Altium Designer 20: Unlocking the Power of PCB Variant Views in Your Electronics Design Workflow

In today's fast-paced electronics industry, being able to efficiently manage and modify Printed Circuit Board (PCB) designs is crucial for success. Altium Designer 20 has risen as a leader in this field with its cutting-edge features that simplify design tasks while maintaining high-performance output.

One of the standout functionalities introduced by Altumis latest offering is PCB variant views, which revolutionize how designers manage and work on multiple versions of their board designs within one single project. In this article, we will delve deeper into what these variant views are all about and explore some practical scenarios where they can be applied in your own electronics design workflow.

What Are Variant Views?

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In the context of Altium Designer 20, a PCB variant view is essentially an alternative representation or interpretation of your original circuit board layout. Think of it as having multiple templates for your favorite t-shirt – each template representing a unique version with different colors, patterns, and even sizes!

This concept might sound simple at first glance but trust us; once you've got the hang of using variant views in Altium Designer 20, you'll wonder how ever managed without them.

Creating PCB Variant Views

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So now that we know what these magic sticks (ahem) I mean boards are let's dive right into creating one!

1. Open your existing or new PCB project within Altium Designer 20.

2. Go to File > New > Board Level > From Template...

3. In the ensuing dialog box, choose 'PCB – Generic' as your template name and click Next.

4. You'll be presented with a new window where you can customize various parameters such as board layer names, pad styles etcetera; feel free to play around here if needed!

5. Once satisfied with all settings hit Finish & Run.

And voilà! You now have two separate PCB variant views – one being your original design and the other being an exact copy but ready for modification based on whatever changes you'd like make without affecting the main board layout!

Applying Variant Views in Real-World Scenarios

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So how exactly can these fancy-schmancy variant views be applied in real-world scenarios? Let's consider a few practical examples:

1. Designing Multiple Versions of the Same Board for Different Markets:

Suppose you're an electronics manufacturer who wants to release similar products but with slight modifications based on local regulations or market preferences. With Altium Designer 20's PCB variant view feature, simply create multiple variants of your base design – each representing a unique version tailored specifically towards that particular target audience.

2. Testing and Prototyping Different Board Configurations:

Before mass production begins it's always good practice to thoroughly test out different board configurations using prototyping boards or even simulators before committing any final changes to the actual manufacturing process. Using variant views in Altium Designer 20 allows designers easily switch between these various prototypes without having multiple copies of their entire project scattered across their computer hard drives.

3. Collaborative Design Workflows:

When working on large-scale electronics projects, often several engineers are involved at different stages of development. By using PCB variant views within Altium Designer 20, team members can work independently on separate versions while still maintaining a single source file for easy merging and integration later down the line when necessary.

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In conclusion, Altium Designer 20's introduction of PCB variant views represents another significant step forward in simplifying complex electronics design tasks. With these powerful features at your fingertips, you'll be able to manage multiple versions of your board designs more efficiently than ever before – whether it's for testing different configurations or simply keeping track of various prototypes within one single project.

By mastering the art of using variant views effectively alongside other advanced features like hierarchical schematics and top-level design management tools available directly inside Altium NEXUS suite, you'll become an unstoppable force when tackling even the most demanding PCB projects that come your way!

Altium designer 20 pcb variant views