BoardSurfers: Unveiling Latest Enhancements in the Allegro X Layout Editors

The world of PCB and package design is constantly evolving, and staying ahead of the curve requires leveraging industry-standard tools and their latest features and functionalities. By streamlining workflows, boosting efficiency, and unlocking innovative design possibilities, Allegro X layout editors enable you to create next-gen PCBs with unparalleled speed and precision. Explore this post and discover how these advancements can elevate your design capabilities.

Better Usability in 3DX Canvas

3DX Canvas boasts a range of new features that elevate the 3D experience. Improved performance and visualization enable you to anticipate real-world challenges during design development.

Improved Preferences Settings

You can now set up visibility-based preferences for the entire design in the new Preferences dialog box. Watch your design transform dynamically by adjusting the opacity or assigning color to layers and 3D shapes. You can even adjust the display of background and DRCs to fit your exact vision.

The Set from design button is selected by default, which implies that the default display preferences use the color scheme of the design. These settings provide a starting point for easy customization. After making the desired changes in the Preferences dialog box, simply click the Apply to Design button to incorporate the modified colors seamlessly into your 3D view.

Enhanced Visibility Panel

The Component tab of the Visibility panel now dynamically reflects the selected display modes, enabling smoother navigation within complex assemblies. Visual controls in this panel provide the options to select boundary shapes and 3D models for components. You can choose to view only 3D models or boundary shapes, or a combination of both, as illustrated in the following image:

These controls provide granular adjustment of transparency for both components and mechanical symbols.

The enhanced Nets tab provides precision control over the display of individual and groups of nets in the 3D canvas. You can also customize the color and display of net objects using icons or the RMB menus.

The Display tab includes the Cutting Planes functionality to generate cross-sectional views of the design along any combination of the X, Y, or Z axis. This feature provides valuable insights into the internal structure of your PCB. Six cutting planes are readily available for immediate use, with the option to add more for customized exploration.

You can measure air gaps between selected components on selected layers with pinpoint precision. You can also view and control the display of 3D spacing violations, ensuring that there is enough space to work with components seamlessly.

Configure User Interface in Local Language

With the local language support in Allegro X layout editors, you can now conveniently navigate the user interface in your local language.

To use this feature, set the Use local language environment variable in User Preferences Editor. The text in the user interface—menus, dialog boxes, messages, and datatips—starts displaying in the selected language.

To continue viewing menus in English, set another environment variable, Non-localized menus. This variable lets you maintain the display of menus in English while the rest of the text within the interface seamlessly adapts to your chosen local language.

The local language support streamlines the user experience for those who prefer to interact in their local language. These settings are applied to all the layout editor utilities, such as Constraint Manager and Padstack Editor.

Note that the localization support is available only for Chinese and Japanese languages for now.

Build Query-Based Rules for HDI Vias

A new set of constraint rules is available to check the spacing between all types of same net vias within a design. In the Same Net Spacing domain in Constraint Manager, there is a new workbook for Query-Based Rules where you create a query to identify via groups for checking and specifying values for spacing between via padstacks in the layout. You can specify query-based rules based on groups of vias and their connection type (trace connected or not trace connected) or layer span.

Creating a query to identify high-density interconnect (HDI) via padstacks is the same as generating a query using the Find by query command. After the query is ready, you can set the values for spacing constraints and enable the query.

Updating the design DRCs generates query-based DRCs to report problem areas.

This powerful feature is available only with selected licenses. For more information, refer to Allegro X Layout Editors: What’s New in Release and HotFixes.

Support for OBD++ Data Import

The ODB++ data format contains all the design data used to manufacture and assemble electronic products. You can now effortlessly import design data from an ODB++ file directly into Allegro X Advanced Package Designer (APD), transforming them into editable objects, such as components, traces, vias, shapes, and nets, all within a single integrated database. This enhancement improves collaboration and design efficiency.

To use this feature in Allegro X PCB Designer, set the ODBPP_IMPORT_UTILITY environment variable in User Preferences Editor.

Publish For Manufacturing Integration in APD 

APD now includes Support for Publish For Manufacturing (PFM), a one-stop shop for publishing your package designs. With PFM, you can publish your ECAD data directly to the PLM system, streamlining the handoff from design to manufacturing.

You need to designate a package as the layout source for your .sip or .mcm files committed to Pulse. A new APD-specific template (located in the <Cadence Install Directory>/tools/rtp/data directory> makes it easy to configure PFM in APD.

The APD template for PFM keeps things simple by showing only the layout view and its related utilities. The options to manage Bill of Materials (BOMs) and variants, or generate and publish schematics are hidden by default. This streamlined approach lets you concentrate on publishing your layout data efficiently.

Conclusion

With enhanced usability features in 3DX Canvas to the ability to configure the user interface in your local language, Allegro X layout editors offer a multitude of benefits to streamline your design workflow. The powerful new features, such as building query-based rules for HDI vias and support for OBD++ data import, equip you to tackle complex design challenges with greater ease.

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About BoardSurfers

The BoardSurfers series provides solutions to the various tasks related to the creation and management of PCB design using the Allegro X platform products. The name and logo of this series are designed to resonate with the vision of making the design and manufacturing tasks enjoyable, just like surfing the waves. Regular, new blog posts by experts cover every aspect of the PCB design process, such as library management, schematic design, constraint management, stackup design, placement, routing, artwork, verification, and much more.