Thoughts on AutoTRAX PCB layout software?

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Some of these high flying packages are great and complete but when it comes to a quick and dirty small PCB a cheaper package does the job much quicker. Some people that bought my software came from other vendors and complained about packages being hard to understand and to get started took a long time.

Certainly true... I saw a guy do full-fledged PCBs with all the digital bits included using Ansoft Designer... he said it was quite the pain-in-the-ass. :-) His deal was that he was working for some government-funded project, so while they had gone through the (six month!) process to get $$$ Ansoft, he no longer had (another six months!) to get a decent schematic capture/PCB layout tool.

If your tool imprts Gerbers I'm sure he would have been quite interested in your package, Marra.

Hmm... (looking at your web site...) I think you get the award as the only eCAD vendor whose web site has a link to *discos.* Is that link to a friend's web site? Or you just have fond recollections of boogie nights from years past? :-)

---Joel

Well, at least that's a start. Those resistors are horribly BIG. Are there any real ground symbols? Scrap the 3D viewer, what point is there in having something so simplistic as that? Why support so many resist layers? I'd also suggest you get yourself a real web address.

Dave.

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Much better Marra. Now a person would have a definite idea as to what he is getting. But as David J. said though, you may want to just drop the 3D viewer -- it just doesn't work out. And if you ever wanted to add a copper pour, along with the ability to drop vias anywhere along that pour, your software could be a real contender against the other lower-end schematic and layout packages. Good stuff.

-Bill

. . Ya know, I teach PCB layout to first year engineering students. I would dearly LOVE to find a low end or "freebie" PCB package that they could upgrade when they graduated and went pro. As it is, I struggle along with a demo package out of an obsolete layout program that originated from a long since defunct company (actually absorbed into a bloatware company) called MicroCode Engineering.

If anybody ANYWHERE can point me to an easy to learn student oriented CHEAP package that they can go pro with in a few years, I'd dearly love to hear about it.

Jim

(And if anybody knows where Art Hatfield and company have relocated, I'd like to hear about that too. That man was a genius in PCB program design.)

Kicad, or gEDA. Both are free, and both are capable of doing professional work.

With gEDA, you can get your first years into helping with the development, and turn it into an uber layout program.

-Chuck

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My software imports Gerber files but just a subset.

I run a disco as well as writing software.

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The resistors are big to include wattage and tolerance in the value field. Only 2 resist layers are used but a resist layer could be on any layer depending on how many layers are used.

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The software does power planes with vias being islands. You can connect any pwerplane to any net.

The 3D viewer is quite useful for viewing the final board.

What's the monster heatsink/toroid transformer/control circuitry in the PC case on your disco page

Some sort of lighting controller?

What people are trying to tell you, Marra, is that your version isn't really in the same league as other commercial PCB packages that advertise a "3D viewer." (See, e.g.,

for what Pulsonix's looks like): People are used to be able to "spin" a 3D view with their mouse, "flying" in and out of it... and also have the DRC tied into the

3D (height) attributes of each part, so they can make sure nothing hits the top of their chassis (or whatever).

IMO though I think your 3D viewer is fine given the price of your software... but you might find some customers thinking they're getting something rather fancier than what you have at present.

---Joel

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That's why other programs don't try and put the text inside the resistor, it goes outside by default, above and below. It looks silly the way it is, really. And what if someone wants a ---/\/\/--- resistor symbol?

Seriously, work on the aesthetics in all aspects of your software and it will do wonders. Ditch work on the auto router, auto placement, 3D modeling and other non-essential stuff, they are not needed for a low end package.

And put a demo version up.

Dave.

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I agree. But I'd go further and say simply remove the 3D viewer completely, I would not spend another second of your development time on it. It is detrimental to the look of your overall package.

Stick with the basics - layout, schematic, footprints, library managment/editing, gerber generation, usability, WYSIWYG etc. Ditch the rest and concentrate development on the basics. People would rather have an *excellent* basic package than an average package that tries to do everything.

Just trying to provide some constructive criticism, hope it helps.

Dave.

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But anyone can change any of the components. You can move the resistor reference, value and outline to anything you want.

The extras are simply to hook people into buying the software. I must admit I rarely use the autorouter although it will route tracks sperartely if you want which is useful. The 3D view does give a better representation than the 2D model.

I dont understand the obsession with demo versions. The software does what it says in the ad. There are relatively few ways to add a component to a layout and wire it up. Typically the higher priced packages make it much more diffciult as they want much more info than a cheaper package.

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The software has been developed since around 1990 so it is a long way down the road to doing what I want. I wrote the software after trying to use other companies efforts. A lot of features I found were missing on other packages, I was also shocked at the number of crashes and holes in other packages. Before anyone asks, no it is not DOS it is .net framework v3 now.

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Its a disco/guitar 600 watts RMS amplifier . A disco forum wanted to see a picture of the home made amplifier. The amplifier has a microcontroller in it for detecting fault states. It disconnects the speakers via a relay if a fault condition occurrs. It also detects short circuit output MOSFETS too.

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The software sinply extrapolates the 2D data into 3D. Clearly a resistor could be made up from polygons to create a nicer image. But things like connectors could be any shape.

The 3D module has just been started on and I am sure it will develop as time goes by.

I have had no complaints from my customers ! Maybe my telephone and email helplines are all broken lol