What’s New in AutoTRAX Design Express (DEX) since 25th. January(1 month)
Wednesday 25th February, 2015• Two new layers have been added to PCBs. These are the top solder paste layer and the bottom solder paste layer. Any graphics you add to either of these layers will be added as solder paste.
• Surface mount pads normally automatically add their own solder paste but you can turn this off using the pads properties panel. You will then most likely add your own solder paste area.
• No mask areas normally do not add any solder paste but you can have them automatically add solder paste by checking the add solder paste checkbox in the no mask areas properties panel.
• The two solder paste layers are automatically output to Gerber.
• No mask areas can now be grouped. This is useful for making a combined object which consists of an area of copper created by drawing a graphics object on the top or bottom copper layer and adding a no mask area to create an opening in the solder mask and finally adding a series of solder paste areas. Grouping the copper shape, the no mask area and the solder pastes creates a useful object that can be moved, rotated and scaled.
• Export to PDF now embeds any text documents. These can be opened by Microsoft Word or any compatible reader.
Tuesday 24th February, 2015• The part builder’s symbols now sort correctly by pad names, taking into account pad names being numbers. Numbers come before names.
• Spiral Inductors and Aerial’s can now be mirrored.
• Fix for library panel where if you moved a part into the same directory using drag then it was placed in the Recycle bin!
• Array rectangular and circular controls now have Create buttons disabled if arraying is not possible.
Sunday 22nd February, 2015• PDF export now supports Unicode.
Saturday 21st February, 2015• Page scale works in PDF export.
• Transparency in images for PDF export implemented.
Friday 20th February, 2015• New improved PDF export.
• PDF export can optionally include the current project/part.
• Work still to do one PDF export includes line style, transparency in images and radial/linear color fill.
• Create a rectangular array improved.
• Create a circular array now has interactive command. Click on the interactive button in the create circular array dialog to start. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to see the circular array change size. There is a similar feature in create rectangular array.
• It is now possible to create arrays of horizontal and vertical guides.
Thursday 19th February, 2015• Added more to the help file.
• Improved Part Builder changes for parts in projects and when changing footprint type in the part editor. Wherever possible the schematic symbol is not changed.
Tuesday 17th February, 2015• Fix for rotate 90/180 and mirror for polygonal pads.
• Guides now draw with dashed style to reflect the construction line nature of guides.
• Change scale up/down scale control to have a calculator.
Monday 16th February, 2015• Fix for pasting.
• When pasting, if the mouse cursor is inside a viewport, the viewport will displays the pasted objects and they will follow the mouse. Press to finally place the objects.
• If in normal pick mode, click mouse button 4 or 5 copies selected to the clipboard and pastes it. Move to place and click mouse button 4 or 5 will place it and show you another to move and place. Left click ends it.
• Dominant object selection indicator improved. Dotted rectangle around dominant.
• Added origin context menu item to place origin at the placement point in the part editor.
Saturday 14th February, 2015• Hide status bar in the status context menu updates controls.
• Set pad center in rectangle and ellipse shape editors now works.
• Rotate 3D buttons now work in PCBs.
Friday 13th February, 2015• New web services for problem reports.
• Added help for soldermasks.
• Fixed problem the initial margin for soldermask had a point in error. It did correct itself but now it’s always OK.
• Default soldermask margin now 4 mil.
• Copy and paste, pastes over the original position.
Tuesday 10th February, 2015• Part tweaks in the library.
• Courtyard auto-sizes(optional) in part edit.
• If DEX cannot save then DEX will not close.
You have to:
• Close without saving or
• Save to another location or
• Fix the reason it can't save. e.g. put the USB back in!
• Fix for silkscreen control in part builder. Now works ok.
Monday 9th February, 2015• Fix for occasional sporadic resizing of parametric footprint when adding additional pad.
Sunday 8th February, 2015• Add auto-dimming button to route settings panel and auto-dimming button to the route menu.
• Improved snap to objects for the PCB border.
• Stopped snap to courtyards, silkscreens when they are hidden.
Friday 6th February, 2015• Chip packages now have color.
• Selected symbol terminals that are normally invisible in schematics now show has a red spot is selected.
• View selected entity now shows slightly more of the surroundings.
• Checklist UI improved.
• Fixed bug when placing footprints around border. Some track not unrouted and appear white.
• Rotating and moving footprints will do real-time DRC if enabled.
Thursday 5th February, 2015• Added end manual routing key (press enter). During manual routing press enter to leave the track you are editing as it is.
• Align and distribute now works with sub-picked objects.
• Changed page scale control in the sheet properties to a spin editor. When you change the scale the page content is centered and the viewport shows you all the page.
Wednesday 4th February, 2015• Improved switch of footprint types in part edit and in project. Maintain pad count, terminal name and terminal to pad mapping.
• Single sided boards do not have copper for pads/vias on the non-copper side.
Monday 2nd February, 2015• Bug reporter – increased font size and formatting in description.
• Added option in application settings to increase/decrease zoom when using the mouse wheel. It is in Application->User Interface->Mouse Wheel Scale.
Sunday 1st. February, 2015• Improved Add Resistor dialog and Add Capacitor dialog. Also new library part parame you are a a is a you are ters.
Saturday 31st January, 2015• Fix for libraries not installing some artwork files.
• Improved quality of combining shapes with circles/ellipses.
Thurday 29th January, 2015• Status bar now has more controls. Improved status from some commands.
• Move units display from the windows title bat to the tabs for each viewport.
Wednesday 28th January, 2015• Status bar now appears on the top. Right click to see context menu to switch location.
• Added toggle rotation snap to the viewport right click context menu.
• rotation snap on by default.
• Added units button to Part Builder-Footprint. This shows/sets PCB units. When viewing schematics this is the PCB units not the schematics units.
• Removed imperial/metric buttons.
Tuesday 27th January, 2015• Fix for erratic behaviour when moving rectangle corners.
• Added units text in the window caption. (at the end). Units can be different on different sheets.
• Fix for moving rectangular objects. Sometimes would snap to ½ snap space. OK now.
• Fix for library footprints for polarized capacitors. Silkscreen marker added.
Monday 26th January, 2015• Symbol terminals (pin number and text) now show selection box not selected as red. This allows you to see the color if you change it interactively.
• Search result in library panel now sorted.
• Status and tooltips displayed when resizing objects.
Sunday 25th January, 2015• Fix for reference designators for capacitors in the parts library.
• Empty community directories removed.