New features 10.0.1:

·       “Edit/Move Layers XY Position/Move Layer Tool”
A new tool has been added to facilitate layer alignment. The command will activate a tool which consists of two steps:

Þ    First the user picks an element in the layer that he desires to move. This is done by moving the crosshair close to the element and then clicking (or pressing Enter), similar to how one selects an element.

Þ    Next the user picks the corresponding element in another layer the same way as in the previous step.

At this point the layer of the first element will be moved so that the first element is now on top of the second element (and hopefully the layers are aligned).  The whole cycle can then be repeated again for moving another layer. When done, press Escape to cancel the move layer tool, or deactivate it by clicking on its menu entry.  This command has the shortcut key combination Ctrl+Shift+Q.

·       Explicit Units
All the dialog items that refer to a coordinate or a dimension now accept numbers followed by optional units, independent of the current units in use.  For instance in the “Move Cursor To” dialog box one could enter “2.3cm” for X, even though the current units may be “inch”. This would cause the cursor to move to 0.905512 inches. The acceptable values for the units are the same as the ones shown in the “Coordinate Units” box: “inch”, “mil”, “cm” or “mm” or any prefix of them which is unambiguous (for instance “in” or even “i” will work instead of “inch”).

·        “Setup/Preferences/User Confirmation For”
confirmation for dangerous operations.  A new group of preferences that can be turned on or off. When on, they will cause the corresponding operations to prompt for user confirmation before they are done. Currently two such operations covered:

Þ    Delete Selected: will prompt for “Edit/Edit Selection/Delete”

Þ    Drag And Drop Layers: will prompt during a drag and drop in the layers toolbar

These are intended as a safety feature to protect against unintended operations, especially since “delete selected” has a shortcut key (Delete) which can easily be pushed by accident.

More such operations can be added in the future. Please let technical support know which you would like added.

·       “Setup/Preferences/Wheel Forwards Decreases Zoom”
user preference For those who are used to have the zoom decrease when the mouse wheel is moved forwards and increase when the mouse wheel is moved backwards.

·       “File/Export/Drill” and “File/Export/Rout”, G93-type offsets
A new option has been added for Excellon export to cause the software to output a G93 (Zero Set) command at the beginning of the file (or the equivalent M49,FA for Sieb and Meyer). It is in the “Options” dialog, under “Output Options” and it is called “Offset”. When turned on, a G93 will be output at the beginning of the file. The value of the offset is taken from the current cursor position, so if you want accurate values, best to disconnect the mouse from the crosshair cursor when activating the dialog. Note that the G93 will be output even if both the X and Y are 0.

·       “Tools/Clip Silkscreen Traces”, new method
A new method has been added for correcting silkscreen clearance errors. This method inserts scratch polygons into the silkscreen layer to scratch away from interfering silkscreen elements. The old method, which clipped the traces, is still available. The method can be selected by the user in the operation dialog.

Changed features 10.0.1:

·       “Edit/Move Layers XY Position/Move By Displacement”, improved
This command has been improved to make it easier to align layers. Previously the command dialog included only the X and Y displacements and it moved the “active layers” (as determined by layer visibility and by the “Only” button next to the current layer in the Current Element toolbar).There are two improvements to this command:

Þ    One can now pick the layers to move in the dialog. There is a text box where one can type in a comma separated list of layer ranges, such as “3, 7-9, 15” (one can also type “All” here). This list is initialized to the currently active layers, so that the command acts as before if the user leaves the layers text box alone.

Þ    The X and Y displacements in the dialog are initialized to the result of the most recent distance measurement command (if any). This allows the user to previously do a distance command (“D”) to set the move displacement.

·       “Setup/D Codes” (F5), custom shapes
Custom shapes (M-type) setup dialog: now has two added buttons, “Import” and “Export”. These will import/export to/from Gerber the current custom shape. These commands were available previously as a separate step in the “Custom Apertures” menu of the main dialog, under “Import From File” and “Export To File”. The addition of the new buttons saves some operator steps.

·       “Select/By Intersection”, new option
A new option has been added: “Check only elements at the same polarity level”. When on, only elements that are of the same polarity (paint or scratch) are checked against each other and also only when they are at the same level in the paint/scratch sequence. So, for instance, an element in the second paint group of the destination is only checked versus elements in the second paint group of the reference. When one wants all elements checked against all other, this option should be left unchecked.

·        “Edit/Edit Selection/Polygons/F To Polygons”, algorithm improved
Three options have been added for handling polygon holes (when nesting is requested).

Þ    “Holes cannot overlap”: if two holes overlap one of them becomes a container

Þ    “Overlapping holes are merged”: two overlapping holes are merged to make a larger hole

Þ    “Overlapping holes not merged”: the overlapping area of two holes becomes a new container

·       “File/Import/Netlist”
When the “Add feature (if present in 317)” is checked the feature pad will be added to the CPU and CPL layers. Previously they were added to the DRI layer.

·       “File/Import/Guess-Directory-Zip”

Þ    Now supports the Excellon format for decimal placement (000.000).

Þ    The results dialog has been changed.

o   The leading, trailing, all present, decimal present radio buttons will enable/ disable the ‘m’ and ‘n’ labels in a similar way that the Import/Drill & Rout/ options  dialog behaves.

o   If the size the user selects creates a coordinate value outside the 1000 inch, 1000 cm limit, an error is reported and the “OK” button is disabled.

o   Files with no data (drill with tool sizes but no drill data) will now report the board size as “0 x 0” instead of “No Data Found”.

Bugs fixed 10.0.1:

·       “Setup/D Codes” (F5)
A crash happened when several D Codes were selected and mapped to H (thermal) type, if they were not previously of H type.

·       “File/Save Options/Preferences”
The “Step And Repeat” mode could not be set.

·       “File/Import/Drill & Rout”
Routing paths with tool codes of sizes which conflicted with already loaded tool codes did not transcode properly.

·       “File/Export/Drill”
For step and repeated export in Sieb & Meyer format, the M31 commands were sometimes not generated correctly.

·       “File/Import/DPF” 

Þ    Rotated, mirrored BOX apertures wouldn’t rotate properly.

Þ    Zero length draws weren’t supported

Þ    Some aperture definitions would be reported as undefined.