Learning Altium, need help!! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Dinheaven
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2014, 09:14:36 am
content: Hello, recently i started leaning the use of altium designer and it was quite difficult as i had no experience whatsoever in PCB board design. Thus, i started easy with the online tutorials. right now im at the Creating Library Components Tutorials and has managed to follow instructions until the part where i need to configure physical net. The tutorial keep pointing me at the design tab which i can not find, even after searching on the net. Need help peeps, for a noob here. Btw, im using Altium Designer 13.3. Thanks!!

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 11, 2014, 01:02:33 am
content: Do a google search for user "free_electron" here on the forum, with posts/subects containing the words "altium"Read for the next 2 weeksThank me later

author: toohec
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2014, 11:39:11 pm
content: Some of Altium's menus are contextual depending on what you are currently working on. In this case, the "Design" menu is only accessible when you are working in a Schematic or PCB document; it's not available when working in a library file. Be aware that the contents of the Design menu (and other common menus) are also contextual, so they will vary between the schematic and PCB editor.Since you mentioned "Physical Nets", I assume you are looking for the Design > Netlist > Configure Physical Nets selection right? If so, that is only available when editing a PCB, so you will first need to open an existing PCB document or generate a new one using File > New > PCB. Hopefully that solves your problem so that you can continue your tutorial. If you have any further questions, please feel free to post them.Good luck.

author: dboyer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2014, 04:19:26 pm
content: QuoteThey are talking about cases where you add a component to a board that has a complex pad (http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Creating+a+Custom+Pad+Shape). Without following those steps, you get shorted copper errors because the 'no net' polygon/region is touching the pad with an assigned net on the PCB. Until you actually place the part on the PCB and start your place'n'route work, it's not something you have to worry about.

author: Dinheaven
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2014, 02:53:01 am
content: Quote from: marshallh on September 11, 2014, 01:02:33 am@marshallhThanks alot for the reference. There's many information on altium from free_electron and im slowly learning the vitals info about altium. It seems that free_electron is has vast knowledge about altium. Sorry for the late reply

author: Dinheaven
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2014, 03:16:31 am
content: Quote from: toohec on September 11, 2014, 11:39:11 pm@toohecYes im looking for the Physical Nets section but in the toturial, im asked to use the pcblibrary, not the PCB document itself... Thats why im still stuck but acquiring knowledge is never easy. Will try the tutorial once more and sees if it solve the problem. Thanks for taking the time to reply on my post. Will update soon.

author: Dinheaven
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2014, 03:21:08 am
content: Quote from: dboyer on September 12, 2014, 04:19:26 pm@dboyerI went to the link that you provided but im really sure im not at the stage yet. Currently, im athttp://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Creating+Library+Components+Tutorialand stuck at the solder and paste mask.

author: Gunb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 02, 2014, 09:19:17 am
content: Quote from: Dinheaven on September 10, 2014, 09:14:36 amYes, I know what you mean. Hate it, too. The tutorials are obsolete, and working with version 14 makes it hard to find the right equivalents if relating to the videos. There's also no written manual, and since the online stuff is also not updated, it becomes really exhausting to work efficiently especially for beginners.Maybe it's easier when you would have started years ago with previous version, but starting with a newer ony is not really funny.

author: mengfei
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2014, 09:36:32 am
content: try here for startershttp://techdocs.altium.com/http://altiumvideos.live.altium.com/HTH