Main Index
SuperPCB (Lite) Help Contents

Getting Started with SuperPCB

Step-by-step instructions to help you get started in using SuperPCB

Reference

Detailed description of menu operations, use of the keyboard and other information

Technical Support


Getting Started

Tutorials:

Loading and Viewing Circuit Board Artwork

Laying out a Board Manually

Other Useful Information:

How the Circuit Board Layers are Used

How to Define the Shape of a Circuit Board

How to Use SuperPCB with Word Processing Software

How to Draw the Silk Screen Layers

How to Make Reference Designators Read Right-side Up


How to Draw the Silk Screen Layers

Silk screen artwork originates from two different sources:

 From the individual library part silk screen outlines

 From explicit drawing on the top or bottom silk screen layers

By explicit drawing, we mean setting the VIEW to one of the silk screen layers and then drawing lines, rectangles, text, etc, right on the given layer.

Note that the silk screen outlines associated with surface mount parts show up on the top silk screen layer if you place the part on the top layer, and the bottom silk screen layer if you place the part on the bottom circuit layer. You can place the silk screen outline of a through hole part on either top or bottom; the default is top. To place the silk screen outline of a through hole part on the bottom, double click on the part in edit mode to get the edit part dialog box. Set the silk layer with the SILK SCREEN radio buttons.

If you are using Gerber output to produce the board, note that text capability is somewhat limited, since the Gerber files cannot represent all the different Windows fonts; it is limited to a vector font resembling Courier New. You can change the font size, but do not use bold or italic.


How to Make Reference Designators Read Right-side Up

If you rotate a part, the designator will rotate with the part. To make the designator read horizontally, double click the part so you get the EDIT PART dialog; check the FIX control and then click on the OK button.


How to Define the Shape of a Circuit Board

To define the shape of your circuit board set the current layer to ALL (BOTH in the two-layer versions of SuperPCB). Then draw a border using lines (traces), rectangles, circles or arcs. Your artwork should be centered about the coordinate origin (0,0) and should be located inside the work area (4x4, 8x4, etc.)

Note that if you are using the autorouter--either the incremental router or the batch router--you should use just rectangles and horizontal or vertical lines for the border. This will gaurantee that all the routes are confined to be inside your board shape.


How to Use SuperPCB with Word Processing Software

You can import artwork from SuperPCB into documents produced by software such as Microsoft® Word or WordPerfect® by using the clipboard. To do this, first load your document into the given word processor. Then enter edit mode in SuperPCB and draw an edit box around the artwork in question; be sure to enclose the object origins. Enter Ctrl Ins on the keyboard. Next, go back the to word processor software window and place the cursor at the location where you want the artwork. Enter Shift Ins (or click on PASTE in the EDIT menu of the word processor).  After pasting the artwork, you can typically re-size it and adjust the postion in the word processor.

You can also clip artwork into drawing and paint packages such as Microsoft Paint or Corel PHOTO-PAINT! (TM) by using the same method.


Loading and Viewing Circuit Board Artwork
Loading and Viewing Circuit Board Artwork (Tutorial)

Loading a Printed Circuit Board File

To get a feel for the system we will load a sample circuit board file (SERIAL) from the EXAMPLES subdirectory (in the DEMO, this file is in the main directory). First click on FILE on the Menu bar, and then click on OPEN.

Now load the artwork file by clicking over SERIAL.SPC in the Files list box to highlight the name and then clicking on the OPEN button. You can also just double click over the filename to load it.

Moving Around the Circuit Board

To change the view of the artwork, try clicking on VIEW in the menu bar; then click on ZOOM IN. This will expand the drawing scale (make everything larger). Next click on ZOOM OUT in the VIEW menu; this will contract the drawing scale (make everything smaller), so you can see more. You can also click on SCALE in the VIEW menu, and choose a drawing scale ranging from 20% to 500%. You can separately use the PgUp key to zoom in and the PgUp key to zoom out; the display is always zoomed about the current cursor position when you use the keys.

You can view the entire board (if you are zoomed in) by clicking on Draw to Fit in the VIEW menu. When you do this, you get a view window rectangle centered about the cursor location. If you move this rectangle to a section of the artwork you want to view and then click, the screen is redrawn with the original area in the rectangle now filling the whole drawing window.

Note that when you first loaded the file, the top layer was shown, as indicated by the layer indicator text in the lower right hand corner of the SuperPCB window. To see the bottom layer, click on CURRENT LAYER in the VIEW menu and then on "1" in the cascade section. You now see the traces on the bottom layer only. You can also move through successive layers by using the "+" and "-" keys. Pushing "+" at this point would place us on layer 2 (in the multi-layer version), while pushing "-" puts us back to the top layer (considered to be layer 0). Try pushing the "-" key at this point, so that we are back on the top layer. Now push the "-" key one more time; this places us on the ALL layer view, in which both sides of the circuit board are displayed at one time.


How the Circuit Board Layers are Used

The following table describes the use of the circuit board layers:

Layer	Edit	Name	Use

Top	Y	Top	Top (or Layer0) copper circuit layer of board.

Layer1	Y	L1	2nd copper circuit layer; bottom for a two layer board

Layern*	Y	Ln	(n=2,...15) Additional copper circuit layers

Top Silk	Y	SILKT	Top silk screen layer of board

Bottom Silk	Y	SILKB	Bottom silk screen layer of board

Top Solder	N	TSD	Top solder mask layer

Bottom Solder	N	BSD	Bottom solder mask layer

Top Paste	N	TPS	Top paste layer for surface mount parts

Bottom Paste	N	BPS	Bottom paste layer for surface mount parts

VCC Plane*	N	VCC	VCC (voltage) plane layer

Ground Plane*	N	GND	Ground plane layer

Layers marked with * are available only in the full-up version of SuperPCB (MA8500). A Y in the edit column means you can edit the layer, as well as draw on it.

The copper layers (TOP and L1-L15) are used to connect the circuit elements, using traces (lines) and vias. These layers are also used by the autorouter. On boards with more than two layers, the router routes the layers in pairs. For example, in a four-layer board, the TOP layer and L1 are routed together and L2 and L3 are routed together.

The paste and mask layers (TPS, BPS, TSD, and BSD) are for viewing only; they are affected by one parameter---the MASK value set in the STYLE menu.

The VCC and GND layers are generally connected by the autorouter only. They are solid copper (sheet) layers to which only the respective power pins are connected. Other (signal) through-hole pins are isolated from the plane by a non-copper, insulating ring.

A typical  two layer board with through-hole components will just consist of the following layers: TOP, L1 (the bottom) and a top silk screen layer. To improve the ease of manufacturing, it may also have one or two solder mask layers (TSD & BSD) to prevent solder bridges when the board is soldered. If you have surface mount components, you may also add one or two paste mask layers.

Note that you can place components on ALL layers as well as view ALL layers. To place a component on ALL layers set the view to ALL in the VIEW menu and then draw it there. Some component such as through-hole pads and through parts (for example, a DIP14) are automatically placed on ALL layers by the software when you place them. Components on ALL layers can be viewed with a unique color (see color setup).


Manual Layout (Tutorial)

Note: This topic is rather long. You may want to print it out before proceeding, by clicking on Print Topic... in the File menu of this Help system.

In the following we lay out a circuit board corresponding to the following diagram (a decade counter):

Important Keys on the Keyboard

ESC	Use this key to re-draw the screen

F7	(Undo) Use the F7 key in case you accidently do something you do not really want

(such as, place a library part at a location, erase a line, etc.)

Creating New Artwork

To start artwork for a new circuit board, click on NEW in the FILE menu. This clears the screen so that we can start a new drawing. Make sure you are in snap-to-grid mode (the default). In this mode the cursor has a cross-hairs shape (+); otherwise the cursor has an arrow shape. You can change between modes by pushing the F10 key

Placing Component Packages

We will now lay out a small board corresponding to the DECADE counter schematic above. First, set the current layer to TOP, using the VIEW menu or the "+" and "-" keys. We need to load six parts: a DIP16, a DIP14, a resistor package (RESISTOR\RES4W), the LED package (LEDS\LED_T1), and a push button (SWITCHES\PB).  The DIP parts are located in the STANDARD library. To place the DIP16, click on the library part button, which will bring up the library dialog box. Find the part in the PART listbox by sliding the scrollbar button, so that the part name DIP16 is seen. The parts are listed alphabetically. Click on the name and then click on the LOAD PART button (or just double click on the name). The library dialog box will then disappear and you will see just the cursor. Move the cursor to screen center  and click to place the DIP16 part. Now place the other parts so that you have an initial artwork file which looks like the following:

The resistors and diodes are placed by just clicking at each location (you don't have to go back to the library menu each time, unless the part changes). If you make a mistake in placing a part, just push the F7 key (immediately after the mistake); this will remove it, and you can keep placing parts.

Note that you can also place frequently used parts by selecting them in the PARTS BIN window, dragging them and dropping them on to the artwork. The parts bin can hold up to 20 parts.

The border around the board is made using a rectangle. Draw the rectangle by clicking on the rectangle button in the button bar or by entering an r on the keyboard

The reference numbers are established using the reference operation. To do this operation, click on REF NO in the AUX menu.  A dialog box will then appear allowing you to select whether the operation is for one part or for the whole board. For this tutorial select the ONE option and clicl on the OK button. Then click over each part and enter a number (when the dialog appears) as shown in the layout above.

Routing the Board with the Incremental Autorouter

To route the board using the incremental autorouter first go to the SETUP menu and the GENERAL section. Setup the resulting dialog box as shown below:

This enables the sets the (incremental) router and sets it to two-layer operation; you can also enable/disable the router by pushing the F3 key. The setup shown also allows viewing of pin text on parts

The snap grid should be set to 50 mils; this is the default when the program is started. Set this in the SETUP menu under GRID.

Now click on the TRACE object button (or push the "L" key without the shift key). Place the cursor at the center of the pad U1-3, push the left button of the mouse, and drag the resulting (second) line endpoint to the center of pad U2-1; release the button. The line will disappear and a sequence of traces and vias will now drawn between the two pads. Try repeating this operation between the following pin pairs: (U1-2, U2-3), (U1-6, U2-5), (U1-7, U2-13),  and (U1-16, U2-14). Note that the router uses mostly vertical traces on the top of the board and horizontal traces on the bottom; this allows it to achieve a high routing completion percentage, but it uses lots of vias unless we optimize.

Optimizing

Once you have routed a board either manually or with the batch autorouter, you will want to optimize it in order to reduce the number of vias. A smaller number of vias results in a board which costs less to produce. To do the optimization, simply click on OPTIMIZE in the PROCESS menu. A small bargraph display will show briefly (in this case), indicating the progress, and a summary dialog box will display the number of vias removed.

Smoothing

Smoothing turns all trace corners into either arcs or 45 degree bevels. To smooth our design example, click on SMOOTH in the PROCESS menu,  choose arcs for the smoothing type, and click on the OK button. A small bargraph display will show briefly (in this case), indicating the progress, and a summary dialog box will display the number of corners smoothed. The smoothing improves the manufacturability of the board and helps with high frequency signals.

Saving The Board and Giving It a Name

After completing the board, click on the SAVE item in the FILE menu.(This feature is disabled in the demo). For new artwork, as in this case, you will be prompted for a file name. Enter a name with up the 8 characters; the file will be saved with an .SPC extension.

Necking

Necking thins wide traces which have to pass through pads of an IC. This was not needed in the above example, but if you had a board with heavy (thick) power supply traces, for example, you would use this operation. As an experiment, you load a DIP14 and draw a horizontal 40-mil trace that passes through the pads. Then click on NECK in the PROCESS menu. In the dialog box that appears, enter 20 for the width of the necked trace and 10 for the pad to trace clearance; the units are mils. Click on the OK button.


Reference

Edit Operations

Operations Accesible from Menus

File Operations

View Operations

Style Operations

Setup Operations

Auxiliary Operations

Others

Drawing Objects

Keyboard Interface

Buttons


View Operations

Drawing Scale

Drawing Layer

Zoom in/Zoom out

Center

Draw-to-fit


Zoom Operation
Zoom in/Zoom out Operations

The zoom in operation allows you to increase (magnify) the drawing scale by one step; for example, from 100% to 150%. If you click on the ZOOM IN item in the VIEW menu, the drawing is increased in scale about a point in the center of the current drawing window. You can also zoom in about any point on the screen by moving the cursor to that point and pushing the PgUp key.

The zoom out operation allows you to decrease the drawing scale by one step; for example, from 150% to 100%. When the drawing scale is decreased you see more of the drawing. If you click on the ZOOM OUT item in the VIEW menu, the drawing is decreased in scale about a point in the center of the current drawing window. You can also zoom out about any point on the screen by moving the cursor to that point and pushing the PgDn key.


File Operations

Open Command

Save and SaveAs Commands

Print

Exit


Save and SaveAs Commands

The SAVEAS operation allows the current drawing to be saved in a specified file. To start the operation, select SAVEAS from the FILE menu; a dialog box will then appear with the current (default name:"UNTITLED" if you just started) filename shown in an edit box. If you want the default name to be the save filename, click on the OK button; otherwise, enter the desired filename and then click on the button. The current drawing will then be saved in the specified file.

If you want to save the current drawing using the current name, just click on the SAVE menu item in the FILE menu.

You can save artwork in DXF (AutoCAD) format by changing the file type in the LIST FILES OF TYPE list box. The file name will have your artwork name with a .DXF extension.


Load Command
Open Command

To perform both directory and load operations, first access the FILE pulldown menu and then click on the OPEN menu item. When the OPEN item is activated, the .SPC extension filenames and sub directory names are read from the current directory and displayed in a dialog box. Up to 8 file names and 6 sub directory/drive names can be displayed at one time, and you can view more names by utilizing the scroll bars. If you are in a sub directory, there is also an entry (the first entry) denoted as "..". To load a file or change a directory, first select an entry by clicking over it with the mouse; the selected entry will be highlighted. You can also use the up and down cursor keys to move through the menu items. Next click over the OPEN button. If the entry is a filename, the associated file is then loaded and displayed. If the entry is a sub directory, the current working directory is changed to this directory, and the contents of the resulting directory are again displayed in the popout menu. If you click on the entry "..", you will change the current directory to the parent of the directory. You can move around the entire directory of a given drive in this manner, by simply selecting directories (including "..") and clicking with the mouse key.

Note: You can use the up and down arrow keys and the PgDn and PgUp keys to scroll through the Files or the Directories list boxes. Just click on a file (or drive/directory) item, so that it is highlighted, and then push the keys. With the arrow keys you scroll one item at a time, and with the PgDn and PgUp keys you scroll 7 items at a time.


Format Operation

This operation allows you to format artwork for use as a library part. Prior to using the FORMAT operation, the artwork must be drawn according to rules for making a library part. In preparing the artwork, however, you do not have to worry about the exact sequence of drawing elements (pads and text), pin numbers, or library keywordsthis is handled with the FORMAT operation. To use the FORMAT command, first load the artwork that you wish to format. Click over FORMAT in the file  menu, and respond with a "y" to the initial message box. The formatter then will execute the following formatting steps:

a) Identify all pads used as terminals and copy these to a temporary buffer

b) Identify pin text on terminal pads and copy these to the buffer

c) Identify library keywords such as reference designators; these are copied to the buffer

d) Clear the original artwork and copy all the identified elements back from the temporary buffer in the correct sequence

These steps are repeated for each layer of a part if it has more than one drawing layer (for example, parts like the IBM_XT connector which have connector fingers on two layers).

As the formatter runs, it reports the number of terminals found on each part layer. If the number of terminals reported do not agree with your part design, recheck the artwork and run the FORMAT operation again.


Print Operation

To print the current circuit board layer, select the print function from the FILE menu. This will activate the print dialog box. You can specify 1:1, 2:1, or draw-to-fit artwork. Text, such as pin numbers and reference designators, can be optionally printed out; you will want to only enable text for check prints and not for final artwork.

To initiate the actual printing, click over the OK button.

You can change printer setups such as paper orientation and print out quality by clicking over the SETUP button. Generally you want to choose LANDSCAPE orientation

You can select a different printer by scrolling through the printer list box and highlighting the printer name; only printers previously installed will show up in the list box.

To print in color check the COLOR control box. Be sure to set appropriate colors if you are printing in color, and note that the background color is always white no matter what the screen background is. Some color combinations will not work very well. For example, the NEON color scheme, which has yellow  lines and a black screen background will not show up well on paper with a white background. The AMERICAN color scheme is a good choice for color printing.


Exit
Exit SuperPCB

Clicking over EXIT in the FILE menu (or pushing the Alt+F4 key) ends the current SuperPCB session.


Drawing

Traces

Flood Fill

Rectangles

Circles and Ellipses

Arcs

Pads

Text

Library Parts

Editing Library Parts


Flood Fill

You can flood fill an arbitrary region which is enclosed by first clicking on the flood fill button in the tool bar and then clicking at an interior point. The flood fill operation is limited to filling a region which is shown in the drawing window, so you may have to repeat the operation to fill a board region.

Note that the fill operation uses solid rectangles to fill a region. This means you can edit the fill region using any edit commands that are used with rectangles.

You can terminate a lengthy fill operation by pushing the ESC key.


Lines and Arrows
Traces

To draw a trace, first select the trace function from the tool bar. Move the cursor to the first endpoint and drag to the other endpoint. The trace is drawn as you drag. Traces that are constrained to be only vertical or horizontal will be drawn if the limit option is set to "on". The limit option is chosen in the SETUP menu.

Traces can optionally be selected by entering "L" on the keyboard.


Rectangles

To draw a rectangle, click on the rectangle button in the tool bar. Move the cursor to the desired location of the first corner of the rectangle; then drag to the desired opposite corner location of the rectangle. The specified rectangle will be drawn. as you drag with the mouse. The rectangle is drawn using the current outline styles, thickness, and fill patterns set in the STYLE menu.

Rectangles can be selected by entering "R" on the keyboard.


Circles and Ellipses

To draw circles or ellipses, click on the ellipse button in the tool bar. Move the cursor to a point which will be the center and then drag to the desired circumference of the ellipse or circle. The ellipse is drawn using the current outline styles, thickness, and fill patterns set in the STYLE menu.

You can optionally enter "E" to select circle or ellipse objects.

Note that the aspect ratio (ratio of vertical to horizontal diameters) of the ellipse is set in the STYLE menu.


Connectors
Pads

Pads are drawn by first clicking on the pad button in the tool bar. After this, each time you click in the drawing area of the screen, a pad is drawn at the cursor location.

The "C" key optionally selects the pad object.

The default pad style is a 50 mil donut pad with a 28 mil center. You can change this style to different sizes and shapes including rectangular pads, surface mount pads (with no holes), oval pads, vias, and connector finger pads. See the section on pad styles.


Text

Entering text is accomplished by selecting the text function from the tool bar, moving the cursor to the desired location, and clicking. At this point, the text entry is accepted from the keyboard. You can enter text in either overtype mode or insert mode; toggle between the modes by pushing the INS key (a message on the dialog line will tell you what mode you are in. If a carriage return (using the IBM ENTER key) is given, text entry occurs one character below the current line, at the horizontal position of the initial click. Exit from text mode is accomplished by using the ESC (escape) key. A text element on one line can have up to 80 characters.

If you want to reedit a previously entered text element, click over the element. The text cursor will appear at the location of the nearest character in the (line) element.

The font size and type are selected using the FONT selection function in the SETUP menu section.

Optionally, the text function can be selected by entering "T" on the keyboard.


Arcs

SuperPCB allows generation of quarter-ellipse arcs. To enter an arc that connects two points, first select the arc function by clicking over the arc button in the tool bar. Then place the cursor at the first point and drag the cursor to the second point.

You can also enter K to select the arc drawing function.

Note that you can make a half-ellipse arc by joining together two quarter ellipse arcs.


Library Parts

Direct Access

To place a library part, click on the library button in the toolbar. A library dialog box will then appear with the path set to the library sub directory. Select a (package) part by first selecting a library (STANDARD, RESISTOR, CAPS, etc.). Then find the name of the part you want in the part listbox on the left. Click over the name and click on the LOAD PART button (or just double click on the part name).The library part dialog box will disappear. Move the cursor to the desired location for the part and click or drag. The part will then be drawn on the screen. Note that when you drag the part you just see the part outline.

Using the Parts Bin

Common and frequently used parts are found immediately in the Parts Bin window. To move a part from the parts bin window, simply click once on it to select it, and then drag it on to the artwork.

You can customize the selection of parts in the parts bin by using the DELETE and ADD items in the EDIT menu. To delete a part, first highlight it, so that it is highlighted. Then click on DELETE in the menu. To add a part click, on ADD in the menu, and the select a part from the resulting library dialog. The new part will show up in the parts bin window. Note that a maximum of 20 parts can be placed in the window.


Editing Parts
Editing Library Parts

You can change any characteristic of a part by entering EDIT mode and double-clicking over the given part, which causes a dialog box to appear. Characteristics that you can change include:

reference designator

part instance (layer)

value

These characteristics are changed by entering the appropriate value in the associated edit box (reference designator & value) or by using the radio buttons (layer selection). The layer selection characteristic only applies to parts like edge connectors, which can have two sides.


Edit Operations

Entering Edit Mode

Single-object and Group Edits

Move

Copy

Erase

Rotate

Mirror

Vertical Flip

Origin

Undo

Change

Clipboard Operation

Clear DRC Operation

Re-Grid Operation

Move Reference Designator


Re-Grid Operation

The re-grid operation snaps pads (excluding vias), library parts, and text to the current grid.


Clear DRC Operation

This operation clears the DRC (design-rule check) marks made in the CHECK operation. Click over the CLEAR DRC menu item to start the operation.


Undo Operation

The undo operation is used to undo the last edit operation (move, copy, delete, etc.) or to remove the last object added to a drawing.


Center Operation

This operation centers the viewing window over the drawing and redraws the screen. After this operation, the scroll bars will be centered in each of the scroll bar regions. You can do this operation either via the F4 key or by clicking over CENTER in the EDIT menu.


Change Operation

To change any style (including font style) of an object, first select the object or group of objects. Then select the new style or font from the STYLE menu.


Clipboard Operation

To copy objects to the clipboard, first select them in GROUP mode, and then click over COPY in the EDIT menu; you can also enter "Ctrl Ins" on the keyboard. To paste objects from the clipboard, place the cursor at a desired screen location and enter "Shift Ins" on the keyboard.  The objects will then appear in the drawing, enclosed in an edit rectangle; you can now drag the objects to a final location, or just click outside the rectangle to accept the position.


Entering Edit Modes
Entering Edit Mode

The edit functions are accessed by first entering edit mode. To do this, simply click the right mouse button, or click over the edit button (having the dashed square) in the toolbar menu. You can also push the F9 key. Once in edit mode you generally start the edit operation by selecting one or more objects; objects are selected by clicking over them or by drawing an edit box around them.


Edit Modes
Single-object and Group Edits

The following commands can be used in either single or group edit mode:

move, erase, copy, mirror, rotate, and change.

The edit mode is selected automatically, depending simply on where you place the cursor. If you place the cursor over an object (on the boundary in the case of a rectangle) and click, you select the object in single object mode. The following objects are highlighted with "handles" when they are selected:

traces

arcs

rectangles

ellipses & circles

no-routes

The "handles" provide selection points for re-sizing or stretching the associated objects.

Other objects including pads, text and library parts are highlighted with a dotted rectangle.

If you start dragging at any point of the screen where there is no object, you enter group mode. An edit rectangle, shown with dashed lines, is started, with the first corner at the initial point. To select a set of objects, you drag the second corner of the edit rectangle so that it encloses the origin points of the objects.

Note that all objects in a drawing have a unique origin point; this point is always the first point entered by clicking or dragging with the leftmost mouse key. Once an object has been drawn on the screen, its origin point can be located by clicking over the ORIGIN button. All area-oriented (group) edit commands are referenced to the origin point of each object.


Move Operations
Move Operation

To move a single object that has been selected, simply move the mouse cursor over it and drag it to the new position. If the object has handles (e.g. the line object) and you drag over these, then the associated endpoint or corner is moved, and the object is stretch or resized.

To move a group of parts that have been selected, drag inside the edit box. Note that if there are more than 10 objects, only the first 10 are shown while dragging; this speeds up the dragging operation.


Move Reference Designator

The reference designator of a library part can be moved by first selecting the part in edit mode. When the part is selected, it is highlighted with a dashed rectangle around the part and a smaller rectangle about the designator. To move the designator, drag inside the smaller rectangle


Copy Operations
Copy Operation

The copy operation works just like the move operation, except that you hold down the SHIFT key while dragging or placing the selected objects.

The copy operation can be used to copy objects from one plane to another. To do this, select objects (either one object or a group of objects), and then push the "P" key. At the prompt, enter the destination plane. Click or drag the objects at the desired position on the destination plane.


Erase Operations
Erase Operation

To erase one or more selected drawing objects, click over the ERASE button or push the DEL key on the keyboard.


Rotate Operation

Rotation through a fixed angle

To rotate selected objects through a fixed angle increment, click over the rotate button in the tool bar. In single-object mode, objects are rotated by the fixed angle about their origin point. In group mode, the selected objects will be rotated about the center point of the edit box. The value for the angle of rotation is by default +90 degrees (counter-clockwise).

Rotation by dragging

One or more objects can be rotated through any angle by first selecting them in group mode. To start the rotation, click on the border of the edit box. Two handles will then appear: a pivot point handle and a rotation handle. An example is shown below:

The pivot handle is marked with the circle, and the rotation angle is marked with a small rectangle and double arrow. To rotate, drag on the rotation handle rectangle. Swivel the handle about the pivot point; at the desired angle, release the mouse button. Note that the rotation only occurs in steps specified by the current angle increment setting (by default 90 degrees).

You can change the pivot point by dragging it prior to the rotation.

Setting the angle increment

To set the rotation angle increment, click on the ROTATION item in the STYLE menu. Enter an angular value in degrees in the resulting dialog box and click on the OK button.


Mirror Operation

The mirror operation works nearly the same as the rotate operation (see last section), except that objects are reflected about a vertical line. In the case of library parts, the vertical line goes through the origin.


Vertical Flip Operation

You can flip a single object or group of objects by first selecting the object(s) and then clicking on the vertical flip button. A single object is flipped about a horizontal line going through its origin. In group mode object(s) are flipped about a horizontal line going through the center of the edit box.


Origin Operation

The origin operation is used to identify the origin points of the objects in a drawing. To use the origin function  click over the origin button in the tool bar. The SuperPCB software will then draw an origin symbol (a small circle about the origin point) for each object shown on the screen.


Draw to fit

To use the zoom operation, click on the ZOOM button in the tool bar; then click anywhere in the drawing window. The entire artwork will be scaled and displayed within the drawing window (draw-to-fit mode). Move the cursor to a location in the drawing you wish to zoom in on; click, and the display will be drawn in normal size, centered at the cursor position of the click. If the cursor position was near a drawing edge in the fitmode display, the centering in the zoomed display will be limited by the display borders.

The drawtofit/zoom combination provides an easy way to move around in a large drawing, particularly if your drawing size is B or greater.


Keyboard Interface

Object Entry Keys

T.................Enter text

R.................Enter rectangle

L.................Enter trace

E.................Enter ellipse

C.................Enter pad

K.................Enter arc

F..................Enter fill

Object Selection

Shift+T.................Text only

Shift+R.................Rectangles only

Shift+L.................Traces only

Shift+E.................Ellipses only

Shift+C.................Pads only

Shift+K.................Arcs only

Shift+N.................Nets only (MA8500 only)

Shift+O.................No-routes only

Shift+A.................Select all objects

Function Keys

F1................Enter Help Mode

F2................Toggle snap-to-pad mode

Alt+F4.........Exit Program

F4................Center

F5................Access library menu

F6................Change part instance

F7................Undo

F8................Clear

F9................Enter edit mode

F10..............Toggle snap-to-grid mode

Edit-Mode Keys (Require Object(s) to be Selected First)

Control Ins........Send objects to clipboard (also Control C)

Control S...........Scale objects

Control B...........Move (single) object to bottom of drawing stack

Control T...........Move (single) object to top of drawing stack

Del.....................Delete objects

Other Keys

+.................Go to next circuit layer

-..................Go to previous circuit layer

ESC............Re-draw/clear edit mode

HOME........Move to library origin point

O.................Set new origin at current cursor location

G.................Re-grid objects to current grid

1..................Set single-layer view mode

2..................Set double-layer view mode

4..................Select 4-point STANDARD font

8..................Select 8-point STANDARD font

PgUp...........Zoom in (magnify)

PgDn...........Zoom out (reduce scale)

Shift Ins.......Paste objects from clipboard (also Control V)


Buttons

The tool bar region contains two groups of buttons. The left group is used for selecting library parts or drawing objects (e.g., lines, rectangles). The right group selects edit operations (zoom, erase, rotate, etc.).

The individual buttons are defined as follows:

 text object	 draw-to-fit

 arc object	 enter edit mode

 fill object	 erase

 rectangle object	 rotate

 trace object	 mirror

 ellipse object	 vertical flip

 pad object	 origin

 library part


Setup Operations

Work Area

Grid Size

Editing

Font Selection

Color Selection

General Setup

Set Coordinate Origin

Fill Mode

Layer Display Setup


Multi-Layer Editing
Layer Display Setup

Clicking on the LAYERS item in the SETUP menu results in the following dialog box:

The Moving Objects radio buttons control movement of objects from one layer to another. If Change Layers is selected, then selected objects are moved to a destination layer selected from the VIEW menu. For example, to move a rectangle from the top layer to the silk screen layer, you can first select it (so that the 8 handles show), and then move the cursor to the VIEW/CURRENT LAYER/SILK SCREEN menu item. As soon as you click on this item, the view is changed to the silk screen layer and the rectangle is moved there. If Keep On Layer is selected in the dialog box, no movement occurs

The VIEW/EDIT radio buttons specify how you view and edit layer pairs (e.g., top and bottom layers in a two layer board). If Layer Pair is selected you can view two layers, while editing either of the layers. For example, you can view both layers in a two layer board, while adding traces to the bottom layer. In other cases you may want to see just objects on one layer; in this case you select the One Layer option.

In the full-up version of SuperPCB, you can select one or more additional layers to view by checking one of the 16 signal layer items.


Read Out
Set Coordinate Origin

You can set the coordinate read-out to a new origin by moving the cursor to a point on the screen and then pushing the "O" key. This point becomes the (x,y)=(0,0) location. If the ESC key is pushed (or if you do a re-draw from the EDIT menu), the origin is reset to the work area center (the default).


Fill_Mode
Fill Mode

You can choose two different flood fill modes in this section of the SETUP menu. The default mode is NORMAL, in which a fill operation will fill up to the borders of a confining region. The second mode which you can choose is fill WITH ISOLATION, in which the fill operation will fill to within a margin of the border. The margin amount is specified in the MASK part of the STYLE menu.


Work Area
Work Area Selection

To select a circuit board work area size, click over the WORK AREA menu item in the SETUP menu; a cascade menu will appear listing work area sizes ranging from 4" x 4" to 32" x 32". Click over the associated menu item to select a new size. Immediately, on choosing the size, the screen will be re-drawn to reflect the new size.


General Setups

The GENERAL item of the SETUP menu allows you to specify the following options:

option 	choices

limit 	on, off

border	on, off

grid 	visible/clear

grid snap on/off

rubberband	on, off

pad snap	on, off

rulers	on, off

pin numbers	show, hide

units	English or Metric

starting file	re-load last file edited, or none (when SuperPCB starts)

parts bin	display or hide

button help	button help for toolbar on or off

full cursor	full snap cursor on or off

double clicks	use double clicking or use right mouse button for edit

sound	enable or disable (beeps)

To do the setup operation, move the cursor to the given option and click the check box or radio buttons. Then click on the OK button of the dialog box.

You can also set up the incremental autorouter. in the GENERAL setup. Options specified here include enabling or disabling the router (this also can be done with the F3 key), via size and via hole size, and also the via type (thru or hidden). The routing grid for the router is specified by the current grid setting in the SETUP menu, and can be 25, 50, or 100 mils.


Drawing Scale

This section of the SETUP menu allows the drawing scale to be set to in a range from 20% to 500%. You can do any data entry operation (including editing and object placement) at all of these scales. Note that at 500% you can edit with a 1 unit (mil) resolution.


Editing

If you click over the EDITING menu item of the SETUP menu you get a cascade menu which allows selection of an edit mode. There are essentially two edit modes:

edit all objects

edit one class of objects

The default mode is to edit all objects. If you select one of the other modes to edit just one class of objects---for example, lines---then you can only select, move, copy, or erase, etc. objects of the given class. The other objects become "invisible" with respect to the selection operation. This facilitates artwork editing when you have several type of objects (for example lines and text in library parts) at the same position on the drawing.

Note that if you select "Nets only", you obtain a mode of editing which allows you to select an entire circuit net on one or two layers. You select the net by clicking on one of the traces in the net. The selected net is then highlighted with the EDIT color, allowing you to view all connections. To de-select the net, push the escape key. You can perform two operations on a selected net:

delete it

change the width

To delete a selected net, push the delete (Del) key or use the delete button in the tool bar. To change the width of all  traces in the net go to the STYLE menu and select a new width and click on the OK button in the width dialog box.

The "Nets only" feature is only supplied with the full-up SuperPCB program (MA8500).


Drawing Plane
Drawing Layer

You can select the drawing layer by clicking first over the CURRENT LAYER menu item and then clicking over the appropriate item in the cascade menu. You can select any one of 16 circuit layers, a silk screen layer, or you can select all layers.


Font Selection

The font selection operation allows you to change font size and font style. Fonts can range from 8-point sizes up to 72-point sizes, except for the STANDARD font (default) which can be either 4-point or 8-point. Use the 4-point font for numbering pins on dense packages such as pin grid arrays.

To set a specific font and size, click over any font type in the typeface list box; then select the size in the Size list box. You can also select bold or italic mode for any font by clicking in the font style box. Click on the "OK" button to confirm the selection. The font selection remains in effect until a new selection is made.

Note that if you push the ESC key, the current font is reset to the STANDARD font. You must use this font when drawing or modifying library parts. You can also select STANDARD 8-point font by entering 8 on the keyboard (not on the numeric pad), and STANDARD 4 point font by entering 4 on the keyboard.

Up to 64 different font styles are supported by SuperPCB; however, only 16 are integral to SuperPCB. These are:

"Standard"

"Arial" (TrueType)

"Courier"

"Courier New" (TrueType)

"Fixedsys",

"Modern"

"MS Sans Serif"

"MS Serif"

"Roman",

"Script"

"Small Fonts"

"Symbol" (TrueType)

"System"

"Terminal"

"Times New Roman" (TrueType)

"Wingdings" (TrueType)

Other fonts which can be accessed from the FONT dialog box represent installed fonts possibly unique to you computer system. Some of these will come with different Windows applications such as WordPerfectTM.  You can use these fonts in SuperPCB, but if you move your artwork to another system, the appearance of text may change. Information on the added fonts (the non-integral ones) is held in the SPCB.INI file.

Important note: When preparing artwork for Gerber output, limit text to upper case letters and numbers. Also be aware that all text in the Gerber output is mapped to a single vector stroke font, which may look different than the on-screen font.


Color Selection

In color video modes you can choose any one of 32 colors for the following:

drawing window background

objects on each of the 16 planes

silk screen layer

rulers

grid

edit mode

To set a color, first click over COLORS in the SETUP menu, so that the color dialog box appears. You then select the color item and its associated color by  clicking over the color square of the color item, and then clicking over one of the 32 color squares. When you have chosen all the colors you want, you then click on the OK button. Note that not all colors can be used together. For example, if you choose RED for the drawing window and RED for the edit color, you can't see text that is being edited.

Note that the color menu allows up to 7 different color schemes, which can be selected from the combo box in the lower right of the color dialog box. If you select any one of these, all color item color squares are updated immediately with the new color. Clicking on the OK button results in the new color scheme being shown. With the exception of the "Current" color scheme none of the scheme colors can be directly modified. All the color scheme colors are saved in the SPCB.INI file.


Grid Size

Four different standard grid sizes can be selected: 5, 10, 25, or 50 mils. The default setting is 50 mils, which is suitable for boards with standard DIP components. To change the current grid size click on the GRID menu item, and then click over the desired grid size option in the cascade menu.

You can also select a custom grid size by clicking over VARIABLE in the cascade menu.

Note that the autorouter (both incremental and batch) only works when the 25 or 50 mil grid sizes are set. However, pads do not have to lie on these grid points (the router uses a snap-to-pad feature).

In the full-up SuperPCB you can also select a polar snap grid by clicking on POLAR in the menu. This results in the dialog:


Auxiliary Operations

Enter Reference Number

Enter Value

Find Text or Reference Designators

Replace Text

Enter Auto-incremented Text


Reference Numbers
Enter Reference Number

This operation allows you to assign reference numbers to library parts. The operation can be performed on one part, or automatically on every part of a selected category (for example, IC parts) on a given drawing page. To initiate the operation, click over the "ref no." function in the AUX pulldown menu. A dialog box will then appear allowing you to select whether the operation is for one part or for the whole drawing page. If the whole page option is selected,  enter the reference letter type corresponding to the part type. For example, for ICs, you enter "u"; for resistors and capacitors, you enter "r" and "c" respectively. After selecting the category,  enter a one to three digit starting reference number. All parts of the selected category will be numbered in the time sequence in which they were entered, using the specified number as a starting point. Parts with multiple components per package are given the same reference number until the number of components/package is exceeded; then a new number is assigned. Note that these parts are automatically sequenced---that is, in making the drawing, if you don't use the F6 key to select different instances of a part, this can be done in the reference numbering operation.

If the operation is for one part, the part to be numbered needs to be selected. Do this by simply clicking over the part. After you do this, a dialog box will appear, allowing you to enter the desired reference number. Enter a number having from one to three digits (but less than 511) and click over the OK button. The part will then be numbered, and the display will be updated accordingly.


Value

The value operation lets you append a value to any library part, with the exception of ICs. For example, you can add component values to resistors and capacitors; you can also specify part numbers for transistors and diodes. The appended value can be extracted by the parts utility, and it is displayed on the artwork next to the reference number. To enter the value, first click over VALUE in the AUX menu. Then click over any part you want to add a value to, and enter the value in the dialog box. Note that the value can be any text string with 8 or less characters.


Find Text or Reference Designators

The find operation is used to locate text strings in a drawing; it can also be used to find library parts with a specific reference number. To start the operation, first select it from the menu; a dialog box will then appear. Select either search for text or search for reference numbers, by clicking on one of the two radio buttons. To search for text, enter a string of 80 characters or less in the text box. The artwork will then be searched for a matching string in a text element. If a match is found, the window will be redrawn with the found text centered and highlighted. A dialog box with two buttons, labeled CANCEL and CONTINUE, will appear. Click over CONTINUE if you want to continue searching, or over CANCEL, if you wish to stop. This operation will not find strings inside library parts.

If you selected the option to look for a reference designator, enter a reference designator (for example, "u7" or "r15") in the text box. The artwork will then be searched for a part having the given designator. If it is found, the screen is re-drawn, and the reference designator string of the part is highlighted. You can then search for further parts (having the same designator) or quit.


Replace Text

The replace operation is used to replace all text strings in a given drawing page, which match a given search string, with a specified replacement string. To initiate the operation, select it from the menu; a dialog box will then appear. Enter search string (of 80 characters or less) in the "Search for text:" edit box. Next, enter a replacement string in the "Change to:" edit box. Also specify whether you want to be prompted before a change is made, using the radio buttons. After, this click on the OK button. The SuperPCB software will then search all text elements in the drawing and make the necessary replacements as directed.

Note that this operation cannot be applied to library parts, since the text in these parts is not directly referenced.


Auto-incremented Text
Enter Auto-incremented Text

The autoincrement text operation allows any text consisting of a root name string and an index number string to be quickly entered. To start the operation, select AUTO from the AUX menu. A dialog box will be displayed, which allows you to enter a root name string (e.g., XYZ) and a starting index (e.g., 12).  Next click on the OK button. After this, click on the screen drawing area wherever you want an autoincremented string drawn. The string will then be drawn and the index number portion will be incremented for the next click. Note that if you leave the root text edit box empty, and enter just the starting index, you will get a sequence of numbers at each click on the drawing.


Style Operation
Style Selection

Pad Style Selection

Outline Style Selection

Setting Fill Patterns

Setting Outline Border Widths

Setting Ellipse Aspect Ratios


Pad Style Selection

Clicking over the PAD menu item allows the current pad shape and size to be selected. You can select the following pad styles:

style	use

round	DIP, PGA, ZIP, SIP & discrete part package pads

square	discrete part pads

oval	DIP package pads

surface	surface mount IC and discrete

part package pads

finger	edge connectors

via	connecting circuit layers

In addition you can specify the x and y dimensions as well as hole sizes. Dimensions are specified in mils (.001 inch).Set the hole size to 0, for pads without holes. Surface mount pads do not have holes.


Outline Style Selection

The outline style selection operation selects one of four drawing styles for lines, arrows, ellipses, arcs and rectangles: solid (the default), dash, dot, or dot-dash. To select the outline drawing style, simply select the STYLE menu and then click over the desired drawing style. All subsequent lines, arrows, ellipses, and rectangles will be drawn in the selected style until a new style is selected. Note that when the width of a line or other object is greater than one, the outline style is always solid.


Setting Fill Patterns

Fill patterns for rectangles and ellipses are selected by first clicking over the FILL menu item. Then in the fill dialog box simply click over one of the 8 filled rectangles in the upper part of menu, and the given pattern is displayed in the rectangle at the bottom next to the "OK" button. If you now click on "OK" this pattern is selected until you select a new one. Note that the unfilled rectangle in the upper left  corner of the dialog display specifies an empty or transparent fill pattern.


Setting Widths
Setting Outline Border Widths

Line, arc, rectangle border, ellipse border widths can be entered by clicking over the WIDTH menu item. In the width dialog box, enter a number from 1 to 99; this is the number of units (mils) used for trace, arc, ellipse, or rectangle thickness when these objects are next entered. The default for width (used when the program starts) is 20 mils. Note that when the width is greater than one, the outline style is always solid.


Setting Aspect Ratios
Setting Ellipse Aspect Ratios

Clicking over the ASPECT menu item allows you to change the current aspect ratio (defined as the ratio of x to y axes). The default is 1, and you can set any ratio between .1 and 99. Note that the appearance of ellipses is altered both by the video adapter (CGA, Hercules, EGA, VGA, SVGA) and by the printer/plotter type. To get a perfect circle on a printer set the aspect ratio to 1.2 for A size drawings and .833 for B size drawings; these ratios come about because a printer's resolution is 60 dots vertically, and 72 dots horizontally. For an HPGL plotter the aspect ratio should be set to 1 (in any case).


Technical Support

Technical support can be obtained by calling or writing Mental Automation at:

5415 136th Place SE

Bellevue WA 98006

(425) 641-2141

(425) 649-0767 (FAX)

You can also access the latest information and bulletins on our products at our Web Page:

http://www.mentala.com