Major Enhancements in Version 12

Design Reuse

A mechanism through which a block of items in a design may be stored and reused in one or more designs.

Second Component Name

You can now add two PCB component names so they can exist in different locations on different layers e.g. Silkscreen and Assembly layers

New Attribute Editor Dialog

Component Attributes are presented in a tabbed property sheet dialog containing a grid control.

New SCM and New PCB Dialogs

These dialogs allow you to choose settings when creating a new design from a template.

Part Acceptance

If an existing part becomes obsolete or is expensive to use, then when adding this part to a design a message warns the user of the consequences of using this part and prompts them to accept and continue or not.

New Selection Tools

Polygon and freehand selection have been added

Start Page

The start page is a useful feature which provides the user an easy way to access or create designs, learn about how to get started and see all the latest CADSTAR news and events.

You can show or hide this page by using the “View” menu and selecting “Windows” then “Start Page”

Tabbed Documents

The designs can be displayed as tabs or as normal windows.Other CADSTAR Enhancements...

Line Width when Adding a Symbol

Symbols on the cursor are drawn with true line widths to make them easier to see against a pale background.

Strokes

"Stroke" input using a right mouse button drag to perform common operations.

Grid Copy and Paste

Copy and Paste functionality has been added to the grids in dialogs such as Assignments and Component Attributes

Micrometres

The design units can now be set to micrometres.

Pin Names

The restriction that pin names must start with a letter and every other character must be a letter or number has been removed.

Changes to Default Settings

Some of the default setting values have been changed.

Allow Single Node Named Nets in Transfer to PCB

Single node named nets can be transferred from SCM to PCB with a warning instead of an error.

Zone option in SCM Report Generator

An additional option in the report generator that will allow the zone information to be produced for each symbol

Automatic Sheet Name Population

When selecting Create New Sheet the default name will be taken from the Block if named.

Automatic Connections between Pins and Block Terminals

Symbol Pins and Block Terminals that are coincident automatically have a connection added between them.

Layer Stack View Includes Total Thickness

The total board thickness is displayed in the layer stack view..

standby also for version 12.5 to be announced in the spring of 2010.

And given below is a reminder of the enhancements in Version 11.

New Symbol Creation Wizard to automate FPGA library.
Create multiple schematic symbols via one wizard, and import those gates in Library Editor for Part creation.

Signal Reference Links
Using the page connector links to view and ‘jump’ to the other signal references of the same net.

Slotted Holes

You can define slotted drill holes, as well as circular drill holes.

Highlight Non Fitted Variant Items

It is now possible to highlight components, and its associated items that are not part of the current variant. It is also possible to hide these items when Printing.

Improved Connection Display after Routing

Connections which have been fully routed by an alternate path can now be hidden.

Embedded PDF Drivers

You can now export a design or print to a PDF file.

More Powerful Library Searcher

Seach on any item with Improved filtering algorithm and options.

Suppress Inner Layer Pads

Increase routing space on inner layers by suppressing unused pads.Other CADSTAR Enhancements...General

Report Output Cability Now includes new Units Option

It is now possible to output the current units used in the design in the Report Generator.

Part Attributes in Report Generator

It is now possible to output the Design or library attributes of a part in the design in the Report Generator.

Enhanced Wrkspace Function List Buses and Groups

Consolidate all the buses and groups in the design to the Workspace window for easier navigation and use.

View Selections Made in Workspace

When selecting a design item in the Current Design Workspace, the current view is updated so that the current selection is in the centre of the screen.

Back Annotation Consistency Improvements.

Consistency between the back annotation (RIN) files and CADSTAR file operations have been improved. If the user back annotates then exits-without-saving, saves or renames a design, any associated RIN file is updated accordingly.Schematic Design

Automatically Remove Pin Terminal x when connected

In Schematic Design, it is now possible to hide pins once they are connected.
Automatic Finding of all unconnected pins

Unconnected pins can now be highlighted, to assist in tidying a schematic design, by reducing the number of surplus pins.

PCB Design

Post Route Gate and Pin Swap

Allow Gate and Pin swaps on pins attached to routed connections.

Control Pin Exit Direction to 45 degree steps

Support of 8 pin exit directions at 45 degrees intervals.

View and Color Drill Holes

Drill holes are now drawn regardless of the size relationship with the pad. In addition drill holes can be assigned individual colours for specific layers.

Drill Oversize Specification

Added a setting in Defaults Dialog that sets manufacturing allowances on drill hole sizes.P.R.Editor EnhancementsP.R.Editor XR

Expanded Routing Wizard to become Dragon Routing Platform

Completely new revolutionary routing environment, developed as part of P.R.Editor application.

Improved Routing Setup Dialog

New single tabbed dialog covers intuitive setting of all the options covers by the router.

Inproved FanOut Tools

Several additional parameters for using Fan-outs in the design, such as length and use of fixed Fan-outs, minimum spacing rules between Fan-outs and preferred Spiral Via setting.

Easier Access to Autorouting Cost Factors

New override settings in the Autorouting tools, which are; Allow add track/via off grid, Ignore Exit Direction, and Ignore Max Length Rules.

45 degree Pin Exit Direction

Support of 8 pin exit directions at 45 degrees intervals.

Skew enhancements

Enhancement to support skew relative to a base item in skew group.

Select Items Dialog

A new dialog to allow easy selection of all item types in your design.

Browse Errors Dialog

A new method to make viewing of DRC errors easier.

Differential Pair Spacing

New value to represent spacing rule between differential pairs in the design.

Automatic Selection Extension to related E-net

It is now possible to extend the selection from the current selected E-Net to the rest of the E-Nets in a bus, the other E-Net in a Differential Pair or the other nets in a Skew Group.P.R.Editor XR HS / SI Verify

Enhancement for buses

Enhancements includes buses of differential pairs, sub-buses, and changing the method for generating bus_name attribute to support series-terminated nets.

Skew Enhancement

Enhanced definitions, constraints, and results for Skew groups that now contain an arbitrary collection of Electrical nets, Differential pairs, Busses, Sub-busses, Skew groups or Pin-pairs.

Additional Option for Real Plane and coplaner analysis

New options to configure the way in which data relating to reference planes is used.

IBIS series modelling enhancement

The import into the simulation library of devices from IBIS data that contain series models has been enhanced so that the devices contain a reference to the series models. This can result, for example, in two or more separate electrical nets being joined into a single electrical net, just as they are with any other passive element.

Automatic Differential Pair Creation

Options to define prefixes and suffixes used for net names for differential pairs.

Hide Tree view items for diff pair and buses

New option to allow you to configure the display of electrical nets and/or differential pairs in the tree view, belonging to a differential pair or bus respectively.

Enhanced Parameter Sweep

More supported combinations, with aid of new parameters. Also introduction of Parameter Sweep Wizard.

Navigate to Options

New options have been added to the Constraint Manager tree view context menu to allow you to find references to the currently selected item from Busses, Differential Pairs and Skew Groups.

Thank you for your interest! 020210