Altium Designer

Description

Altium Designer is a comprehensive cloud-based PCB design software. It is a Software made by Altium that was founded in 1985 by Nicholas Martin. Altium Designer was launched in 2005 to address the challenges engineers encounter in PCB design. It has a wide variety of functions that can make PCB designs easier to make by engineers making PCB designs. Altium Designer assists engineers in designing schematics, making it simpler for beginners to initiate PCB design and create designs more rapidly.

Altium Designer allows collaboration with MCAD designers either by importing design to Altium designer or exporting to MCAD design software. We can also invite other collaborators to give comments on the working design, which can help designers to make adjustments at the right time and will not have to make corrections when it is complete later. Altium Designer enables the creation of 3D PCB or non-planar PCB designs.

Altium Designer allows designers to make Rigid-Flex and multi-board by verifying connectivity and making flexible circuits that connect the multi-board setup. Users can easily adapt its multi-board functionality, which provides flexibility. This allows for the identification and correction of errors during the initial stages instead of requiring corrections after the work is completed.

Surface Mounted Technology:

Altium Designer provides support for surface mount technology, enabling the direct mounting of smaller devices on PCB boards. This facilitates a high degree of automation in the work process, leading to enhanced accuracy and production speed.

Product Catalog:

Altium Designer offers a selection of over 200,000 products from over 70 manufacturers, allowing designers to choose components that match their needs and requirements. They can make selections without concerns about manufacturability, cost, and compatibility with their part design. All the information about various parts and components is in the Altium product catalog.

3D PCB design:

Altium Designer can make 3D PCBs, which can show us; 3D models of PCB, from which we can have a better understanding of design and can help us to see the model clearly and effectively increase confidence in our design.

Collaboration With MCAD:

Altium Designer is a one-stop solution for PCB design; we can start by creating a project PCB, then export the file to Solidworks for CAD work; after compilation, we can take the file to Altium designer for viewing or extra work.

Pros:

1. Its PCB tools help in creating a manufacturable and accurate layout.
2. Provide guidance through documentation, tutorials, and online community.
3. The control impedance and the excellent view of 3D.
4. It has collaboration features. 

Cons

1. NO tools for apple MacOS and Ipad.
2. Only names in the component library, no visuals.
3. An A-list of all Shortcuts will be great. 

Suggestion:

Altium is a big software that can help PCB designers to collaborate with MCAD designers and make good designs according to their needs. Within the software, we can invite other individuals to provide comments on the drawing, facilitating the fulfillment of multiple requirements in one go. This can assist PCB designers in avoiding redundant revisions to the design.

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