Sprint-Layout
lets you design your own PCB's quickly and easily. There are no unnecessary
extras or infrequently-used features which often make layout software
difficult to use. Sprint-Layout is very easy to learn because of its
logical and intuitive structure. Finally, you can concentrate to the
essentials: designing and optimizing the layout your PCB.
Sprint-Layout
offers all the functions you need to design your own PCB layouts, with an
included extensive library of all common components.
For manufacturing your
PCBs by hand, an excellent printout-procedure is provided, with many options
available. If you want to produce professional boards, there are many
PCB-manufacturers, who will accept Sprint-Layout files directly. You
can even export your layout in GERBER and EXCELLON formats. Sprint-Layout
can also create HPGL drill files for Isolation Milling.
With the free
viewer-software
for Sprint-Layout, anyone can view or print your layouts.
Sprint-Layout
is equipped with tools to draw pads, tracks, copper areas, labels and so on.
Just select the corresponding mode and place your elements. All parameters
like track-width, pad-size, etc. are visible at a glance, and can be edited
each time if necessary. The active grid-capture lets you easily place your
elements precisely.
You can edit existing
layout-elements very easily. For example, if you adjust the width of a
track, you will see the result immediately on your layout. Additional
functions like copy, move, rotate, mirror, etc. are obvious and very handy.
Component Library
Components which
you have drawn once can be added to the Component Library, which
already has many commonly used components. You can easily drag & drop the
components from the library to your layout. After that you can mirror,
rotate or label them as you wish.
You can add as many
components as you want to the library. You can even sort and group the
library, so you can create your own project library.
Free rotating
You can rotate
all components or elements to any angle. This neat feature makes it possible
to place your components in the optimum manner.
Automatic Ground-Plane
This function fills
unused areas of a layout with copper automatically. This reduces etch-time and
can create screens for RF boards. You can also define thermal-pads on the
automatic ground-plane.
Photoview
Photoview lets you
see your board as if it was already manufactured, with drillings, silk screen,
etc. This typically helps you to find mistakes like wrongly-mirrored components
or text. You can select which board-side you want to view, and you can display
or hide the silk-screen. With the "X-ray" feature you can make the board
transparent, to see the other board-side image through the front.
Test-function
This function is very
helpful to check your layout. You can click on any position of your layout, and
Sprint-Layout will find all connected layout-elements, and “light them
up”. This makes it very easy to check the signal flow of the layout.
Connections (Rubberbands)
With the help of this
connection method, you can simplify the routing process. Straight rubberband
lines are used to indicate connections that have not yet been routed. This helps
you not to foverlook any track connections. The rubberband lines are also
helpful for finding a suitable position for components. You may use them to
avoid crossing tracks when placing components on the board.
The Autorouter
There is simple
point-to-point Autorouter integrated in Sprint-Layout. This
Autorouter is able to connect two points of your layout. These two points
are defined with a connection (rubberband). The Autorouter was not
designed to generate whole boards at once. To create a well-designed layout, you
needs hands-on choice of where critical components and tracks are placed.
Sprint-Layout’s Autorouter is designed to be easy to use – no need for
obscure specifications or options. The Autorouter is as simple to use as
the rest of the package.
Layer administration
Sprint Layout offers
a copper- and a silk-screen-layer for both sides of the board. Optionally, you
can have 2 inner layers (for multilayer PCB's) and a board outline layer. Each
layer can be switched on and off as necessary.
Several boards
A Sprint-Layout
file can contain several individual boards. So you can save all boards of a
project in one file. With a single click you can access any board in your
project.
The Footprint-Wizard
The
Footprint-Wizard helps you to create special footprints for components. You
can specify the footprint-type and the parameters and Footprint-Wizard
creates your footprint automatically. Each footprint-type has different
parameters. These parameters are displayed and described in a small screen in
the Footprint-Wizard. All changes that you make are displayed in the
preview instantly. When you have set all parameters, the Footprint-Wizard
creates the footprint and you can place it on your layout.
Properties-Panel
The
Properties-Panel allows you to edit all important properties of your
layout-elements without needing special dialogs. Here you can edit special
properties such as positions, etc. The properties-panel responds to the current
selection on your layout. If you select a single pad for example, you can edit
its properties directly here. Similarly, you can edit all other elements like
tracks, text labels, etc.
Design-Rule-Check (DRC)
Because of
inaccuracies and the methods used in PCB production, some tolerances and
limitations must be allowed for in order to yield a usable board. These critical
values are called "Design Rules". Sprint-Layout is able to check
important design rules such as the minimum clearance distance between 2 copper
tracks, etc. After a DRC is finished, all detected problems are listed in clear
text and the problem-areas are marked with white hatch-marks. Now you can
examine the problems one by one and correct them.
Scanned copies
Scanned layouts (e.g.
from magazines) may be used as a template for PCB reproduction or for simple
modifications. The scanned layout must be a bitmap file. The bitmap is displayed
in the background of the editor.
Printing
Various options
are available to print your layouts, solder masks, component-mounting-plans,
silk-screens or drill maps on paper sheets or transparent film.
The printout position is adjustable and the tile-option allows you to repeat
the printout of small designs in x- and y-direction, to save film and
material. The printout can be scaled.
All changes you make are
displayed in the preview immediately.
Gerber / Excellon export
Sprint Layout
produces GERBER files (RS-274X) that are used to exchange layout data with
PCB manufacturers. Gerber files are common to most manufacturers, so you
don't need old-fashioned films or paper printouts to produce your boards.
Drilling information can be exported in the common EXCELLON format. With
this feature you can drill your board automatically.
There are many
PCB-manufacturers who accept Sprint-Layout files (*.LAY) directly, so
you may not need to create Gerber or Excellon files yourself.
Isolation-milling
Sprint-Layout
supports also isolation-milling. In this case, the PCB is produced using a CNC-milling
machine. Sprint-layout is able to calculate all necessary
isolation-channels. The output file is exported in HPGL format. You can use
these files to load them into your milling-application to produce the board.
Additional functions like drilling-outputs, mirroring or the option to define
texts as single line or outline, give you numerous options. You can also define
"reference holes" to guarantee the same origin if you have several
milling-jobs.
The Sprint-Layout-Viewer
With this Viewer
software allows any user to view and print Sprint-Layout files. The
Viewer is included on the Sprint-Layout CD.
Download “Viewer for Sprint-Layout 5.0”
Demo
Version
