Tool Fosters Web-Based Collaborative Design

Dec. 8, 2004

In the course of any system design project, pc-board and IC design files proliferate almost of their own volition. Any number of tools can create schematics, models, layouts, and other views of the design. But at any given moment, the design team, which may be widely dispersed, must have access to all of these files. This requires a kind of umbrella under which all of these various files, in their various formats, can be viewed readily.

Cimmetry Systems' AutoVue 18 offers one answer. This Web-based tool lets users view and optionally mark up documents, drawings, and CAD files in over 450 formats from a Web browser. AutoVue provides native viewing, printing, markup, digital mockup, and real-time collaboration support for engineering drawings, 2D CAD, 3D drawings, pc-board and IC layouts and schematics, and other support documentation.

For pc-board designers, AutoVue can test for manufacturability or design-rule violations by setting multiple tolerances and constraints. These violations can include pad/trace/component clearances, drill hole sizes, via counts, net widths/lengths, short circuits, unrouted nets, empty nets, unconnected pins, and more.

The tool can generate 3D models of a pc board from native CAD data. It also permits cross-probing between a pc-board layout, its related schematic, and/or a 3D model. For example, users may select a net or component in a schematic, and it will be automatically located and highlighted in the layout or 3D model.

Pricing for AutoVue ranges from $995 to $1495 for a single-user license. Quantity discounts are available at the five-user level and above. AutoVue 18 is available now.

Cimmetry Systems Inc. www.cimmetry.com

About the Author

David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.