PCB Elegance New Version

[midorii]

Today i am to try drawing 4-layers PCB.
I have been using PCB Elegance for 15 years, but that was only for 2 layers design :-)

I added new two layers to the circuit which I was building and designated them as VCC and GND power-plane.

Here comes the unknown: I am to to draw a trace from the VCC pin on the layer-0 component and tried to tie it to the layer-1 (Power plane: VCC) with a via.

I don't know the recommended operation: with only layer 0 and 1 displayed, then double clicking (or press dot key) seems to connect it to the VCC plane.
But I don't know how to get the image in the PCB app of these trace and via are connected to the which power plane(or floating yet).

So I exported it to Gerber and checked it in the viewer to confirm that they are connected.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[midorii]

Today i am to try drawing 4-layers PCB.
I have been using PCB Elegance for 15 years, but that was only for 2 layers design :-)

I added new two layers to the circuit which I was building and designated them as VCC and GND power-plane.

Here comes the unknown: I am to to draw a trace from the VCC pin on the layer-0 component and tried to tie it to the layer-1 (Power plane: VCC) with a via.

I don't know the recommended operation: with only layer 0 and 1 displayed, then double clicking (or press dot key) seems to connect it to the VCC plane.
But I don't know how to get the image in the PCB app of these trace and via are connected to the which power plane(or floating yet).

So I exported it to Gerber and checked it in the viewer to confirm that they are connected.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Doctorandus_P]

I had never heard of PCB Elegance.
I suggest you add it to the list on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_EDA_software

For the rest, I'm a happy KiCad user myself, and also running on Linux, and I have no interest in another EDA suite.

[tycz]

midorii,

I recommend always using an areafill instead of powerplane, even if you have no traces on that layer. The powerplane feature has many limitations. If you use an areafill it will be apparent whether the via is connected or not.

[midorii]

This software is very easy to use.
One possibility would be to move the reference numbers of the top parts to the bottom silkscreen. I wish I could.

[tycz]

This software is very easy to use.
One possibility would be to move the reference numbers of the top parts to the bottom silkscreen. I wish I could.

You can do that. By default the references will be on the top silkscreen layer for top components, but you can move them.

* First make sure the component references layer is on.
* Switch to component mode, zoom out, select all the components with the mouse, then choose 'Unselect bottom components' from the right click context menu. Now you just have the top components selected (in case you have components on both sides).
* Go back to the context menu and select 'Component references -> On bottom layer'. Now they will appear on the bottom silkscreen layer instead of the top.