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Altium Stories
Robotic Harvest: Securing Our Food Future

See how Altium's PCB design software, including Multi-board System Design and Harness Design capabilities, supports Muddy Machines, a company building autonomous robots for use in the agriculture industry. This video demonstrates the vital role of technology in creating resilient and efficient agricultural practices for the future.

Blog
Multi-Board PCB Signal Integrity: A Complete Guide

Our new article on signal integrity in multi-board PCBs covers essential aspects like connector pinouts, cable designs, and interconnect strategies. These factors ensure reliable performance in high-speed applications across industries such as military, aerospace, and AI.

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Octopart
Finding Alternate Field-Effect Transistors: Alternate Parts Series: Pt. 3

In Part 3 of "Expert Insights on Alternative Parts" series, Phil Salmony will demonstrate how Octopart identifies suitable alternative field-effect transistors (FETs). Octopart assists in narrowing down parameters to select the right component for any application. Learn to navigate Octopart's search and filtering tools to choose the best MOSFETs for your specific application.

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New in Altium Designer 24
Stay Ahead of the Curve: A Half-Year Review of Altium Designer Improvements - Recording Preview

In the last six months, we have implemented significant enhancements in Schematic Capture, PCB Design, and Harness Design in Altium Designer 24. Check out our webinar recording to learn how these new capabilities can keep you ahead in the electronics industry. You can find it here: July COM Webinar Recording

Blog
Multi-CAD Support Will Be a Game Changer for Electronics Design Teams

Discover how multi-CAD support is transforming electronics design with Altium 365 by enabling seamless integration of diverse CAD file formats. This innovation addresses vendor lock-in issues, boosting collaboration, version control, and project management across different CAD tools.

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Altium Stories
How Skeleton Technologies Uses Altium Solutions

Explore how Skeleton Technologies is transforming industries with their innovative supercapacitors made from “Curved Graphene” materials. These advancements are not only powering AI data centers and stabilizing electrical grids but are also unlocking new energy opportunities and driving progress towards a net-zero future.

Blog
Pi.MX8 Project - Board Layout Part 4

We invite you to explore a new chapter in the PiMX8 Project, focusing on the final stages of PCB layout design for the Pi.MX8 compute module. This installment covers critical topics such as routing power planes and signal delay tuning, essential for ensuring proper functionality and performance.

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LDO Regulator Essentials
LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part II: Voltage Drop and Regulation

We are returning to our LDO Regulator Essentials series. In this installment, we will focus on understanding the required dropout voltage, detecting when the regulator is out of regulation, and analyzing the performance of the LDO under higher current conditions.

Blog
How Thermoformed Flex PCB’s are Designed and Fabricated

Thermoformed flexible PCBs are specially designed and fabricated by heating and molding them into specific shapes, making them suitable for compact and complex applications like automotive dashboards and wearable devices. This process involves precise temperature control and careful handling to ensure durability and quality. Discover more from Tara Dunn's new article.

Blog
Boost Connection Integrity and Design Efficiency with Wire Bonding

Altium Designer's wire bonding feature enhances PCB design by supporting chip-up configurations for Chip on Board (CoB) designs. It offers easy validation of bond wiring in 3D views, ensuring accurate and efficient design processes. Check more about this feature on Altium's new feature page.

Blog
How High Frequency SMD Passives Work in a PCB Layout

High-frequency surface-mount device (SMD) passives like resistors and capacitors play a crucial role in PCB layouts, particularly in circuits operating above 1 GHz. Our article explores how these components function at high frequencies, their operational limits, and the importance of considering parasitic elements in design.

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LDO Regulator Essentials
LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part I: Basics

We invite you to join us for a new video series on LDO (Low Dropout) Regulators. In this series, we will cover everything you need to know about LDO regulators, from fundamental theory to practical implementation. In the first video, we will begin with an in-depth chapter on the theory behind these devices and their implementation in Altium Designer.

Blog
Essential DFM Tips for Aerospace Projects

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is a crucial aspect of aerospace projects. This process ensures high-quality designs that meet the unique challenges of the aerospace industry, such as extreme conditions and stringent reliability standards. Learn more about essential DFM tips in our brand-new article.

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Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Part VII: PCB Layout part III

Check out the final installment of the video series on the Wearable Design Project. In this video, you will learn how to set the rigid and flex parts of the design, modify the board for the project, and complete the PCB routing. For a deeper dive into this project, you can find it on our Altium Community Workspace.

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New in Altium Designer 24
Optimize Connections and PCB Design with Wire Bonding

Experience our new wire bonding feature, designed to enhance connection integrity and improve PCB design efficiency. One of the main capabilities includes support for chip-up wire bonding configurations and easy validation of bond wiring in 3D view. Don’t miss this opportunity—participate in our Beta Program and be among the first engineers to explore this impressive feature.

Altium 365 New Website
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Altium 365 now has its own website!

Discover everything you need to know about Altium 365 and experience our suite of applications for secure, seamless, and streamlined collaboration. Visit now to explore how to streamline your electronic product development.
 

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Altium Stories
Innovative Jewelry: Startup Uses Altium to Embed Electronics

Discover how Safety by Cilia transformed personal protection by utilizing Altium Designer and Altium 365 to create groundbreaking jewelry that also functions as a safety alarm. This device integrates GPS tracking, dual alarm options (both loud and silent), automatic audio recording, and rapid notification capabilities, all while maintaining an accessory that excels in both aesthetics and functionality.

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Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Part VI: PCB Layout part II

Join us for Part VI of the Wearable Design Project as Piet Callemeyn finalizes the PCB layout, focusing on rigid-flex design. Learn key strategies for optimizing your wearable tech design. Like, comment, and subscribe!

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Blog
Webinar "8 Reasons to Store Your Components in Altium 365"

Working with local libraries seems like a simple solution, but we often don’t take into account the added time spent maintaining libraries and sharing them between team members. This webinar showcases the advantages of component storage in Аltium 365 to resolve the issues of local libraries and component management.

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Blog
Bridging the Gap Between Designers and Customers

Every piece of electronic equipment starts with a great idea. Transforming great ideas into real, physical products takes a team of talented individuals and multiple companies coming together to make everything from the internal components to the external hardware. Paul Payen de la Garanderie, Founder and Owner of AW Audio, an engineering services company based in France, understands these challenges very well. With an extensive background in the Audio/Visual industry, Paul has had to work with multiple companies over the years, from small start-ups to celebrated AV firms.

Blog
Additive PCB Manufacturing: The Vaccine for Electronics Supply Shocks?

At this time, at least a quarter of the world’s population is under quarantine, with workers unable to go to offices or factories, leading to fundamental disabling of the world economy. The electronics industry is suffering greatly as well, dealing with a supply shock from factories shutting down in Southeast Asia, to demand-side shocks from Western markets literally shutting down. Now it is the electrical engineers taking the lead with additive PCB manufacturing.

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Blog
Webinar "6 Steps to Master Project Storage"

Altium 365 provides a secure cloud platform to store all of your design files in a single place so you can share them with anyone and access them from anywhere. This webinar discusses the advantages of placing, storing, and working with projects in Altium 365.

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Blog
Altium Designer 20 Changed My Layout Design Routines

I just finalized my first PCB design using Altium Designer 20. At the same time, I tested some new AD20 features, and in this article, I’ll share my thoughts about new layout design features which made the biggest impression for me: sliding, and any-angle routing.

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Blog
Designing for Antenna Isolation in Your Wireless System

Anyone who has taken apart an old cell phone or designs IoT devices knows multiple communication capabilities are present in these designs, each requiring different antennas. The RF designer should already take precautions for interconnect isolation, but antenna isolation is just as important when modeling and designing wireless systems.

Blog
PCB Trace and Pad Clearance: Low vs. High Voltage

High voltage/high current designs carry safety requirements which need to be met by designers. Similarly, high speed designs need to have suppressed crosstalk in order to ensure signal integrity. The key design aspects that relate to both areas are your PCB trace clearance and pad clearance values. These design choices are critical for balancing safety, noise suppression, and manufacturability.

Blog
Getting Through PCB DFM

In this article, we’ll discuss the key design features to implement, and steps to take prior to fabrication that will help prevent some DFM process pain.

Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide
Blog
Level Up Your Design Skills - Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide Update
We are happy to announce the new update of our Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide. Whether you are new to Altium Designer or you want to brush up on some topics, the Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide will take you from a beginner to a master in PCB design.  This is only the beginning! This guide will be updated with new information based on user feedback. Let’s first go over the contents of the guide.
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Blog
Modeling Copper Foil Roughness in Altium Designer's Impedance Profiler

With the new layer stack manager in Altium Designer®, you can now include copper foil roughness factors directly in your impedance calculator. This is quite easy to do in the layer stack manager, but it begs the question: what exactly is the copper roughness factor? Which value should be used for your interconnects?

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Blog
High-Speed Signal Routing: The 5 Important Constraints

After you capture your schematic as an initial layout and create an initial component arrangement, it’s time to define your routing constraints. Doing this early will allow your DRC engine to spot rules violations before you finish your layout. Likewise, you’ll be able to modify the default rule set to meet your layout requirements. Here are the important routing constraints you’ll need to check before you start routing your board.

Blog
How to Create a PCB Manufacturing Cost Estimation

Some manufacturers have very convenient PCB manufacturing cost estimation calculators you can use, but the real costs depend on a number of factors. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re producing your own boards, or you are managing manufacturing, testing, and delivery for a new project, it’s your job to help clients understand the primary cost drivers for new boards. Here’s how you can get an estimate of your fabrication costs, both for local and overseas manufacturers.

Blog
PCB Mountable Connectors: SMD vs. Through-hole

Selecting a connector is as much an art as it is a science. The artistic side is all about aesthetics and satisfying clearances, while the scientific side is all about signal integrity. For PCB mountable connectors, you’ll need to choose between surface-mounted or through-hole connectors, and you’ll need to consider how each type affects signal integrity in your application. Here’s what you need to think about beyond the standard connector specifications.

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Blog
PCB Via Current-Carrying Capacity: How Hot is Too Hot?

Trace and via current-carrying capacity are legitimate design points to focus on when designing a new board that will carry high current. The goal is to keep conductor temperatures below some appropriate limit, which then helps keep components on the board cool.

Blog
How to Maximize Copper in Your PCB Design: The Pros and Cons of Copper Pouring Versus Placing

There is a saying in copper pour PCB design, “Copper is free.” It means a PCB editor designer must think in reverse. A board starts off as solid copper, and the copper you don’t want is removed. It is faster to build, less consumptive, and less expensive to make a board that is mostly copper as compared to the same size board that is mostly bare. Picking the correct technique will make the difference between an effortless or frustrating experience.

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Tackle Any Design Complexity With the Constraint Manager
What's New in 23.11
使用约束管理器应对任何设计复杂性

对于企业版和专业版订阅用户,新约束管理器提供了基于表格的界面,无论从原理图还是 PCB 都可以访问,帮助您加强在约束定义方面的协作力度。工程师和协作者都可以轻松地共同设置设计约束。

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What's New in 23.11
Minimize Manual Effort With Automatic Length Tuning

Automatic Length Tuning introduces automatic length and delay tuning functionality in 2D mode, accessed conveniently from the main Route menu. This feature reduces the manual effort typically associated with length and delay tuning, expediting your design process.

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What's New in 23.11
通过自动长度调整功能来减少手动操作

自动长度调整提供 2D 模式下的自动长度调整和延迟调整功能,可方便地从主布线菜单访问。该功能可以减少进行长度调整和延迟调整时通常需要的手动操作,从而加快设计进程。

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How-To's
The Most Common 2-Layer PCB Design Mistakes and How To Avoid Them

Do you encounter issues when preparing a two-layer board? In this video, we address some of the most common mistakes made with this type of board and explain why upgrading to a four-layer board might be the solution you need.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: Ansys CoDesigner

Ansys CoDesigner (which will be released on the13th of December) simplifies your design process by connecting ECAD and Simulation to eliminate manual export/import steps. With features like design change synchronization and commenting, Altium Designer ECAD engineers and Ansys Electronics Desktop (AEDT) SIM engineers can collaborate seamlessly in one workspace.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: Automatic Multi-Net Tuning

Automatic Multi-Net Tuning enhances PCB design accuracy and efficiency by automatically adjusting multiple nets simultaneously to meet specific design rules, including length and delay. Learn more about this feature, which will be released on December 13th. Its flexibility enables effective work with differential pairs and traces at any angle. It not only identifies but also rectifies issues related to automatic length tuning, ensuring your designs adhere to key standards without the need for manual adjustments.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: PCB CoDesign

PCB CoDesign makes it easier for everyone to work together and meet project deadlines. In Altium Designer 24, which is scheduled for release on December 13th, we are introducing a new feature. This feature optimizes your resources through a Git-like approach, allowing multiple team members to work simultaneously and commit changes to a master branch. This expedites the design process and lowers project costs.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: MultiBoard Draftsman

MultiBoard Draftsman enhances the efficiency of design reviews and assembly precision by offering a unified platform for detailed viewing and documentation of MultiBoard Designs. Discover more about this feature in our brand-new short video.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: PCB Layout Replication

PCB Layout Replication allows quick replication of layouts for repetitive circuitry blocks in a flat PCB design. In this short video we will show you how this new tool (scheduled for release on December 13th) eliminates the need to do repetitive tasks manually or for various workarounds like snippets or multi-channel designs.

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How-To's
Coming Soon: Constraint Manager

Constraint Manager simplifies PCB design by facilitating collaborative constraint definition from both Schematic and PCB. Learn more about this new feature, which streamlines the process of setting electrical clearances and creating rules while centralizing class management for time-saving convenience.

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Simulation in Altium Designer
Debounce Circuit

Learn how to simulate the circuit, identify a common issue, and walk through how to diagnose and correct any errors found in a seemingly well-designed debounce circuit. 

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Import Component Footprints Faster with Altium Designer
Import Component Footprints Faster with Altium Designer. Part II: Using an External Library, Internal IPC Compliant Footprint Wizard, and Datasheet-Based Creation

In this video, we will guide you through three distinct manual component import methods; employing an external library, utilizing the internal IPC Compliant Footprint Wizard, or creating one yourself based on documentation.

Embedded thumbnail for Import Component Footprints Faster with Altium Designer. Part I: Manufacturer Part Search & External Plugin
Import Component Footprints Faster with Altium Designer
Import Component Footprints Faster with Altium Designer. Part I: Manufacturer Part Search & External Plugin

In this video, we will demonstrate the first two methods of importing components into Altium Designer; through Manufacturer Part Search or by using an external plugin.

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Simulation in Altium Designer
Buck Converter

Learn how to run a transient simulation, analyze the waveforms, and measurement techniques you can use to determine a voltage ripple with a buck converter as an example. 

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How-To's
Edge Plating in RF Design

PCB Edge Plating provides additional noise suppression and improves EMC. In this video we provide you some practical tips for creating metalized PCB edges in Altium Designer.

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Custom Pad Stack in Altium Designer
Custom Paste Mask and Solder Mask

Altium Designer allows you to freely customize paste and solder mask shapes, which allows you to adapt your design for non-standard component footprints.

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Altium Designer Interface
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative video, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication. 

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.

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.

Altium Designer interface
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative webinar, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication.

Stackup Manager in Altium
On-Demand Webinar
Mastering The Layer Stack Manager

What most people don’t seem to grasp is that every aspect of the PCB is critical. It all plays a significant part in the operation of the final product. The layer stack is no different. We need to keep in mind materials and the intricacies therein, including thickness, weave, dielectric constants, and more. A proper layer stack is needed for each and every design, so it's important to know how to navigate the layer stack manager and all of its features.

Part Search in Altium Designer
On-Demand Webinar
How to Overcome PCB Component Availability Problems

Supply shortages have become and continue to be a common problem, especially when it comes to the world of electronics. It's hard to get all the different components for our boards. Heck! It's even tough to get the board themselves too! When electronic components become obsolete or out of stock, design and production can suffer lengthy delays. With current supply chain delays and with an average of 15 end-of-life notices issued every day, obtaining the parts you need is a challenge.

Preparing your files for Fabrication Release
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative video, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Efficient PCB Routing Using Gloss and Retrace Tools

The primary goal of your traces is to carry signals throughout your board without losses. To do this properly, you must familiarize yourself with the requirements for signals on the printed circuit board and how to optimize the topology of the board in terms of signal integrity. We will analyze the most popular routing cases applicable for using the Gloss and Retrace tools in Altium Designer to optimize your signal integrity.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Length Matching in High Speed Buses

With ever increasing speeds in high-speed data systems comes a couple of PCB layout challenges. High-speed busses like DDR, VME, PCIe just to mention a few can all reach data transfer speeds that require strict timing with very tight tolerances, thereby leaving very little slack in the PCB layout. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn why it's imperative to match track lengths in high-speed data systems and differential signals. You’ll see how to properly define PCB length matching and time delay constraints, and how to effectively route high-speed signals in Altium Designer®.

Simple Simulation in Altium Designer
On-Demand Webinar
SPICE Simulation Made Simple

SPICE simulation saves you critical time in the prototyping phase. Understanding your simulation interface makes it simple to analyze how your circuits work in different scenarios. Altium Designer provides an intuitive, dedicated interface to support your simulation verification, setup, and analysis directly in your schematic environment. You also benefit from growing support for popular model formats, as well as generic models, simplifying circuit definition and simulation.

Altium Designer Signal Integrity
On-Demand Webinar
What is High-Speed Design?

The primary source of high-speed problems is not due to high clock frequency but rather the fast rise and fall times of component signals. With fast edge rates, reflections may occur at the receiver side, and when the board routing is dense, crosstalk may become a problem. During this webinar, you'll sharpen your knowledge and develop new skills that you can use to design High-Speed PCB's more efficiently and effectively.

Altium Designer Interface
On-Demand Webinar
What is High-Speed Design?

The primary source of high-speed problems is not due to high clock frequency but rather the fast rise and fall times of component signals. With fast edge rates, reflections may occur at the receiver side, and when the board routing is dense, crosstalk may become a problem. During this webinar, you'll sharpen your knowledge and develop new skills that you can use to design High-Speed PCB's more efficiently and effectively. 

Webinar slides
On-Demand Webinar
Designing PCBs 5x Faster Despite the Pandemic | Customer Success | Kinetic Vision

Kinetic Vision, a Cincinnati-based design, engineering, and development firm, is an innovator’s one-stop shop for transforming even the wildest ideas into real products. The company’s design approach keeps everything in-house, including industrial design, mechanical, and electrical design, as well as, engineering, hardware/software development, machine learning, and sometimes even short-run production. Watch this webinar to learn how Kinetic Vision uses the Altium 365 platform to enable a connected and frictionless PCB design experience, increasing their productivity 5 times even

Altium Designer interface
On-Demand Webinar
One-Stop Design Team Configuration

A heavy focus is usually put on managing your design data, but what about managing your design team? A mismanaged design team can lead to a disorganized and inaccurate design library and data. Watch this webinar to see how Altium 365 can help you to organize users into access restricted groups, manage design and designer access rights, avoid design conflicts when multiple members are working on the same design, and standardize your entire project using templates

SolidWorks interface
On-Demand Webinar
ECAD MCAD Capabilities For Today’s Most Demanding Designs

Working between the Electronic and Mechanical design domains brings unique challenges. ECAD and MCAD tools have different design objectives and have evolved down different paths, and so have the way they store and manage their design and project data. To successfully design these products, the designers must fluidly pass design changes back and forth between the ECAD and MCAD domains beyond outdated file exchanges.

Altium Designer Constraints Editor
On-Demand Webinar
Getting Started with Design Rules and Constraints

Getting started with design rules can sometimes be a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. Altium Designer has added a new design rules user interface along with a new way to define rules, while not compromising past methods. Now, rules and constraints have a design-centric view rather than a rules-centric view which allows for easier visualization and is less prone to error. Watch this video to learn how you can best utilize the improved Rules 2.0 design rule interface.