The upgrade provides an enhanced user experience, with an improved interface, and includes a number of feature updates.
“We are looking to deliver a range of critical system updates which significantly improve the performance and together with new and improved features will boost productivity and improve user control,” explained Christian Keller, a field applications engineer with Altium.
Designer 18 features a number of important updates that work together to deliver a more cohesive, end-to-end design environment.
In addition to a more modern user interface, this version also features an upgrade to a 64-bit architecture combined with multi-threaded task optimisations, enabling users to design and release larger, more complex boards much faster.
Designer 18 includes a major update to ActiveRoute, a user-guided routing engine that is now able to support length tuning, pin-swapping, and gloss options, enabling users to quickly produce professional results.
The ActiveBoM editor also features several enhancements including a new BoM rule checker that allows users to easily verify each BoM line item providing greater accuracy and cost control.
Additionally, the new multi-board assembly capability enables real-time connection management, giving users the ability to design and release large, complex boards more easily.
Interconnected multi-boards
In summary the improvements include:
• Multi-board
• 64bit architecture
• New graphics engine
• New theme-based user interface (darker for less eye strain, more organised and easier to use)
• ActiveBOM enhancements, including BoM rule checking. This is said to guarantee the product can continue to be manufactured even if original parts are not available. It will alternatives that can be 'dropped in' so the product does not have to be reesigned.
• ActiveRoute, which includes rules driven, length driven, glossing, more options of controlling where the routes go, allows more limitations to be enforced and is faster.
