Altium free viewer questions - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2022, 01:36:53 am
content: Hi,Please advise on the following if possible..How do you get the gridlines to be on top in Altium free viewer?(as discussed in other thread, ill put all questions in here now.)

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2022, 10:05:18 pm
content: Again?That's the 10th or so silly question about the same subject in about a week.Maybe you should follow the advise you got in your previous thread:Quote from: thm_w on November 23, 2022, 09:29:51 pm

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2022, 09:48:43 pm
content: In the SCH or PCB? I don't think gridlines can be on top, they are under.You can try Shift+Ctrl+Ghttps://www.altium.com/documentation/altium-designer/sch-cmd-togglevisiblegridtogglevisiblegrid-adYou might be better off taking a part time course, then get the 6 months altium student license?I would say other sources, but, after those previous "virus" threads you had, I wouldnt really...

author: Pseudobyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2022, 01:27:57 pm
content: You are not going to find a lot of people in this section of the forum that use the free viewer. I think pretty much everyone lurking here has access to and uses full seats of Altium Designer.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2022, 05:28:47 pm
content: I have a full license but still used the free viewerUntil the license ran out on it

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2022, 05:54:23 pm
content: Quote from: Pseudobyte on November 30, 2022, 01:27:57 pmI'm a happy KiCad user myself and am gloating about those altium price rises, problems with re-activating post due subscriptions, altium not listening to their customers, having ages old bugs that don't get fixed and other commercial crap.altium apparently has an annual revenue between some USD 100M and USD 250M (depending on where you look) and it's all sucked out of your pockets. They won't get a cent from me. On the other side. I donate to KiCad out of my free will, because I like the project, it enables me to make nice PCB's and I like to support it.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2022, 09:11:01 pm
content: QuoteI don't get why you''re turned on by some poor aspect of something you have no interest in and will never use. Do you go to the Eagle forum and cream your pants at those users left in the lurch? Do you laugh and shout at your monitor "Yes! You bloody deserved that"?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2022, 10:27:59 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on November 30, 2022, 05:28:47 pmWhy though, to run on a second PC or something?The summer 09 viewer license linked in previous threads will not run out.edit: downloads.altium.com/altiumdesigner/AltiumDesignerViewerBuild9.3.0.19153.zip

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2022, 02:02:37 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on November 30, 2022, 10:27:59 pmMostly, yes. I want to be able to just look at the stuff without worrying about changing anything. So not only no design changes but also viewer preferences, etc. As it happens, the viewer will make changes that get checked in source control, so that approach wasn't ideal. (I could use a copy of the design, of course, but using the live version means I see the actualite, where changes may not yet have been propagated.)I have the 09 version which is OK, but it doesn't know about any of the recent changes so just ignores some stuff.

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2022, 09:29:31 pm
content: Hi,We have an "isolated SMPS" schem and layout in Altium free viewer (well it was supposed to be isolated). We wish to highlight all primary side nets at the same time.How can we do this?Its a lot of nets.Its easy to do in the schem i would think?.....just select the mass of nets and click "highlight"?But its several schem pages to do this.Its not so easy in the PCB, because the cust has intermingled primary and secondary tracks....deep joy!.....sometimes <0.4mm apart.I would think this is a standard operation in Altium free viewer though?...as finding the clearances between pri and sec is important.But we cant find out how to do it?

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2022, 10:18:51 pm
content: Depends how you identify primary nets on the schematic. If you've attached a label or have common format for net name then you can right click one and select "Find Similar Objects..."The software isn't psychic, so if you've not told it what things are it won't know you want to select those and not other things as well. So without some identification it's a manual clicking job.Rooms might be useful for this, but would probably need setting up with full-fat Altium. Pretty sure the viewer could use rooms if they already exist.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2022, 06:42:41 pm
content: make a net class containing the primary nets. then simply highlight the class.you can create the class in the schematic using directives and or blankets with directives on it