Altium Designer

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Altium Designer is an advanced schematic and PCB design software.

New project

  • Add a new PCB group by in the File menu

New Schematic

  • Create a schematic and add it to the PCB group by dragging it in the Projects panel
  • Save the board in a new project folder

New PCB

  • Create a new PCB board using the PCB Wizard on the Files panel and drag the PCB into the PCB group in the Projects panel
  • Right-click the sheet and select Options, Board Options and uncheck Display Sheet
  • Add the necessary design rules before transferring the schematic, i.e. thicker power traces for power nets
  • Save the board in the same folder as the schematic

Edit schematic symbols

  • Create a new Schematic Library to collect the new symbols, save it to a common location
  • Open the other Integrated Library or Schematic Library and in the Project panel pick the SchLib file
  • Switch over to the SCH Library panel to view all the symbol drawings
  • In Tools, select Copy component to save it to your own Schematic Library from the list
  • Make the changes to the symbol and save it
  • To use the new symbol, open the Schematic and place a new component, select your own SchLib file to view the list of all the components

Edit footprint

  • Create a new PCB Library for the new footprints
  • Open the other PCB Library with the footprint you want to edit and pick it from the Projects panel
  • Switch to the PCB Library panel to view all the footprints, pick the right one
  • In Edit, pick Copy Component to copy the entire footprint
  • Switch over to your own PCB Library in the Projects panel, the PCB Library, and right-click in the Components list to Paste 1 Components to the library
  • Edit the footprint and save it for later use

Make generic footprint

  • Open your PCB Library and switch over to PCB Library panel
  • In Tools, pick IPC Compliant Footprint Wizard to make common SMD footprints or Component Wizard for all other kinds
  • The footprint is automatically added to your current open PCB library

Define footprints

  • In the schematic, select Footprint manager in the Tools menu
  • Go through the list to by clicking Add and Browse to pick the correct footprint for each component

Transfer design

  • Compile the schematic in the Project menu and watch the System, Messages window for error messages, double-click the line to focus on the fault
  • In the schematic, select the Design menu and Update PCB to transfer the design
  • Click Validate Changes and Execute Changes, watch for errors after the transfer has been performed
  • All the components footprints will now be placed besides the PCB board outline ready to be placed and routed

Routing board

  • Place the components in a favorable way with common components grouped close together to minimize trace length
  • Use Interactive Routing from the Place menu to lay the traces
  • It might be useful to perform a Autoroute to check if there is problems or better ways to place the components, undo the autoroute