How To Change Multiple Components In Schematic Of Altium

Editing Multiple Components Anywhere in Footprint

| Created: July 20, 2018 | Updated: September 25, 2020

Excursion board design has changed a lot over the years, and the way we piece of work with library components has shifted as well. Originally, PCB designers created library components by laying down a sticker or "dolly" on a sheet of mylar on a drafting board. Later on on, as designers migrated to CAD tools, the components were congenital using those same CAD tools.

Those first tools didn't offer much help to designers and you had to be really good at manipulating primitive graphics similar lines, arcs, and circles to create what you wanted. The other problem was that schematic capture and PCB layout were unremarkably completed using dissever tools, which meant that schematic components and layout footprints were not associated with each other.

Today's CAD systems are far unlike and much easier to use. Processes are automated, and more than importantly, the component is unremarkably a combination of both the logical schematic symbol and the concrete layout footprint. PCB pattern tools, like Altium Designer 18, are set up up to help you to quickly create a quality library component to use in your design. There are a few things that are helpful to know about this process, however, and we will walk through the library component creation process in Altium Designer so you tin see what's involved.

Editing Multiple Components

On older CAD systems, in that location was a fourth dimension when it was easier to create a fresh library for each job. Without a synchronized arrangement that easily cataloged and stored library parts, we would just create new parts each fourth dimension. Fortunately, better systems came along that allowed for library containment; these systems were more than intuitive and much easier to piece of work with. Altium Designer is a peachy example of that type of arrangement.

Altium Designer offers a schematic symbol part besides as a layout footprint function. Once the symbol has been associated with a footprint, the symbol, along with the footprint, is now considered a component. Although it may seem like we would desire to kickoff with the symbol, nosotros are actually going to create a footprint offset then we can take it ready to use one time we consummate the symbol.

The signal, subsequently all, is to make it so that y'all are comfy enough with your PCB design software that, whatsoever library organisation and any component structure can become an easy and intuitive organizational process that y'all can refer back to whenever necessary. To get started with this, I am first going to create an empty PCB projection in Altium Designer, and I will relieve information technology with the proper noun "Component Instance".

Edifice the PCB Footprint

The start role of the component nosotros will build is the footprint for the concrete PCB layout. Depending on the type of CAD organization you've used before, y'all may take seen these referred to every bit "decals", "land patterns," or "geometries". In Altium Designer, yous volition be creating a footprint. Since this is intended to be an example of how to work with a consummate component, we volition continue this very simple and create an eight-pin SOIC.

In Altium Designer, symbols and footprints are created in their own respective libraries. There are dissimilar ways to utilize and store these libraries, but for our purposes, we will create a simple library that is local to our instance project. Correct-click on the "Component Instance" project and get to "Add New to Project > PCB Library" as shown in the motion-picture show beneath. Click on the "Projects" tab, correct-click on the new library, and go to "Relieve As" to give it a name. I named mine "Component Case.PcbLib."

Adding a PCB in Altium

With the PCB library open, nosotros can create our footprint. Altium Designer offers ample functionality to manually create your footprint. Merely since our purpose is to show you the complete component process, we will save time and use the footprint generator to create it instead. To invoke the generator, go to the "Tools" pulldown menu and select "IPC Compliant Footprint Wizard." In the footprint wizard dialog, click "Next" and yous will come across the menu shown below.

Using the IPC footprint wizard to create a SOIC viii

Select "SOIC" equally y'all meet in the motion-picture show above, and click "Next." As we desire to create an eight-pin SOIC package, the default values for the SOIC require modification. Change the number of pins to "eight" and the body length range values as shown beneath. You can, at this betoken, click "Next" to see the remaining values that tin be changed in the wizard. For our purposes, however, none of the other values need changing, so click "Terminate" to complete the footprint. At this betoken, you volition encounter the completed SOIC8 footprint in the library session window, as shown below. Go to "File > Relieve All" to save your work.

The completed SOIC 8

Building the Schematic Symbol

The next function of our component will exist the symbol. As with the footprint, symbols must be created in their own specific library; only, in this case, it will be a symbol library. Right-click on the project and get to "Add together New to Project > Schematic Library." Once it is created, click on the "Projects" tab and and so right-click on the new library and go to "Save As" to give it a name. I named mine "Component Example.SchLib." Annotation that I gave both libraries the same base proper name, but they are separate libraries due to their name.extensions.

Like with the footprint, Altium offers all kinds of useful functionality for manually creating a symbol. Again though, we will use the automatic functionality in Altium Designer to create the symbol for united states. Go to the "Tools" pulldown bill of fare and select "Symbol Wizard." Altium Designer will open the symbol wizard dialog box as shown in the picture below.

Creating a symbol in Altium using the symbol sorcerer

As you lot can run into above, the symbol magician pops upwards, set to create a 4-pivot symbol. In the upper left corner of the magician dialog box, change the number of pins to 8. In the preview window on the right, you can see that the symbol has updated for the pins you've added. The symbol generator tin can do a lot more than for yous, simply we've got what we want for now.

Click on the drop-down "Place" push button on the lesser of the generator window and click "Place Symbol." This volition place the symbol into your schematic library where you can finish your edits. Y'all can meet in the picture below that the symbol is now ready for united states of america to finish it in the schematic library session window. Make sure to save all and you'll exist gear up for the next step.

The new symbol placed in the schematic

Putting it All Together as a Component

Now that our footprint is prepare and our base symbol is created, it's time to put them all together into a component. At this betoken, we haven't washed anything with our base symbol and it is still named "Component_1." Go to the "SCH Library" panel and double click on "Component_1" to bring upward its backdrop console as you come across below on the left. In Backdrop, you tin can come across that I've changed the proper noun and given information technology a designator every bit well as a comment and a clarification. Next, become to the "Pins" tab in the holding console and requite each pin a simple proper noun equally shown below on the right past double-clicking on a pivot to bring up the component pivot editor.

The properties of the new symbol in Altium

Finally, we will add our footprint to complete this component. Return to the "General" tab and scroll down to the footprint section which will say that there are "No Footprints." Click the "Add" button at the bottom of the footprints section to bring upwards the "PCB Model" dialog box. The, click the "Scan" button to bring upward the "Browse Libraries" dialog box. Your component instance library should be displayed at the top of the list with the SOIC 8 package pre-selected. Click OK and your PCB model dialog box should resemble the picture below.

Adding the PCB footprint into the symbol

The PCB model dialog box shown above will also let you to search for PCB footprints from other sources. You tin can browse to different locations or specify specific libraries. It defaulted to your example library because they were both saved in the same project container.

Click OK on the PCB model dialog box and your symbol editor will update to evidence the footprint data equally illustrated in the paradigm below. There are nonetheless many other properties that y'all tin attach to this component like links to outside documentation and information, 3D models, etc. At this point though, you have created an Altium component symbol and footprint that you lot can employ in a pattern.

Both the symbol and the footprint make upward our new component in Altium

Altium Designer is premium PCB blueprint software created to make your job as a PCB designer easier and more productive. With functionality similar this, you can harness the power of a multi-level library system without the hassle and frustration that typically accompanies it.

Would you lot like to find out more virtually how Altium can help you to create a full-featured yet simple-to-use library system? Talk to an practiced at Altium.