Component Clearances - DRCs

DRCs for component to component clearances depend on what information Altium has to work with.

For example in the first screen shot below you can see there is DRC clearance error for U1000. 

When a part is selected in the 3D view the perimeter of the part and it's primitives are defined. 

The part perimeter includes the silkscreen (Overlay) layer when a component body is not included in the footprint.

In the example below the pin 1 character on the Top Overlay has defined the lower extent for the component (U1000).






















Altium uses extruded component bodies and step models if they are available when checking for component clearances.

After adding an extruded 3D body to U1000 and running the DRC check again the design passes the component to component clearance check.

Zoom Level - PCB Setting

The Zoom Level can be set in the PCB Panel.

Click on Images to view


PCB Panel - Set Zoom Level

Libraries Panel - Missing Symbols Fixed

The Problem:

As shown below the symbol view is missing from the Libraries Panel on the right.

         Left is Good                       Right is Bad

The Libraries Panel on the right without the symbols shown is missing chevrons that hide and show components (symbols) , models and suppliers. The left Panel has 5 chevrons.

Only one chevron is visible in the Libraries Panel on the right.

I re-installed Altium numerous times and was not able to fix the library panel view.

I copied the DXP preferences from another PC where the Libraries Panel was behaving correctly, this did not help.

This is not a new problem in Altium, the problem has been around since AD10.

Altium Live Reference: 
Altium Designer 10, "Libraries panel" missing "Symbol window" and "Models list"

Thank you Dave Cousineau for getting me on the right track to solve this problem.

The Fixes:

Fix 1.

After I installed a SVNDBLIB library the Libraries Panel was functioning correctly.

Fix 2.

Set the Library Path Relative to: nothing (leave it blank) as shown above.

Install a PCBLIB and a DBLib or SVNDBLiB.

Then with the PCBLiB selected, toggle Footprints off. Altium will close the PCBLib panel and open the DBLib or SVNDBLib Library Panel.

Next toggle the footprints on and now the both the DBLib and PCBLib Library Panels should be properly displayed.

This fixed my Libraries Panel (temporarily - read on).

Important Notes:

If a PCBLib library is not shown Libraries Panel you will not be able to cycle through the Library Panels and toggle the view options and fix the problem.

I have no idea how my installation of Altium fell into this state, but I'm happy to have a work around to fix the Libraries Panel. 

Note this fix is only temporary, these steps need to performed every time I start Altium (AD14.1.5) to fix the Library Panel on the affected PC.

It was also interesting to discover that SchLib and PCBLib libraries are not available unless the Library Path Relative to: is set to nothing (blank).

No Library Parts Visible in the Libraries Panel

Also if you re-install Altium and forget to enable the license, then your Libraries Panel will not populate with parts after you install a library.

Fix: Start Altium with Valid License.