How to make copper pour on a layer if PCB Editor crashes every time I try to place a shape?

Not really enough information. What version are you currently running ?.

Is your licensing running locally on your pc or is it on a networked server ?

When you ran dbdoctor check did it report any errors with the database ?

I am curious about this since I have used Allegro/Orcad pcb editor for a long time and have never seen it crash. In particular shapes would be one of it's strongest points "Copper Pours" etc.

Let us know and maybe we can help you out.

Thanks ...

Thanks for the reply.

I am running 17.4-2019 S006 [4/21/2020] Windows SPB 64-bit Edition, OrCAD PCB Designer Standard.

It's a node linked license (server running on my PC)

The doctor prints:

Checking db records

checking for orphans...

Checked 35 percent

Checked 71 percent

Loaded existing device file 'C:\Users\[..]\Documents\ORCAD\[.]\Layout\devices.dml'

Finished loading SigNoise device libraries

Checked 100 percent

Done dbdoctor.

I can only envy your positive experience, because I use ORCAD for one month and it keeps crashing whenever I try to place a shape on any etch layer.

I am still trying to troubleshoot the problem. Here some of my observations:

- I followed EMA tutorial for copper pour - works fine

- My design uses multiple part models from Digikey, Mouser and others placed on a circular board with a rectangular cutout about 25% of circle area. The cutout extrudes off the circle, i.e.the board  looks like a round waffle after a bite :)

- If I import my netlist to a rectangular PCB I can add pour with no problem

- If I use netlist from the tutorial on my circular board outline, the pour fails, that looks like I have a problem caused by complex shape of the board outline

I have quite a limited time for the design, so I had to move on without flooding my layers with copper at least for the first prototype. 

My advice would be to download the latest hotfix S007. This is QIR1 and Cadence have made lots of improvements to the software, Although I don't have your specific design I have just made a dummy design based on a circle with a rectangular cut-out and can pour copper without issue so give that a try. 

I just upgraded ORCAD to "hotfix 007". It worked for a short while long enough for me to place a big circular shape on one of 6 layers (GND). It overlaps over cutoff and this was the only time I was able to place a shape. Now everything is back to "ORCAD normal" - no way neither place a copper pour to another layer, nor even adjust the ground layer pour and cut the rectangular piece.   

I just upgraded ORCAD to "hotfix 007". It worked for a short while long enough for me to place a big circular shape on one of 6 layers (GND). It overlaps over cutoff and this was the only time I was able to place a shape. Now everything is back to "ORCAD normal" - no way neither place a copper pour to another layer, nor even adjust the ground layer pour and cut the rectangular piece.   

Any way you can post a zip of your board to have a look?  Never seen this issue in all these years and would be happy to have a look.

Might I suggest the following. Make sure your board has a "Board-Outline" - Route Keepin all and Package Keepin all. It looks like you have a board outline.

I don't know the exact dimensions of your board but when it comes to cut-outs it is a good idea to include those in the actual "Board-Outline" as this makes it easier for the fabricator to profile and cut your board. Route-Keepin & Package-Keepin are used by the DRC.

I did an example, I think your board should look like this. Notice the actual board outline includes the cut-out. Also shown is the board origin "Bottom-Center" green x. There was an issue with shapes in HF006 that was apparently resolved in HF007 per the latest CCR. One huge advantage to odd shape boards that are represented fully by both the board outline and a route-keepin all is that when you pour copper the copper fills easily. The route keepin all is usually backed off 25 mil or more from the edge of the board outline.

If you can post the actual design file that just includes the board outline and those dimensions I will take a look at it for you. I don't need the netlist or footprints etc

.

All the best.

Thank you very much for the analysis. Unfortunately I am not that advanced in Orcad to use your suggestions without more detailed description. The way I created the board outline was the simplest possible: DesignWorkflow->BoardOutline->Create, I just drawn a circle and a rectangle than spent 20 minutes to find how to convert them to cutout. Then I used Place->Mechanical symbols to add 6 holes and after this never touched outline at all. If I understood you right I will need to add ute Keepin all and Package Keepin ? I'll search youtube tutorials on how to do this, or if you can provide some brief step-by-step guidance, please help.

I also upgraded to hotfix 7 which really gave me a small improvement, once I was able to make a pour that overlaps the cutout, however the program is still very unstable and crashes with no diagnostic  if I try to place a shape on "etch" on any layer. This is a serious bug itself, loos like an uncaptured event, a 30 years old software should not behave this way.

Hi, I honestly think there is something wrong with your install of the software. I have all versions here including the latest 17.4 which I don't use as much as 17.2 or 16 x and have never seen the software just plain crash like you are describing. Certainly all software can and will have bugs but I have found the Orcad/Allegro pcb editor very robust.

FYI, when you install Allegro there are a few install options and one with pitfalls. On a windows system my advice is to install the software for "All Users" and not the current user. You will know if you had installed for all users because under you C:\ drive or the drive you installed to you will see a folder c:\SPB_Data, This particular folder contains the variable settings for both Capture and also the PCB editor.

On the board outlines and keepouts, I imagine It is fine to use the design workflo, I have never used it but if you want to do that manually here is how.

1 "Create a circular board outline"

Click on shape & choose circular, next go to the visibility tab and select "Board Geometry" and choose the subclass of "Design_Outline" - On the canvas draw your outline to the size you want and double click the left mouse button to complete.

2 "Create a route keepin-all layers"

The same as above but this time we want to create that circular shape on the "Route Keepin" ALL class subclass.
Click on shape & choose circular, next go to the visibility tab and select "Route Keepin" and choose the subclass of "All" - On the canvas draw your keepin to the size you want and double click the left mouse button to complete. Note: typically a keepin is backed off anywhere from 50 to 100mil from the edge of the board.

3 "Create a Package Keepin"

Same procedure as above but this time choose "Package Keepin" with a subclass of all. You could make this the same size as your board outline or smaller. Basically this is used by drc to determine how close a package "Footprint" should be to the edge of the board.

Now that you have created that board outline manually with the keepin's etc try add a shape to the board. In the visibility tab choose "Etch" and select the etch layer you want say the top layer.
Click on Shape choose Rectangular and draw a big rectangle over your board outline. You should see that the actual shape only fills the inside of the board. The reason the shape only fills the inside of the outline is because you have a "Route Keepin" and since that keepin is on all layers the shape wont extend beyond the board outline on any etch layer. Cool eh :).

There are other ways of doing this too beyond simple rectangular boards or circular similar to the example I described earlier. Hopefully this info will help you out.

All the best.

This is what happens when I follow the instruction:

1. Board outline is basically the same, I just reproduced the same shape

2. Route Keepin is trickier, because to create a cutout I place a circle first:

But when I try to place a rectangle (to merge them into a cutout), the circle disappears:

It looks like poligone could work, but to build a circle with cutout of poligones is not realistic.

I tried to continue with simple circular keepin. It allows to add a pour to one layer(with cutout also flooded), but crashes when I try to do the same on another layer.