Simplify Schematic Management with Function Overlays in System Capture

System Capture introduces Function Overlays, a powerful way to group components and nets directly on the schematic using graphical shapes.

With Function Overlays, you can define functional regions, assign common attributes (both standard and user-defined), and visually highlight sections for better clarity.

Simply draw an overlay, configure its properties, and all components or nets within it automatically inherit those attributes. Additionally, overlapping overlays allow objects to receive combined properties—making it ideal for complex, multi-domain designs.

This feature significantly improves design organization, readability, and efficiency, reducing the need for manual property assignments for individual components.

To add an overlay in your design, from the floating toolbar, click on Add Functional Overlay option and select the desired shape.

After selecting a shape, the Function Overlay Dialog box is open as shown below. You can define the Overlay Name and add Component and Net properties to be added to the components under this group. You can also toggle the formatting button to highlight the nets / components in the overlay.

Once you have defined the overlay, you can select the components and nets inside it to see that the properties are added to them as defined in the function overlay dialog box.

You can also enable the Function overlay view in the project tree from the Project toggle view.