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New Software Release!
Version 11.0.74
July 5, 2010

Whats New?

• Improvement In Trim Selected Traces - All ViewMate and CAM products
  The "Clip" operation of "Edit/Trim Selected Traces" has been improved. It now clips traces extending by
  small amounts over another trace even at points that are not close to the endpoints of the other trace. Previously he clipping was done only for situations where traces intersected close to their endpoints.
  

• Automatic Lead-In Generation - CAMMaster only
  A new command has been added for automatic lead-in/out generation for routing paths in the selection
  that are closed, do not already have lead-in and have compensation set. The compensation setting is used
  to determine the side of the path where the lead-in is generated. The command is "Tools/Routing/Auto
  Lead-In". There is one parameter for this operation that can be set by the user, the offset (height) off the
  path where the lead-in starts ("Tools/Routing/Lead-In Options/Auto Lead Offset From Edge").

• Proximity Sort For Routing Paths  - CAMMaster only
  A new command has been added to sort the routing paths by proximity so as to shorten the total distance
  traveled by the routing tool ("Tools/Routing/Proximity Sort"). This command will change the precedence
  numbers of the routing paths. This sort is also done (automatically) when a rout file is exported, but in
  this case only paths with the same precedence number are sorted. Here is a summary of the export order:
  ascending tool numbers (smaller tool number first), ascending layer number, ascending precedence number
  (lowest precedence numbers first, except for precedence 0 which means "don't care" and which is exported
  last) and finally (within the same precedence) the order is by proximity.

 Bugs fixed:

• Rotation
  Software crashed when rotating certain data that contained poluygons.
• Paint and Scratch Separation
  Software crashed when trying to separate a composite layer that contained a large number of paint/scratch switches that would have resulted in more than 255 layers when separated.
• ODB Import
  Some ODB files which had mixed units (metric and English) were imported incorrectly.

Scripting: CAMMaster only

• New:

⇒ RoutingChamferRadius

 Review all Product Release Notes 

June 8, 2010

Whats New?

• Tool For Panelizing

A new command has been added: "Edit/Layers Stackup/Combine By Board Number". This command operates
on all visible layers and, if several layers have the same board layer number, it will combine those
layers into one (merging into the first layer with that board layer number). Although this is a general purpose
command that can be used for other purposes also, its main use it to facilitate panelizing two (or
more) different jobs.
The jobs are usually on separate sets of layers but one wants to combine them into a set of panel layers.

For this one can apply the following steps:

1. Place the second set of layers at the desired X and Y location by using one of the move commands.
2. Set the board layer numbers for each layer in the second set so it matches the board layer numbers in the first set. This can be done in the "Setup/Layers" dialog.
3. Execute the "Combine By Board Number" command.

• New Global Selection Filter A new filter has been added for selecting only paint elements (ignoring scratch elements). It is called "Paint Elements". Previously there was only a filter for selecting "Scratch Elements".

• Improved Routing Path Compensation (CAMMaster only) Compensation computation has been improved for paths containing slots (where a path reverts onto itself).

• New:

⇒ CenterSelectedToFrame
⇒ InsertFrameSizedContour
⇒ InsertFrameSizedPolygon
⇒ MToCSelected

 Review all Product Release Notes 

ViewMate
Version: 11.0
Newest Features

• Online Ordering of PCB Boards
A new online quote and order module has been added (with “Smart DFM”). It is activated via the
“Smart DFM” menu command after the data for a one-up is loaded.
The quote module will step the user through a complete setup and preparation of the board data
to be ready to send to a manufacturer. The data is checked against the DFM rules of the
manufacturer(s) and any errors are displayed. The user can manually correct them or use many
of the automatic corrections provided. At the end of the process, an online quote can be requested
and, if desired, an online order placed.
The user is thus assured that the board will be manufactured without any further changes needed
at the manufacturer side and without delays. The pricing is also very competitive as the
manufacturer receives “clean data” that matches their DFM rules.

• Check My Design
A new button has been added which allows the user to email to PentaLogix the data currently
loaded. This is intended primarily as a way to help users who have trouble with correcting errors
found in Smart DFM, but can be used for any purpose when users want help from PentaLogix.

• Printing in Screen Colors
A new method has been added to the "File/Print" dialog: "Screen colors". This will print the image
the same way it is displayed on the screen. Since the background of the image is black, this will
waste a lot of ink when printing to paper, but it is useful when printing to files, such as PDF files.

• New Tool for Selecting a Set of Connected Elements
“Select/Connected” is a new tool that allows selecting elements that are connected (touch or
overlap). Once the tool is activated one can click close to an element and that element and all
elements in that layer which are connected to it (either directly or indirectly via other connecting
elements) are selected. This command works only on visible elements and ignores scratch
elements.

Possible uses for this command:
⇒ To generate a board outline. One can click next to one element in the board outline and
all connected elements will be selected. This is most useful when traces in the outline do not
line up perfectly on top of each other (they intersect or overlap). If one wants to generate a
“correct” outline after such a selection is made, the “Edit/Trim Selected Traces” command
can be used.

⇒ To check netlist connectivity. This is not really a netlist, because it only works on one layer
and ignores scratch elements, but it can be helpful in the case simple designs.

• Automatic Alignment of Drill Layers
A new command (“Edit/Move Layers XY Position/Auto-Align Drill Layer”) aligns the drill layer
(of type DRI or PTH) to a component layer (CPU or CPL). It will attempt the alignment by trying
to match all plated holes in the drill layer to pads in the component layer. Each hole needs to be
matched for this operation to succeed, so the component layer needs to have at least as many
pads as the drill layer. Only visible elements are considered.

• Quick Way to Insert Round Polygons
A new tool is available to insert round polyongs. It is "Insert/Circle/Polygon" and there is also a
button for it on the "Insert" toolbar (shown as a filled circle). The operation takes two clicks: one
for the center of the circle, the other for a point on the circumference.
When the goal of the operation is to insert round pads, the "Insert/Pads" tool is preferrable, but
the insert round polygon can be useful when making corrections (filling in areas or scratching
away unwanted copper).

• Large Offsets in Gerber and Drill Files
There are files where all the data is offset by a very large amount which violates the CAM data
limits of 1000 inches (or 10m in metric). Now such data can be imported. One needs to use
"File/Import/Guess" ("F4") or "File/Import/Directory" for this purpose.

• Export of Excellon Format 1
An option has been added to allow selection of Format 1 or Format 2 export of Excellon files.
Previously data was exported in Format 2 only.

Bugs Fixed:
• Malformed arcs in Gerber data
The correction of malformed arcs when importing Gerber data generated incorrect results in
certain cases.
• Polygon Merging
The polygon merging algorithm generated incorrect result occasionally.

Review all Product Release Notes

May 4  - New Free Check My Design Smart DFM Service!

Available in all ViewMate and CAM products!   

Click the "Check My Design" button in all ViewMate Smart DFM products. Let us do the hard work for you! We will review your design data using our universal Smart DFM rule sets. Your files will be returned to include a full report of any errors found and a complimentary PCB quote from one of our PCB partners.

V11.0.40 Released - March 18, 2010

See latest release notes for full details! 

Updated March 17, 2010

Pentalogix releases 3 new ViewMate products
-Smart DFM technology prevents many PCB manufacturing problems.

"Will the PCB Manufacturer be able to make my board? ...My design passes the DRC checks that I’ve specified in my CAD system, however, are these values reasonable? ...Does my PCB Manufacturer have any requirements that I’m not aware of? ...I’m pretty sure that the PCB Manufacturer can build my board, but, could I save money if I changed some of my design rules to make my boards easier to manufacture?"  

Max Henzi, original Founder and Developer of Pentalogix talks to his customers, repeatedly, those questions come from CAD users on a daily basis. Max believes every Designer takes pride in their work, spending hours painstakingly creating their PCB layout and paying careful attention to every design detail. When they’ve finished the design, it’s time to generate Gerber files and place the board order. Then pray.  

Determined to create simple to use solutions that erase all doubt, Max and his Co-Founding Partner, Marius Matioc developed the new generation of ViewMate products with Smart DFM technology to specifically eliminate the manufacturing concerns for Designers, Engineers and PCB Buyers.  

Smart DFM collects information about the PCB design and verifies layout specs in a step-by-step process, then prepares all of the information needed to accurately manufacture a circuit board. The Smart DFM module performs dozens of DFM checks and fixes CAM issues to easily prevent any “show stoppers” that delay manufacturing or cause faulty circuit boards. Not only does Smart DFM provide Designers' solutions, it does all the DFM work within ViewMate. The user has full control to manually change, edit or ignore issues that the software alerts. The user can also allow automatic changes.

After completing the Smart DFM checks, users get a real-time, no obligation PCB quotation from one or more of the Pentalogix PCB Manufacturer Partners. Quoting is automatic and results are returned in a matter of seconds, making it a simple instant PCB quote to order process from a single application on the user's desktop.

Designs that pass the Smart DFM checks can be automatically manufactured by Pentalogix PCB Manufacturing Partners or any circuit board company. Pentalogix job files will contain all of the information needed by any global circuit board manufacturer that uses a universal DFM rule set.

"We network with the best circuit board manufacturers around the globe, incorporating  their product offerings with corresponding DFM rule sets. We have also integrated an instant quote and order process from within ViewMate. Pentalogix is here to make the Designer's job easy, worry free and deliver perfect PCBs -Guaranteed!" says Max Henzi.

Smart DFM resides in all ViewMate products, offered in 3 packages:

A Free tiral Version - ViewMate with Smart DFM Gerber Viewer (Free)
ViewMate Deluxe with Smart DFM offers the ability to save your edits ($95).
ViewMate Pro with Smart DFM offers the ability to save your edits and more advanced features. ($495)

Learn More - Compare ViewMate Products  

Mar 12, 2010  We have just released V11.0.36

Version 11.0.36 released for all CAM Products -- Download for latest features!

New Features and Bug Fixes for all ViewMate and CAM products!   

 "Check My Design" button in all ViewMate Smart DFM products.
Let us do the hard work for you! We will review your design data using our universal Smart DFM rule sets. Your files will be returned to include a full report of any errors found and a complimentary PCB quote from one of our PCB partners.

- New Start-Up Tips screen, choose to display once a day or once a month.
- Minor bug fixes
- New!  Auto-align netlist files (CAMMaster only)

See latest release notes for full details! 

Feb 10, 2010  We have just released V11.0.22.

Version 11.0.22 Just Released!

This contains new DLLs with the "Ignore Errors" button and a few other changes. In addition it has two significant additions for which we had requests in the past:
- one can now print in screen colors. This is useful for printing to .pdf documents.
- we can now display the direction (orientation) of routing paths. (This is for CAMMaster only).
All of this is documented in the release notes.

More power for Designers including DFM Tools!

CAMMaster Designer runs complex polygon routines, performs DFM checks and more...

One of the biggest operating features for CAMMaster Designer vs. ViewMate Pro are the routines that handle polygons.  CAMMaster Designer has a "Merge Polygons" function that is extremely powerful.  In addition, CAMMaster has the ability to convert drawn pads in a highly automated way.  There is also a little known but very powerful feature called "Select By Intersection"

In addition, CAMMaster Designer has the new DFM tools that are not found in ViewMate Pro.  These tools alone may make the purchase worthwhile for serious Designers - Click for details.

All ViewMate products now include the Smart DFM Module!

Smart DFM performs dozens of DFM checks and fixes CAM issues instantly!
Quote and Order PCBs Easily to Get Your Boards On Time and at the Lowest Possible Cost.

Find out if your design contains any “show stoppers”  that will place your order on hold.
Smart DFM collects information from your design and prepares all of the information needed to accurately manufacture your board.
Designs that pass Smart DFM checks can be automatically manufactured by our PCB Manufacturer Partners.
We guarantee that your job will contain all of the information needed by the Manufacturer.
After passing the Smart DFM checks, you can get a quotation from one or more of our PCB Manufacturer Partners.
Quoting is automatic and results are returned in a matter of seconds.
Get your circuit board quotes and place your orders 24/7/365. 

You work hard to create your PCB design. You pay careful attention to every design detail and take pride in your work. When you’ve finished your design, it’s time to get a quote and place an order.

Before getting a quote and ordering your circuit boards, you should ask yourself the following questions:

Did I create my Gerber files correctly?
Have I included properly formatted drill files? Have I specified appropriate drill sizes? Have I identified which of my holes should be plated and which should be non-plated?
Do I have any slots or other unusually shaped cutouts in my board? If so, will the PCB Manufacturer know exactly what I want?
Have I included information about my board outline? The PCB Manufacturer needs to know the exact dimensions of your board. Does my Gerber data have a layer that identifies my board outline as one continuous path? Do I have sufficient clearance between internal copper areas and the edge of my board?
Will the PCB Manufacturer be able to make my board? My design passes the DRC checks that I’ve specified in my CAD system. However, are these values reasonable? Does my PCB Manufacturer have any requirements that I’m not aware of?
OK . . . I’m pretty sure that the PCB Manufacturer can build my board. However, could I save money if I changed some of my design rules to make my boards easier to manufacture?
If I take a little extra time to check my board with Smart DFM . . . can I save money AND prevent my order from being placed on hold?

Apr 28, 2009: Version 10.6 of our CAM products has been released.

Jan 24, 2009: Version 10.4 of our CAM products has been released.

Here are just some of the new and improved features:

• Copy, Cut and Paste: the standard Window commands Copy, Cut and Paste have been implemented with the usual shortcuts (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V). This allows moving and copying data inside an instance of the program or copying data to another PentaLogix CAM package.
• Pasting CAM Images Into Documents: The current view can be copied to the Windows clipboard. It can later be pasted into a document or an email.
• Button Names for Favorite Commands Toolbar: the buttons in the Favorite Commands toolbar can be now given names, in addition to bitmap images. They are also mapped to shortcut keys, making keyboard only operation easier.

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

Oct 3, 2008 : Version 10.2 of the CAM products has been released.

The main new features are:

• Trimming traces: new commands to trim traces which have endpoints that are close but do not match exactly. The traces can be extended to make the endpoints meet or clipped (when they overlapped) to throw away the fragments which extend beyond the intersection.
• Converting negative layers to positive: commands to convert negative layers to positive using paint and scratch. This is very useful when the resulting paint and scratch negatives are merged with positive layers in a panel.
• DFM: new DFM commands have been added. They can determine minimum feature width and minimum spacing on layers. They can also check for feature width and spacing violations. In addition to checking, corrections can be automatically made for slivers and acid traps. Click here for more details.
• A new way to insert elements: elements can now be inserted into user specified layers. The previous method of inserting into the "active layers" is still available. The new method allows for inserting into one layer while aligning to elements from another.
• Break Tabs for Routing: a new tool has been added to allow easy creation of break tabs for existing routing paths.
• Import Gerber and drill files: improvements have been made to the import code.

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

Mar 17, 2008 : Version 10.0 of our CAM products has been released.

Here are just some of the new and improved features:

• Easy layer alignment: now you can align two layers with only two mouse clicks.
• Net-list extraction: has been improved and is now faster.
• Many user preferences have been added: mouse wheel control, suppressing user confirmation prompts
• Drag-N-Drop layers in the layer toolbar: now easily rearrange layer order
• Mix and match different measurements systems (in, mm, cm) on the fly
• Select by intersection has new option
• Silkscreen clip has been improved
• Converting custom pad shapes to conventional has been improved
• Many improved operations: converting D-codes to N-types, defining custom shapes, adding more shortcut keys
• New and improved algorithms to handle complex polygons with intersecting holes

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

Sept 10, 2007 : Version 9.8 of our CAM products have been release.

Here are just some of the new and improved features:

• Insert Scratch Elements: Now create scratch elements without having to create new layers. Just select scratch -n- go.
• Select an Element in a Stack: Selecting a single element where several elements are stacked on each other is painful. Now you can cycle through the elements until you find the one you want.
• Distance Measurement: There are several changed and new tools for measuring.
• Routing Paths: Open paths as well as closed can now be compensated.
• Import ODB/ DPF: Several improvements for accuracy have been made.
• Self Intersecting Polygons: The option to automatically fix poorly define or self intersecting polygons has been greatly improved. We strongly urge all users to update their software for this updated feature.

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

January 9, 2007 : 9.6 CAM products were released.

Some of the highlights are:

• Layer Alignment: New improved methods to align layers after import:
Pad or trace in a corner of a layer
One selected element in each layer
One selected pad type
• Select By Net: Select or highlight complete nets by net number of name.
• Select by D-Code: you could always select by a single D-code. Now select by multiple D-codes.
• Select Covered Elements: Find elements that are completely covered by other elements. Great for cleaning garbage data.
• Select Duplicate Elements: locate identical data that is stacked on top of each other.
• Import/ Export Rout information: Drill files with routing information can now be imported, edited and exported from CAMMaster.
• Import ODB/ DPF: now much faster import. Also supports S&R, panelized files.
• New Selection Types - Select by:

- Endpoint or midpoint
- Open or closed routing paths
- Routing paths with no lead-in

• Update Notification: The user can now choose to check for software updates weekly or monthly. The user is only notified if there is a new update.

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

March 14, 2006 : The PentaLogix Suite, version 9.4, was officially released.

Some of the highlights of the release are:

• Stencil Apertures: Quickly create standard, new lead free, and custom stencil apertures.
• Import Component Information: Useful for selecting and creating stencils, etc.
• Shielded Adjacency: Reduce moving probe test time for shorts up to 50% or more.
• Net-list Extraction Improved: large drawn areas are now handled much better improving test point identification.
• Test Point Placement: Improved algorithm to determine the best place to drop test points on pads.
• Polygons Viewable in Test: Now see all your polygon data when using our test products.
• CAMTEK AOI: now supported
• Sieb & Meyer: Rout files now supported
• Mason MXG: Output now supported

For a complete listing of additions and improvements, please click here.

April 5, 2005 : Version 9.2 of our software suite has been released.

Some of the highlights of the release are:

Paint & Scratch now on one layer dramatically improving editing functions, Replace corners with chamfers or arcs easily, Improved trace editing, New ways to view selected traces on multiple layers, Blankout elements such as shorting bars for netlist generation and Lloyd Doyle output, Delete unused now recognizes arcs, polygons and custom shapes, FixMaster now supports scripting Improved support for Emma testers, New Driver for Mania Versa Jet and Enhanced EPC export are some of the major new features to 9.0

For a complete listing of the features that have been added or improved, please click here.

Aug. 9, 2004: Version 9.0 of our software suite has been released.

Some of the highlights of the release are:

Routing within CAMMaster, Custom Properties for elements, Import files without knowing their format, Compute Copper Area for selected portions of a board, and Test Point Annular Ring Optimize are some of the major new features to 9.0

For a complete listing of the features that have been added or improved, please click here.