One altium prj, multiple board how? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 06:55:05 am
content: I have one project file,say, myproj.pcbprj. in that i have 2 schematics sheets a.sch and b.sch. i added pcb files to the project, a.pcb and b.pcb. what i need is a.pcb to populate ONLY from a.sch on a board. And b.pcb to populate b.sch ONLY on another independent board, how? What normally happened when i 'insert from sch' in a.pcb editor, it will add components from both a.sch and b.sch into a board (combined from a and b), i dont want this, there is no option to do this. I dont think altium this limited i maybe dont know the term/option to find. how?

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 07:29:08 am
content: I know what you mean Mechatrommer, I don't about Altium but I have seen this done with Cadance Orcad, and there were maybe 5 or 6 pcbs on one panel. Each PCB had different ground and vcc names on the schematic, say, gnda and vcca for a.sch and gndb and vccb for b.sch. By using different names then the gnd and vcc nets for each schematic are not connected and all the components from a.sch and b.sch will end up on the board but they will be separate. The only drawback is that it then becomes very difficult to generate 3D models of each PCB, you get a 3D model for the whole panel. Generally speaking if I need a production panel with more than one board on it I design each one separately and let the PCB manufacturers do the panel layout from indervidual Gerbers.

author: vzoole
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 07:30:37 am
content: Place a "Compile Mask" (Place/Directives/Compile Mask) to both schematics and allow only that which PCB you wanna update.

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 07:43:55 am
content: QuoteThats a handy tip, must see if Orcad has a feature like this.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 10:08:32 am
content: Why do you want one project? You clearly have two. One project, one board.That said, the compile mask sounds interesting. I'll have a look at that as well...Tim

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 11:10:54 am
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on July 13, 2016, 10:08:32 ambecause i have one product (hence one project) with 2 or more boards in it connected by fly wires. i dont like the idea of separate project with the same name and specific board such as "ProjectThis_Board1.PcbPrj" and "ProjectThis_Board2.PcbPrj", thats less stellar imho.Quote from: vzoole on July 13, 2016, 07:30:37 amthanks, tried it and it worked, but i guess thats a nasty hack for it. i'm expecting altium can specifically assigned a pcb to a set of selected sheet(s) or vice versa. with the compile mask hack, i have to remember to expand and collapse them when i update/import among boards, not really neat imho, but thanks anyway, its better than nothing. and the mask render poorly too on my machine

author: vzoole
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 01:40:29 pm
content: Quote from: T3sl4co1l on July 13, 2016, 10:08:32 amIn my case... If you make a panelised board from other projects it can't handle assembly variants. It works only if everything in one project.Quote from: Mechatrommer on July 13, 2016, 11:10:54 amUnfortunately not.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 03:11:39 pm
content: One PCB, one project. If you want to panelise it, use the (place) embedded board array/panelise tool to insert the already finished boards into a different project. You can have PCBs without project.

author: vzoole
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2016, 05:45:56 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on July 13, 2016, 03:11:39 pmYes... but as I mentioned assembly variants do not work in this case.

author: BShmid
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 17, 2021, 09:39:08 am
content: Quote from: vzoole on July 13, 2016, 07:30:37 amThis is a cool one!I understand you meant Place a "Compile Mask" onto the schematic not being updated on the PCB.Right?

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2021, 04:32:11 pm
content: QuoteA recent project had a main PCB with MCU, a number of secondary display boards, and some passive connection boards that held everything together as well as provided connectivity. The way I organised it (which may not be the best, or recommended) was to:* Have each PCB as a distinct PrjPCB project* Have a multiboard assembly (PrjMbd) project to tie them all together to make sure they fit* Wrap the whole lot in a DsnWrk workspace.The workspace is named appropriately for the entire project, and the individual PrjPcb named for what that PCB is. I think that's more logicial than having two different PCBs with the same name, which is what you seem to be trying to achieve.