4 Reasons Why The SolidWorks PCB Connector will Revolutionize your ECAD/MCAD Collaboration

With today’s booming IOT (Internet of Things) and consumer electronics industry, multidisciplinary teams of engineers often have to work together to develop products. Speaking purely from a hardware perspective, mechanical designers and electrical designers use MCAD and ECAD software to develop the physical constraints of the project, and they often rely on each other. As an example of this collaboration, mechanical designers will often ask the electrical designers of the board shape they desire, or perhaps the electrical designers will require the hole locations from their mechanical counterparts. In this article we discuss how the SolidWorks PCB Connector can revolutionize the collaboration between ECAD PCB tools (SolidWorks PCB and Altium) and SolidWorks.

Complete CAD Freedom

It’s quite apparent that PCB CAD software are usually programmed primarily with PCB and electrical design freedom in mind. CAD software such as Altium and SolidWorks PCB are excellent in their realm of PCB design, but when it comes to specifying mechanical constraints, using these software’s alone can be a daunting task. This is where the SolidWorks PCB Connector comes into play; it allows Altium or SolidWorks PCB users to collaborate with mechanical designers through SolidWorks, and allows for the passing of CAD data between these two environments.

Specifying board shapes for example, especially complex shapes with multiple curves or hard to measure entities, can take a lot of time and effort in PCB software, but with the collaboration tool, SolidWorks is able to easily achieve this task in no time. Furthermore, in cases where the PCB is housed such as the case with consumer electronics, it can be quite simple for the mechanical designer to specify the board shape based on the model of the enclosure.

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Are you an EAGLE user? We hope you like subscription fees

I’m sure most of you have heard the expression “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, right?

Well, what would you do if it was broken?…

Autodesk has announced that EAGLE is now only available for purchase as a subscription. Previous, users purchased EAGLE once and used the software indefinitely. This means that you will be obligated to run the latest version and you’ll be paying Autodesk on a monthly or yearly basis.  Let’s break down the costs. Before Autodesk purchased EAGLE from CadSoft, a Standard license would run you roughly $70, paid once. The next level up was Premium, was priced at roughly $800, paid once. The new pricing tiers from Autodesk are a bit different. 

Standard will $100/year, and gives similar functionality to the old Premium level, but with only 2 signal layers. If you need more layers, you’ll need the new Premium level, at $500/year.  If you could have made do with the old Standard option, you’re now paying $100/year instead of the one-time $70 payment. If you need more space or layers, you’ll likely be up to $500/year.

Curious to know more? View original source: https://cadmicrosolutions.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/are-you-an-eagle-user-we-hope-you-like-subscription-fees/

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CAD MicroSolutions

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Web: http://www.cadmicro.com/

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What people are saying about Altium Designer?

Functionality, breadth of features and ease of use top what designers like most about their preferred CAD software, while cost is their biggest concern.

Those are the findings of a recent survey, undertaken by PCD&F, looking at which tools designers use – and which they prefer.

Of the 269 designers who responded to the survey, 62% indicated they were senior PCB designers, and nearly 45% of all respondents said they have over 30 years of experience in the industry, while three-quarters have more than 20 years’ experience. More than 68% work for OEMs.

What do designers like most about their preferred CAD software?

By far, functionality and breadth of features topped the list at 56%. Another 23% said their preferred CAD software is easy to use, while 6% said they like its speed best. Some 6% said it’s easy to learn. Cost was best for 5% of designers, and compatibility with other tools and collaboration capability received 2% of responses each.

View Original Source: http://www.cadmicro.com/people-saying-altium-designer/