Learning Altium, need help!!

[Dinheaven]

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!!

[marshallh]

Do a google search for user "free_electron" here on the forum, with posts/subects containing the words "altium"

Read for the next 2 weeks

Thank me later

[toohec]

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.

[dboyer]

Managing Components that Include Routing Primitives in their Footprint

When you transfer a design, the footprint specified in each component is extracted from the available libraries and placed on the board. Then each pad in the footprint has its net property set to the name of the net connected to that component pin in the schematic. If the footprint includes copper primitives touching the pads, these primitives will not be assigned the net name automatically, and will create a design rule violation. In this case, you will need to perform an update process to assign the net name.
The PCB Editor includes a comprehensive net management tool, to launch it select Design » Net list » Configure Physical Nets from the menus. Figure 49 shows the Configure Physical Nets dialog being used to update the extra primitives detected in the switch footprint shown in Figure 51. Click the Menu button for a menu of options, and click the New Net Name region to select the net to assign to the unassigned primitives.

They 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.

[Dinheaven]

Do a google search for user "free_electron" here on the forum, with posts/subects containing the words "altium"

Read for the next 2 weeks

Thank me later

@marshallh
Thanks 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

[Dinheaven]

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.

@toohec
Yes 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.

[Dinheaven]

Managing Components that Include Routing Primitives in their Footprint

When you transfer a design, the footprint specified in each component is extracted from the available libraries and placed on the board. Then each pad in the footprint has its net property set to the name of the net connected to that component pin in the schematic. If the footprint includes copper primitives touching the pads, these primitives will not be assigned the net name automatically, and will create a design rule violation. In this case, you will need to perform an update process to assign the net name.
The PCB Editor includes a comprehensive net management tool, to launch it select Design » Net list » Configure Physical Nets from the menus. Figure 49 shows the Configure Physical Nets dialog being used to update the extra primitives detected in the switch footprint shown in Figure 51. Click the Menu button for a menu of options, and click the New Net Name region to select the net to assign to the unassigned primitives.

They 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.

@dboyer
I went to the link that you provided but im really sure im not at the stage yet. Currently, im at http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Creating+Library+Components+Tutorial and stuck at the solder and paste mask.

[Gunb]

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!!

Yes, 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.

[mengfei]

try here for starters

http://techdocs.altium.com/

http://altiumvideos.live.altium.com/

HTH