Room - Donut Shaped with Height Constraint

Example - Donut Shaped Room with Height Constraint

Height Constraint using Keep Objects Outside

Create two Arcs with Crosshairs.

Draw Rectangular Room, ignore self-intersecting warnings while drawing the polygon. Then Edit Polygon Room Vertices to form joined 90 degree Arcs using Snap to Lines and Arcs. 

or

Draw Lines and Arcs then Tools > Convert > Create Room From Selected Primitives.

Notes:

Height Constraint Syntax -  AsMM(Height) > 0.6

Height Constraint - Online DRC does NOT work (bug ?)

Height Constraint - Batch Mode DRC Check works.

Use Shift + Space Bar to Pull Lines to Arcs.

Polygons - Hide Shortcut

Shortcut hide polygon - Altium Discussion Forums

I have added a command with an icon in my toolbar.

This is the screenshot of Hide Polygon. 

The parameter to Hide Polygons is:   PolygonQuality=Hidden

The parameter to Draft polygon is:   PolygonQuality=Draft

The parameter to show polygon is:   PolygonQuality=Full

Thank you Walter !

Rotated Octagons in Polygons and Planes

Here's simple and brilliant idea to improve signal integrity in Altium. This idea will allow users to push vias closer together and still have some copper poured between the vias, that's free signal integrity.

This idea was submitted by Per Magnusson on the Altium Ideas forum, check it out. 

https://bugcrunch.live.altium.com/#Idea/4314




















To create the eight sided Octagon in the polygon pours use a coarse Arc Approximation.

Example: Arc Approximation 5mil

If Altium will rotate the octagons shown above 22.5 degrees we will have larger copper webs between the vias under our BGAs which will improve signal integrity.

For hekkaidekagons 16 sided pullbacks the rotation should be 11.25 degrees. 

The simple rotated eight sided octagons should improve polygon pour performance and they compliment 45/90 degree routing strategies.

Cast your vote at: https://bugcrunch.live.altium.com/#Idea/4314

That's it !

Why is my polygon clearance rule ignored?

Why is my polygon clearance rule ignored? - English documentation - The Altium Wiki:

Tip:

Use IsNamedPolygon vice inNamedPolygon

Or 

(ObjectKind = 'Poly') And (Name like 'L1_RF_GND')

With wild cards

(ObjectKind = 'Poly') And (Name like '*L1_RF_GND*')

(ObjectKind = 'Poly') And (Name like '*L05_GND*')

Or

Design > Classes > PolygonClasses then use the polygon class in the Rule.

click on image to view

That's it !

AD14.3 - Enhanced Polygon Editing and Management

Enhanced Polygon Editing and Management | Online Documentation for Altium Products: 

"Hold Ctrl to delete or add a vertex (click and hold briefly until there is a response)."

Press Shift+Spacebar to cycle through the 3 editing styles, then use the green guidelines to help accurately place the vertex. The current mode is displayed in the Heads Up Display, and also on the Status bar.

via Blog this'

Unpoured polygons found - endless loop

I recently reviewed a design where everytime  I ran the DRC check for the PCB I would get a prompt to rebuild an un-poured polygon.

I selected Yes to rebuild the polygon and finish running the DRC check.

However if tried to run the DRC again I would get the same prompt.  I was stuck in an endless loop.

To find and fix the problem I went to Tools > Polygons Pours > Polygon Manager.

Using the Polygon Pour Manager, I sorted and found the un-poured polygon.

Selected the polygon, right clicked > properties

And found the problem - Remove Dead Copper

Altium was pouring then un-pouring the polygon because there was no same net object, so the copper was dead and removed at the end of each pour.

I deleted the unused polygon and got off the merry go round.

That's It !

Polygon Pours - New Functionality

Key things to know when editing polygons in Altium 14.3 are:

1. Click and hold a handle for a moment before trying to move it.
2. Shift + Space bar toggles the modes.

Source: http://bugcrunch.live.altium.com/#Bug/4421

Polygon Cutouts - Altium Discussion Forums

Polygon is wrongly poured over polygon cutout - Altium Discussion Forums:

Workaround for Polygon Cutouts in AD14.3.14

"I tried this with a new, blank board.

I placed a polygon and then, a polygon cutout inside. The polygon cutout is not working. Then i have changed it to board cutout, and it works as expected. When i change it back to polygon cutout again, it works !!!

By the way, I found out, that it works, if you move the polygon."

Source: 
http://forum.live.altium.com/posts/204342/573029

'via Blog this'

Hatched Polygons

Hatched Polygon Example:

Polygon Pours and Board Outlines

You can easily pull in polygon pours from the board edges by copying the Board Outline to the Keep-Out Layer. 

As shown below I have copied the Board Outline to the Keep-Out Layer and changed the line width to 1mm (~40mils). This will pull the polygon pours in from the board edges by 1/2 of the keepout line width 0.5mm (~20mils) plus any applicable design rules.