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1. Project Creation

Introduction

This page includes a quick overview about how to use the PCB Design Software - Altium. You'll learn the basic process on how Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are made by using the tools in Altium. 

For additional information on learning the Altium basics, please access the tutorial page on their website: Altium Tutorials

Goals

  • Learning

    • How are Printed Circuit Board Made?

    • What is Altium and how do you use it?

  • Practical

    • Creating a circuit schematic

    • Developing a board layout and conducting a Design Rule Check

    • Preparing a board design for manufacturing

Insert everything important first, then make it pretty later!

Before starting your project, make sure you created are added to the Sooner Competitive Robotics Altium Workspace and have an account created.

Creating a Project

To start, open the Altium application on your device. Upon Altium loading, you should be greeted by a home page that looks similar to below:

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To start a new project, navigate to the top-left toolbar and select File --> select New --> then select Project

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In the new window under Project CreationName,

    name your

    Practicalproject "Worshop - SPI-CAN"

    • Under

      CreatingFolder, make sure your project is saved in a circuitfile schematiclocation you can find. You can change the file location by selecting the three dots "..." on the right.

    image.png

    Upon creating a new project, the Projects Panel will now open, where you can view all projects you have open.

      In addition, your project's repository will be saved in the Sooner Competitive Robotics workspace.

      image.png

      On the bottom right of your window, you'll find the Panels toggle. This toggle stores a ton of tools and will come in handy later. For now, just know you can reopen the Projects panel through accessing this toggle.

      image.png

      Adding to a Project

      Now, your project is currently empty. To get started, you'll need to add documents by right-clicking on the "Workshop - SPI-CAN.PrjPcb" icon. In the new window, hover over Add New to Project, then you can add any documents you need.

      image.png

      Go ahead and add the following documents to your project:

        Schematic

        Developing a board layout and conducting a Design Rule Check

        PCB ActiveBOM

        Preparing

        Draftsman aDocument board
        designAssembly forDrawing manufacturingFabrication Drawing
        Output Job File

        For the Draftsman Documents, a new window will appear. For the Assembly Drawing, select Assembly Drawing ANSI-B (v. 3), then press OK. For the Fabrication Drawing, select Fabrication Drawing ANSI-B (v. 3), then press OK. 

        image.png

        After you add the required documents to your project, your Projects panel should look like the screenshot below:

        image.png

        Before you start your design, you'll need to save each of your documents and rename them accordingly. To save a document, right-click on the document's icon, then select Save

        image.png

        Rename each of the documents until they match the names below:

        image.png

        Congratulations! You just finished creating your first Project! Now, you can get started on the schematic by accessing the tutorial: 2. Creating a Schematic

         

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