I'm starting to redraw one of my projects in Proteus and I'm trying to use the hierarchical design functionality. I have successfully completed a couple of simple layouts so I am happy that I have reasonable command of the program now. What I do is just draw the border in a mechanical CAD program export it as a DXF and reimported into Proteus which is a lot quicker than faffing about in Proteus. Similar problems are to be had if you are trying to do a board edge for example you cannot position the ends of lines with coordinates. This is rather a roundabout way of doing it but does work my preference is to just pick the pad I want place it and then give it exact coordinates following the footprint on the components datasheet. If the pads are different I can then double-click on the new copy of the pad and choose a new pad style. There is a slightly more round about way of doing this which is a pattern command that allows me to make a copy at a set distance from the pad I am copying. I can't for example double-click on a pad when I'm creating a footprint and put in coordinates. There is no way of actually determining the position of things like there is in other programs. On the PCB side I'm quite disappointed with the mechanical capability. Once I have said all of these parts up and created all of the footprints to go with them it will mean that in a click I get a bill of materials with all of the mfr part numbers which I can then just upload as a CSV file and instantly order. This is a double-edged sword because where I am not sure about a component value yet I do have to pick something although I could make up a set of non-descript parts so that there is no confusion in the bill of materials. At the moment the library is full of components from dishy key which will be more expensive and incur large carriage costs for me so I am checking out parts available from Farnell or RS in the UK but I am using mfr part numbers not wholesaler part numbers to describe each component. At the moment I'm going through the tedious process of creating all of my own parts because the library functionality is quite powerful and it would be a shame not to use it. It's no worse than any other program and does seem to have more potential to improve. I assign all my common commands to a single HOTKEY, and man, can you fly !! 1thou custom Shave pin pads, sometimes even add tracks on unused layers to show me how many tracks I can get out the corners of a QPF / LQPF for example. I literally make custom IC pads, as per pic2 on the fly, within seconds. MAN it is SUCH a DREAM to use !! All instant. Set the Design rules - Pad-pad, Pad-Track say 1 Thou smaller than you use, and instantly you see all the "errors" with exact clearances listed !! Then NUDGE the tracks and watch errors clear or appear. Use the Origin O, to line up the grid for very fine precise positioning. My highest res is a 0.1 Thou grid (the pic has been downsized 1/4), usable is 1 Thou Notes: You can set up 4x Imperial, and 4x Metric defaults, so you can have 8 grid sizes instantly. Not sure why you have so many issues - I work on a 2x 27" 4K screens. I'm not sure why you think it's antiquated? I love it, personally, even fixing mistakes. I note your comment on "decompose / make device" annoyance. But it works perfect for me, so there's no way I'll change now. They used to offer a DAMN CHEAP catch-up, when I got to ~ 3-4 yrs (which I'd snap up !!) Just a couple hundred $$s, but they stopped doing that now AS WELL !! Dunno why. I was popping out HEAPS of designs though, so it pee'd me off a little :-) As for updates in Proteus, I only update every 3-5 years, and there is NO "missing years penalty", so that suits me perfectly. Luckily, it was ONLY files created during a short period of time, so I guess most people put up with it. The other time, was a few yrs later, where rendering totally SCREWED UP and you HAD to send the files back to them to be fixed !! It was quick and free, but why they just didn't make another "patch" program, was a stupid decision IMO. ![]() ![]() One was app 15 yrs back, and they make a conversion program available free, so that was fine. As for Proteus, there were only ever 2 major file changes. They do the same thing (regards backward compatibility) but LUCKILY, you can skip updates for a few years and NOT HAVE to pay for all the years you missed !! That SUCKS ! Plus I can use the older versions still. and like Proteus, I prefer it by FAR compared to SolidEdge, SolidWorks and a few others I've had to use (customer requirements). I know EXACTLY what you mean ! I use a sheetmetal program, IronCAD.
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