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Sharing Settings in Altium 365
Blog •
Granular Sharing — Role and Group Management

With Altium 365, you can grant permission to teams or users based on the specific needs of a project. We have expanded Altium 365’s file-sharing setting, giving you more granular control over who can download source files and reshare projects with others

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Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension •
MCAD CoDesigner Quick Start: Autodesk Inventor

MCAD CoDesigner is built to address the challenges of electronic product design by enabling seamless collaboration between your electrical and mechanical engineers. This video will show you how to start collaboration between Altium Designer and Autodesk Inventor. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Variants in Output Documents
How to work with Variants •
Variants in Output Documents

Variants can be used with output files to keep track of all the variations within your design. We’ll show you how to export these files including a Smart PDF, and an outjob file with variants.

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Use your DRCs
Blog •
Design Rule Checking in the PCB Design Workflow

Any time you design a PCB, and you want to turn it into a real product, you will have to make sure the design obeys the constraints within the standard PCB manufacturing process. This imposes multiple rules on any design, and ECAD software will enforce design rules as you create the board to ensure you obey these important constraints. Make sure you enforce the right design rules at the beginning of the PCB design workflow 

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Embedded thumbnail for Copper to Edge Clearance
DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints •
Copper to Edge Clearance

It is necessary to maintain edge clearance from your copper in your design. We’ll show you how to maintain it, what exceptions there are to the rule, and how you can ensure its manufacturability.

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How to select high frequency materials
Blog •
Best Practices for High-Frequency PCB Material Selection

High frequency PCB design can seem esoteric, and I've heard many an engineer describe it as "black magic"! The subject is also a bit confusing, especially once someone asks which frequencies could be reasonably considered "high". Before you do anything inside the layout for a high-speed or RF PCB, you will need to pay attention to the materials being used in the board. If you're unsure which high frequency PCB materials you should use, then keep reading to learn more.

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RF PCB Design •
Design RF PCB: PCB edge plating

Board edge plating provides additional noise suppression and improves EMC. This video provides some practical tips for creating metalized PCB edges in Altium Designer.

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Embedded thumbnail for Using Parameters in Variants
How to work with Variants •
Using Parameters in Variants

You can use parameters to change your variants in many ways, such as text and titles. We’ll show you how to alter parameters in the PCB, Schematic, and Draftsman so you can create variants with different parameters.

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PCB Noise Reduction
Blog •
PCB Noise Reduction: Do You Need Isolation, Shielding, or Filters?

Of all the noise and operational challenges designers face in their PCBs, there is one overarching problem that is arguably most popular: electronic noise. It could originate as an SI/PI problem, it could possibly arise from some external source, or it could be good old-fashioned crosstalk! These tend to fall into three categories: adding shielding, doing something to create isolation, or placing filters. Let's look at all of these as they tend to be the default solution set when confronted with many noise problems.

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Webinar Preview
On-Demand Webinar •
CoDesigner and MCAD Component Placement On-Demand Webinar

We design products not just PCBs requiring effective collaboration between MCAD and ECAD engineers. We need to consider how we can reduce the likelihood of errors when placing critical design components. Component placement in the context of enclosures can be easily handled in an MCAD environment while it is more difficult to achieve in the ECAD domain. Learn how to place components from the MCAD side and synchronize them with Altium Designer ECAD models, designators, and sourcing data to simplify your design process.

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What’s New in Altium 365
Blog •
What’s New in Altium 365: Version Control for Hardware, Layer Stackup in Web Viewer, and SOC 2 Type 1 Certification

In February, we hit a new record in the number of users on the platform. The Altium 365 user community is now 20,000 strong! You can now migrate from an external version control system to Altium 365 preserving the history of commits. We also received the SOC 2 Type 1 certification from KPMG, made layer stack available in the web viewer, and added the brand new capability to track tasks in the context of your design project. Keep reading to learn more!

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Blankets •
How to efficiently use Blankets?

Blanket is a powerful tool for group assignment of properties in schematic documents. It makes it easier and faster to assign circuit classes, differential pairs, and design rules within schematic documents. This video provides instructions on how to use blanket to simplify work in your designs. 

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Query Language •
Query Language: How to Easily Create Expressions

In this video the main tools which allow to simplify the process of building a query in Altium Designer will be considered. There are several such tools and each of them has its own limitations and peculiarities of use. 

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Embedded thumbnail for What to Consider when Designing Edge Connectors
DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints •
What to Consider when Designing Edge Connectors

If your design requires edge connectors there are a few important things to consider. We’ll walk you through how to make sure your design with edge connectors is easy and manufacturable.

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Rigid-Flex in Altium Designer
Blog •
Support for Rigid-Flex in Altium Designer

Rigid-flex in Altium Designer starts with designing a manufacturable PCB layer stack complete with via transitions and any calculated impedance requirements. Flex sections also need to be placed in the layer stack before moving into the PCB layout. Once inside the PCB editor, bending lines can be clearly defined in the PCB layout, and these can be visualized in Altium Designer's 3D PCB design tools. Keep reading to see how Altium Designer supports your flex and rigid-flex designs.

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Embedded thumbnail for Design RF PCB: Distributed-Element Circuits
RF PCB Design •
Design RF PCB: Distributed-Element Circuits

Distributed-element circuits are a topology of a particular shape and size. Filters, power dividers, directional couplers can be built from them. Being calculated in third-party CAD, the topology of such elements can be easily imported into Altium Designer, and we will show you how to do it!

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Embedded thumbnail for Variants in Schematic Editor
How to work with Variants •
Variants in Schematic Editor

You can quickly create and edit variants with the schematic Editor in Altium Designer. We’ll show you how to create and edit the variants in the schematic editor by utilizing the parameter variation tool, the edit component variation tool, part actions, toggling fitted or non fitted, and the variant manager.

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Specifying your stackup
Blog •
Communicating PCB Layer Stackup Needs to Manufacturers

In the business of PCB design, communicating needs to manufacturers and vendors is a top priority. The context of our requests is sometimes lost either by not providing the correct information, not listing enough information, or not giving any information. Although the experienced PCB designer can take steps to specify everything they want to see in their PCB stackup, eventaully the manufacturer will handle that decision in an effort to balance available materials with processing capabilities and yield.

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On-Demand Webinar •
Intelligent Supply Chain Webinar

Many factors can affect your supply chain. Currently, supply disruptions are being felt due to the effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In this webinar, learn how Concord Pro on Altium 365 can mitigate disruptions in your supply chain and help you stay on schedule and budget for your designs.

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Blog •
Pi.MX8 Project – Introduction and Overview

Do you have extensive knowledge about the Pi.MX8 module? We're excited to introduce a new series of articles focusing on an innovative approach to utilizing this module. In this inaugural chapter, we provide insights into the preparation for this project and detail the elements that will be used.

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Blog •
Simple Documentation for Hand PCB Assembly

Creating documentation for hand PCB assembly does not prevent the same documentation from being utilized to assist in automated PCB assembly. Learn more about the optimal format for this data to enhance both your hand PCB assembly and overall assembly processes.

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Blog •
Constraint Manager: Precision in Every Detail

Explore the powerful features of Altium Designer 24! Experience Constraint Manager and revolutionize your PCB design with reusable constraint sets, schematic-to-board rule transition, easy class and differential pair grouping, and more.

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Blog •
Explore New Possibilities with True 3D-MID Design

3D-MID technology seamlessly integrates electrical circuits with three-dimensional mechanical parts. This unique fusion of functionality unlocks a myriad of possibilities across various application areas. Explore more about this innovative feature, available in Altium Designer 24, to delve into the fascinating world of the 3D design process.

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Blog •
Strategies to Minimize PCB Damage

The PCB design process is always an exciting journey for a designer or the founder of a project. The first run of it can be breathtaking. In this article, we delve into strategies for minimizing PCB damage in the case of an exemplary circuit.

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Blog •
PCB CoDesign: Design Faster Together

Experience accelerated design collaboration with PCB CoDesign, exclusively available on Altium Designer starting from December 13th. This innovative feature adopts a collaborative approach by seamlessly integrating schematic and PCB design, enabling multiple engineers to work on the same project. Explore this cutting-edge feature on our newly launched page dedicated to its functionalities.

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New in Altium Designer 20 • Apr 21, 2020
New Length Tuning Engine

The tuning engine in Altium Designer has been redesigned and is now better than ever. Tuning sections can be picked up and moved to new locations on the track. What is truly remarkable is that the tunings are completely dynamic and change shape and fill patterns depending on the boundaries and surroundings.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Assign Names to Polygons
Working with Polygons • Apr 3, 2020
How to Assign Names to Polygons

For some polygons, it is not always reasonable to use an automatically generated name so a custom name is needed. With a proper polygon name, you can quickly find the desired polygon in a list and correctly set the pour priority in relation to other polygons. By using unique names, you can create design rules that apply only to specified polygons.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Use View Mode in Altium Designer Without a License
How-To's • Mar 16, 2020
How to Use View Mode in Altium Designer Without a License

In Altium Designer 20.0, you can use Altium Designer in Viewer mode when signed into your AltiumLive account and no active license is being used. The Altium Designer Viewer license can be used by anyone with an AltiumLive account and no other licenses or subscription is needed. The license can be activated from the License Management page. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Any Angle Routing
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 26, 2020
Any Angle Routing

With any angle routing in Altium Designer, you're able to expertly maneuver around obstacles on a densely populated board, routing deep into your BGA, eliminating the need for extra signal layers. With an intelligent obstacle avoidance algorithm, you're able to avoid obstancles using tangential arcs, making the most efficient use of your board real estate.

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Embedded thumbnail for Schematic Dynamic Data Model
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 26, 2020
Schematic Dynamic Data Model

Recompiling large schematics can take up a lot of time. This is why Altium Designer uses a new dynamic data model, which incrementally and continuously compiles in the background eliminating the need to perform a full design compile.

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Embedded thumbnail for Time Based Matched Lengths
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 26, 2020
Time Based Matched Lengths

High-speed digital circuits depend on signals and data arriving on time. If traces are improperly tuned, flight times vary and data errors can be abundant. Altium Designer 20 introduces the calculation of the propagation time on traces and provides synchronized flight time for high-speed digital signals.

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Embedded thumbnail for Schematic Rendering
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 25, 2020
Schematic Rendering

A smooth and fast schematic experience awaits thanks to DirectX in Altium Designer. This new implementation smoothes out zooming and panning, and also dramatically speeds up copy and paste functionality.

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Embedded thumbnail for Properties Panel for Schematics
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 24, 2020
Properties Panel for Schematics

In Altium Designer version 20.0, the Interactive Properties panel for schematics includes several functional improvements as well as productivity enhancements. The entire layout has been refined to optimize efficiency, icons and graphical previews have been improved, and there is now a smart parameters filter both for schematic lists and components. Dialogs for schematic properties, so beloved by our seasoned users, have returned stronger and better than ever.

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Embedded thumbnail for Return Path Design Rule
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 24, 2020
Return Path Design Rule

High-speed signals create electromagnetic fields that can cause cross-talk or data errors unless proper return paths are provided. Proper return paths allow noise currents to return to ground through a very low impedance, eliminating any problems. The new Return Path design rule monitors return paths and checks for a continuous signal return path on the designated reference layer above or below the signals targeted by the rule.

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Embedded thumbnail for Sliding
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 24, 2020
Sliding

Editing traces to improve signal integrity can be time consuming, especially when you have to edit individual arcs and serpentine tunings. Altium Designer 20 incorporates a new gloss engine and advanced push and shove capabilities to help speed up this process. which improves your productivity.

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Embedded thumbnail for Creepage Distance Rule
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 24, 2020
Creepage Distance Rule

This new design rule flags a violation when the creepage distance across non-conductive surface and edge regions of the board, between the targeted signals, is equal to or less than the specified creepage distance.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Place Lines on the Keepout Layer
How-To's • Feb 24, 2020
How to Place Lines on the Keepout Layer

This video demonstrates how to place lines on the keepout layer.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Check for Missing Project Files
How-To's • Feb 24, 2020
How to Check for Missing Project Files

This video shows how to check for files that are missing from a project. Many times users link to files, such as libraries or outputs, outside of their project folder. This becomes a problem when it's time to zip up and send out project files, as linked files cannot be accessed by others.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Calculate the Area of a Polygon
Working with Polygons • Feb 24, 2020
How to Calculate the Area of a Polygon

This video demonstrates how to calculate the area of a polygon or region.

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Embedded thumbnail for Overview of Altium Designer 20
New in Altium Designer 20 • Feb 21, 2020
Overview of Altium Designer 20

With the release of Altium Designer 20 comes with it many new and exciting features. See why Altium Designer is the best choice for PCB designers.

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