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Boris
United Kingdom
34 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Sep 2008 : 11:35:33
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Hi,
I know this may sound stupid but when I first started routing with EASY PC I used to stab on the pad and away I would go and the net guide would stay firmly on the pad. It was irritating because one had no idea where the guide finished up unless you highlighted it first.
Then in my haste one day I hit the guide instead of the pad and I was able to route with the guide staying on the end of the track which is what I wanted to do form day one. I searched all help files but there is no mention of routing in this manner.
To new users it would be useful if it could be added into the routing help topic.
While I am on this point, is there anyway that I can swap to the other end of the net guide once I have routed as far as I wish to go from one end?
This would be most useful when negotiating awkward areas, currently I have to stop and pick the net guide again from the other end.
Many thanks,
Boris |
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Scazon
United Kingdom
66 Posts |
Posted - 17 Sep 2008 : 16:32:03
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Just bang the 'I' key- that inverts the direction of track creation. I often use it when I want to land exactly on a small SM pad. Use 'f' to get the corner the right way round. I don't know what algorithm is used to decide which way the corner should turn, but it must be a really cunning one- it gets it exactly WRONG 9 times out of 10.
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Boris
United Kingdom
34 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 08:20:01
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Thank you for that information it is really useful.
Where on earth did you find out how to do those things for there is nothing in any manuals or help files?
I wonder if you might know how to finish a route by hitting a key rather than having to take each track right to the pad?
I have use other programs where you route most of the way and when the track is in line with its end point you just do a mouse stroke and the track completes itself, it saves a lot of time especially on a large layout.
Talking of mouse strokes, is there anything in the pipeline for the introduction of mouse strokes for commands, as that would save a lot of time having to pick from drop down menus?
Many thanks again for all your help, I'm now off to try this 'I' thing. . . .
Boris |
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olga
United Kingdom
107 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 09:57:22
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The 'I' thing is incredibly useful, especially with the 'f' as well. As Scazon says, it always seems to start out the wrong way around, but you do get used to doing 'I', 'f' :)
I think it is mentioned in the help file, if you search for 'invert'.
Best wishes,
Olga. |
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DavidM
United Kingdom
458 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 10:08:32
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You should be able to assign keyboard keys to any of the commands you see on the menus (using Settings, Customise). In this case, you could just assign something like ; to the command 'Finish', then you can just press ; when you are in a position to finish your track.
You can use the same scheme to assign keys to all your favourite commands, all you'll need is a memory good enough to remember them all! Although the program does show the shortcuts on the menus, to help you out in case you forget one. |
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Boris
United Kingdom
34 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 13:17:39
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Hi Scazon and Olga,
I tried using 'I' and the only thing that happened is the track width dropped to 1 thou. I tried 'i' and the program crashed out.
I then tried 'j' and the track just vanished!
Am I doing something wrong here or have you got a completely different set of commands to me?
David, I cannot find a 'Finish' command which will complete the routing to a pad. The only 'Finish' command is the one which will stop the track right where it is.
Is there a secret set of commands that I am not privvy to which have disappeared over a period of time as the versions have been changing?
Boris |
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DavidM
United Kingdom
458 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 14:13:37
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J on my system is mapped to "insert dimension" which explains why your track vanished.
Doing 'Finish' will complete the track cleanly if you are anywhere over or close enough to the pad to pick it. It won't go from an open-space location and run the track on into the pad. |
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olga
United Kingdom
107 Posts |
Posted - 18 Sep 2008 : 14:48:18
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My apologies - it's a lower case 'i' for invert.
I know I have a very customised system, but I think that's one shortcut that has been in place since the very early days when EPC was a DOS program (IIRC - it was a long time ago!)
As for why it crashed your program - check what 'i' is mapped to, although I don't think there's anything that should cause it to die! |
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Peter Johnson
United Kingdom
498 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 13:57:11
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If you go to [Settings], [Preferences], on the 'PCB Tracks' tab you'll see an entry for 'Edit Connection as Track'.
If you check this, as soon as you double click on a connection, the whole thing converts to track, not just the part up to the cursor. That means that when you double click on the track (the shortcut for 'Finish' not mentioned so far), the last segment will already be track and there's no need to find the pad centre.
The downside is that if you want to leave a track half completed, you need to select the last segment and unroute it to return it to a connection.
DOS actually used <Shift+I> for invert, but it was simplified to <I> for Windows.
Have you realised that where you double click on a track segment determines which way the edit works. There's another preferences option, 'Edit Segment Towards Nearest End' that reverses the way this works.
The flip command just remembers which way it went last time it was used, so if it's usually wrong, that's just Murphy's Law proving it's alive and kicking! |
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Topic |
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Routing from either end of a net or guide