium Content Vault directly into your designs through the Vaults panel ( File » Vault Explorer ). Note that CircuitStudio caters for the use of vault-based components in designs but does not permit the creation, release or modification of such components. In other words, data from the Altium Content Vault is strictly for consumption only . Resource Reference Parent page: Resource Reference CircuitStudio's unified design environment consists of various Servers plugged into a core platform. Together with the core platform itself, these servers provide the resources of the software – its features and functionality. These are delivered in the form of commands, dialogs, panels, etc. These resources are documented and collated by servers. Use the following methods to locate information on a particular resource: Within the software, hover over a Ribbon button, menu command, dialog, panel, or design object, and press F1 . Within the documentation, either: Use the pop-up navigation tree to the left of this text (accessed by clicking the button at the top-left of a page) to browse for the resource required across the various servers (under the Resource Reference section of the tree). Use the Search field at the top-right. Within CircuitStudio, the F1 shortcut can be extremely helpful. Hover the mouse over anything inside CircuitStudio – a button, command, dialog, panel, or design object – and press F1 to access documentation for it. F1 also works for specific pages in the Preferences dialog, and specific rule constraint pages in the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor dialog. Also, if you are running a command, for example, placing a component and you are not sure how to rotate it, press Shift + F1 during placement for a list of command-dependent shortcuts. The following sections highlight and provide quick navigation to some key areas within the resources documentation. Design Environment System Panels System Preferences Schematic Capture Design Objects Commands Editor-Specific Panels Preferences Dialogs PCB Design Design Objects Commands Editor-Specific Panels Preferences Dialogs Text Editing General Editing Text Selection Formatting Find & Replace Preferences PCB Design Rules Reference Parent page: PCB Design Rules Reference CircuitStudio's PCB Editor uses the concept of Design Rules to define the requirements of a design. These rules collectively form an 'instruction set' for the PCB Editor to follow. They cover every aspect of the design – from routing widths, clearances, plane connection styles, routing via styles,etc., and many of the rules can be monitored in real-time by the online Design Rule Checker (DRC). Design rules target specific objects and are applied in a hierarchical fashion. Multiple rules of the same type can be set up. It may arise that a design object is covered by more than one rule with the same scope. In this instance, a contention exists. All contentions are resolved by a priority setting. The system goes through the rules from highest to lowest priority and picks the first one whose scope(s) match the object(s) being checked. With a well-defined set of design rules, you can successfully complete board designs with varying and often stringent design requirements. Additionally, since the PCB Editor is rules-driven, taking the time to set up the rules at the onset of the design will enable you to effectively get on with the job of designing, safe in the knowledge that the rules system is working hard to ensure that success. The following categories of design rules are available: Electrical Routing Mask Plane Placement Manufacturing Press F1 within the constraints page for a specific design rule to access documentation for that rule. Project Compiler Violations Reference Parent page: Project Compiler Violations Reference...