- #Image altium designer 14 how to#
- #Image altium designer 14 update#
- #Image altium designer 14 software#
I will want to insert a 10mm × 4mm logo on the bottom left corner of the PCB (I don't want to mount PCB mounting holes, so it's not a problem for me) (Figure 11). My PCB for which I want to insert a logo is this (Figure 10): Now comes the thing that interests us most, namely resizing the image according to our needs. However, in some cases the ‘Negative’ function may be required. However, in my case it is not necessary to do this, because of this (Figure 8):Īlso, the ‘Negative’ function is not required for this image, because (Figure 9): This results in a file with the extension * kicad_mod.ĭepending on the logo we choose, we may have to adjust the black and white threshold. Usually, I put my logos on the top of the PCB, that is on the silk screen, sometimes I put it in the ground plane. We will solve this further.įor now, the settings we are interested in are these (Figure 7): A grayscale image consists of grayscale levels, useful for processing images for purposes other than those of interest to us.īut what about those dimensions ?! Clearly I will not be able to insert this logo on my PCB, which by the way, it has the dimensions of only 60mm × 60mm. The grayscale format doesn't help us too much, because we don't just have black and white, but gray levels. We need a monochrome image, that's why we selected the black and white format. Select ‘Black & White Picture’(Figure 6). Select ‘Load Bitmap’ to load the desired image and press ‘Open’ (Figure 5).Īs you can see, the image was loaded in a nice and colorful format, but it seems too big to be printed on a PCB, in addition to that, we need another color for our logo. The utility should look like this (Figure 4): To do this, the easiest way is to open a project in KiCAD, and select ‘Bitmap to Component Converter’ (Figure 3) : The next step is to open the ‘Bitmap to Component Converter’ utility. I chose this image / logo with the extension * png (Figure 2): Note that the file extension must be found in this list (Figure 1): Once we have created our directory, the next step is to choose a logo, and the easiest way we can do this is by searching the internet, and saving it in a known directory. It is very important to know where we created this directory because later we will have to insert it in KiCAD. We created it on the Desktop to make it easier to identify, but you can create it where you want (don't lose track of it).
#Image altium designer 14 how to#
Probably works fine for complex digital multilayer boards but the constraints of two sided are beyond its capabilities.In this little tutorial I will show you how to import in KiCAD v5.1.9 the logo you want, and not only that, I will also show you how to insert it in Pcbnew having the dimensions you want, and then appear on the PCB you want.įirst, we will create a directory, which I named it as My_Logos.
![image altium designer 14 image altium designer 14](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6TbHE9R-oRo/maxresdefault.jpg)
![image altium designer 14 image altium designer 14](https://imgfiles.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/trangchiase.com_altium-designer-v21.0.8-2021_2020-12-21_9-58-00.jpg)
Also for two sided mixed analog digital boards the autorouting isn't capable of routing.
#Image altium designer 14 software#
Overall it is a very capable piece of software but probably not the best choice if you are designing a few PCB's per year. Also for example if you wanted a 3 pin right angle header with 3D model you would need CAD software to take say a 10pin header and cut down. microcontrollers) which are not in the database and also not necessarily available from manufacturers and setting up new components correctly along with 3D models takes time and skill. Also there are many newer components (eg. So safer to copy the components to your own local component library. Also using their database is partly dependent on having a subscription so you may be cut off from this at any time in the future since they are moving to a cloud based setup.
#Image altium designer 14 update#
The cost of a subscription is high so if you don't subscribe and update every few years you may end up with a version which has bugs or only partly implemented new features. Much of this is not useful for a small company and even a hindrance. Also integrating all areas of manufacturing from sourcing components to mechanical integration. Cons: Altium Designer is a complex program really intended for large enterprises with many collaborators working on projects.