Design Editor , Cadstar, Preditor:
Notes, tips & workarounds.

Move command & routing slowing down, Dynamically Optimise Connections:
When moving or placing devices in a large design or that attach to large nets, like global nets, having ‘Dynamically Optimise Connections’ ticked can slow down placement of the device considerably. To speed up placement, un-tick it in 'Options – Interaction tab'.

Wide tracks appear to short out to planes or routes.
If you’ve run DRC & no errors appear but a track appears to short to a plane or route at a Via or pin, then this is a visual effect caused by ‘Show Route Offsetting’. This can be found in Tools, Options, Display.

Missing Vias & Powerplanes:
To stop Vias disappearing, set a layer to Powerplane & name it the same as the signal you want to plane too. Then when in Preditor, it will keep the stubs & Vias made to that net.
At the end of the job, if you don’t require a negative plane, change it back to a Routed layer & fill the Template to retain connections.
Credit: Patrick Hancock.

Reducing layers:
Sometimes when removing layers, although all items appear to be remove from a layer, on trying to delete the layer, the layer menu will say that items are still on the layer & it will not remove it. This could be because there are associations in assignments referenced to that layer or that some items are grouped & once had items on that layer.
Remove assignments or re assignments to that layer & ungroup any grouped items.
Credit: James Dowding.

Attributes:
For a new attribute like ‘space_trk_trk’ for diff pairs settings, go to Settings – Attribute Names, click Add ‘space_trk_trk’ then select Attribute of: Net.
Back to the main menu go to, Add – Attribute, select Attribute of, in this case Net, then Attribute Name, which will be ‘space_trk_trk’, click OK. This will then ask you in the status bar to select the items you want to attach the new attribute to.
Credit: Colin James & James Dowding.

Net colours:
There appears to be no way of colouring entire nets including pins or routes, all in one go, within Designer editor. However you can in Preditor.

Power Planes:
Create PP in Template, draw outline, assign layer & signal. Fill using pour in Embedded router. For solder resists use Figures.

Multi Section in Cross Probing:
To enable multiple selections in cross probe you need to have the ‘Enable Selection from CADSTAR to Others for Frame Select’ ticked, in the Options – Cross Probing’ tab.

Disperse components:
To spread out components quickly, select the parts, go to Actions; Placement; Arrange Components.

Minimise connections:
Go to Tools; Options; Interaction tab, tick boxes Auto merge connections & Dynamically optimise connections. In Preditor the Mincon button can also be used to perform a manual minimise.

Editing a schematic to find a 'No Fit' attribute & using Variant Manager:

1: Run the No Fit macro to find any ‘No fits’ that were set using the old method of ‘No Fit’ in Value attribute. This creates a list of ‘No fits’ parts that can then be used in Section 3.

2: Open the schematic & on the Toolbar pull down to the version / assembly number you require from the Variant manager list [not the master].

3: Find the parts using the list. Click on each part in turn, go to Item properties & Un-tick the ‘Fitted’ box. The part should now turn Red in colour on the schematic.

4: Select the part again in the schematic, go to File / Variant Manager, change the Line Style to ‘Dashed’.
Credit: Patrick Hancock.

Preditor:

Constraint manager – don’t loose your settings:
In the Preditor folder structure, the CTF file holds the constraint settings. Sometimes these settings can be lost when a forward ECO from the schematic to PCB, in DE [Design Editor], hasn’t had the constraints sent back to the schematic first.
If a copy of the CFT file is kept but the PCB has moved on since, like a rename, then get a copy of your latest RIF & FIF file, make sure you name these files the same as the Pred files in the folder structure, except the old RIF & FIF, bin these or keep an old copy. When you open the RIF in Pred HS, it will load the constrains from the CTF file, save this & import it back into DE.
Then back annotate this back into the schematic and finally to be sure, do a forward ECO from this schematic to the PCB. No differences should be found.

Gain access to all rules:
E:\Installed-Programs\Cadstar10\Programs\Resources\pred
rules.all remove ‘.all’ to have a file just called ‘rules’.
Credit: Carl O'roche.

Figure shapes:
Figure shapes do not pass over from Designer to Preditor. So if you need shapes or outlines to show in Preditor for what ever reason, you need to change them to a different object, like copper maybe.
Credit: James Dowling.

Moving components that are placed at angles.
When picking up & moving a part that has been angled by 'so many' degrees, they automatically revert back to horizontal or vertical orientation. It’s a problem & the only way around it if you don’t want to keep having to type in the rotated angle is to move the part by entering new coordinates into Item properties, but leaving the part at its current orientation.

Useful short-cut keys:
CTRL T = Routing menu.
SHIFT L = Lowlight view.
CTRL J = Step through active layers.
C = Clockwise rotation while in ‘Move’ mode.
A = Anti-Clockwise rotation while in ‘Move’ mode.
S = Shift sides or Mirror component in ‘Move’ mode.
Curved tracks:
Go to Routing Tools Option [CTRL T] & set Track Style to Curved.

Finding DRC in Preditor:
Go to Configure / Utilities / Checks, tick or un-tick as required. To run a check click the icon on the toolbar that has a tick & cross in it. Draw a window around the area you want to check, the error markers will appear.

PCB into Preditor has extra layer added?
If a layout file going in to Preditor suddenly has extra layer appear, one on top & one on the bottom, so the real Layer 1 becomes layer 2, this has happened because Jumper Support is switched on. To disable it, in Designer V9, go to;
Tools / Defaults / General / Jumper Support Enabled tick box, & un-tick it.

Lost your Template outlines in Preditor?
They can be found under Board Items in the Appearance menu.

Preditor: Disappearing vias?
If you are loosing vias while routing, right click & pick ‘Tidy Respects Vias’. This should stop vias from disappearing.

Connectivity check, unfinished routing.
On the Locate toolbar the second button from the left ‘Connections’ will go around each pin at a time & locate unfinished routing.

Contact us for availability.
For On or Off site assistance with your PCB layout design call +44(0)7715 507855

Associated sites:
DCB Automation - Automatic Optical Inspection for PCB assemblies.

Vivace Lighting - Luminus Products Ltd. LED lighting for architectural, constructional applications, hospitality, commercial and outdoor market places.