Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Eagle board layout newbie question

  • Thread starter Dmitri\(Cabling-Design.com\)
  • Start date
D

Dmitri\(Cabling-Design.com\)

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello everyone.
Hope someone can give me some pointers:
I'm trying to position components on the board in some kind of orderly
fashion, a pattern rather. The most important are the few LEDs , but for the
rest of them I'd also like it to look good from an aesthetic point of view.

Here is my problem: I cannot find a way to align components in the board
layout window. I mean, you can move them, and they stick to the grid, but
that's about as much control over positioning of the components as you have.
Unless I'm missing something.

Is there a way to select a group of components and run a command like any of
the desktop graphic editors would have: align top, align center, align
bottom, distribute equi-spaced, distribute centers etc, you got the idea. Am
I asking too much of Eagle? Can someone please recommend a board layout
software that is capable of more precise components placement if Eagle can't
do?

Thanks a lot to all responded!
--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com
Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful online resources for
premises wiring users and professionals
http://www.cabling-design.com/homewiring
Downloadable Residential Cabling Guide
 
L

Leon Heller

Jan 1, 1970
0
Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com) said:
Hello everyone.
Hope someone can give me some pointers:
I'm trying to position components on the board in some kind of orderly
fashion, a pattern rather. The most important are the few LEDs , but for
the rest of them I'd also like it to look good from an aesthetic point of
view.

Here is my problem: I cannot find a way to align components in the board
layout window. I mean, you can move them, and they stick to the grid, but
that's about as much control over positioning of the components as you
have. Unless I'm missing something.

Is there a way to select a group of components and run a command like any
of the desktop graphic editors would have: align top, align center, align
bottom, distribute equi-spaced, distribute centers etc, you got the idea.
Am I asking too much of Eagle? Can someone please recommend a board layout
software that is capable of more precise components placement if Eagle
can't do?

Pulsonix will do what you want:

http://www.pulsonix.com

apart from equi-spaced distribution (next version should have it)

and EasyPC will do most of it:

http://www.numberone.com

considerably cheaper. Both are from the same parent company.

Leon
 
D

Dmitri

Jan 1, 1970
0
Leon Heller wrote:

Pulsonix will do what you want:

apart from equi-spaced distribution (next version should have it)
and EasyPC will do most of it:

considerably cheaper. Both are from the same parent company.

Hi Leon,
Thank you for the suggestion.
The prices for both systems are way over my head, considering I'm a
hobbyist. That was the reason Eagle got picked. I would consider another
software if it can be kept as inexpensive as possible.

So, is it definitely not doable in Eagle?



--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com
Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful resources for
premises cabling users and pros
http://www.cabling-design.com/homecabling
Residential Cabling Guide
-------------------------------------





##-----------------------------------------------##
Article posted with Cabling-Design.com Newsgroup Archive
http://www.cabling-design.com/forums
no-spam read and post WWW interface to your favorite newsgroup -
sci.electronics.cad - 2778 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##
 
L

Leon Heller

Jan 1, 1970
0
Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com) said:
Leon Heller wrote:





Hi Leon,
Thank you for the suggestion.
The prices for both systems are way over my head, considering I'm a
hobbyist. That was the reason Eagle got picked. I would consider another
software if it can be kept as inexpensive as possible.

So, is it definitely not doable in Eagle?

I just checked with the copy I have, and it doesn't look like it. EasyPC
starts at under 100 GBP (500 pins limit), which is about the same price as
Eagle.
 
D

David Harmon

Jan 1, 1970
0
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 14:02:00 GMT in sci.electronics.cad,
"Dmitri\(Cabling-Design.com\)"
Is there a way to select a group of components and run a command like any of
the desktop graphic editors would have: align top, align center, align
bottom, distribute equi-spaced, distribute centers etc, you got the idea. Am
I asking too much of Eagle?

AFAIK, not provided in Eagle.

One time I wanted a uniform circle of LEDs, so I created a little
basic program to calculate the positions using sin and cosine. I
wrote out the results to a script file in the form:

move d1 (1.125 2.125);
move d2 (1.50768 2.04888);
move d3 (1.83211 1.83211);
move d4 (2.04888 1.50768);
move d5 (2.125 1.125);
move d6 (2.04888 0.742317);
move d7 (1.83211 0.417893);
move d8 (1.50768 0.20112);
move d9 (1.125 0.125);
move d10 (0.742317 0.20112);
move d11 (0.417893 0.417893);
move d12 (0.20112 0.742317);
move d13 (0.125 1.125);
move d14 (0.20112 1.50768);
move d15 (0.417893 1.83211);
move d16 (0.742317 2.04888);

Then all I had to do was execute that script within Eagle board
layout to move my parts before routing the board.
 
M

Markus Baertschi

Jan 1, 1970
0
Leon said:
I just checked with the copy I have, and it doesn't look like it. EasyPC
starts at under 100 GBP (500 pins limit), which is about the same price as
Eagle.

Leon,

Eagle is Free (0 GBP) in its hobbyist configuration.

Markus
 
D

Dmitri

Jan 1, 1970
0
David Harmon wrote:

AFAIK, not provided in Eagle.
One time I wanted a uniform circle of LEDs, so I created a little
basic program to calculate the positions using sin and cosine. I
wrote out the results to a script file in the form:
move d1 (1.125 2.125);
move d2 (1.50768 2.04888);
move d3 (1.83211 1.83211);
move d4 (2.04888 1.50768);
move d5 (2.125 1.125);
move d6 (2.04888 0.742317);
move d7 (1.83211 0.417893);
move d8 (1.50768 0.20112);
move d9 (1.125 0.125);
move d10 (0.742317 0.20112);
move d11 (0.417893 0.417893);
move d12 (0.20112 0.742317);
move d13 (0.125 1.125);
move d14 (0.20112 1.50768);
move d15 (0.417893 1.83211);
move d16 (0.742317 2.04888);
Then all I had to do was execute that script within Eagle board
layout to move my parts before routing the board.

That's a great suggestion, David. I guess, I should spend more time
learning the command language in Eagle. That would work perfect for me.
Little cumbersome, but manageable.
--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
http://www.cabling-design.com
Cabling Forum, color codes, pinouts and other useful resources for
premises cabling users and pros
http://www.cabling-design.com/homecabling
Residential Cabling Guide
-------------------------------------





##-----------------------------------------------##
Article posted with Cabling-Design.com Newsgroup Archive
http://www.cabling-design.com/forums
no-spam read and post WWW interface to your favorite newsgroup -
sci.electronics.cad - 2856 messages and counting!
##-----------------------------------------------##
 
D

David Harmon

Jan 1, 1970
0
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 17:09:50 GMT in sci.electronics.cad,
[email protected] (Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com))
wrote,
That's a great suggestion, David. I guess, I should spend more time
learning the command language in Eagle. That would work perfect for me.

Glad you like it. Here's another trick:

Since mouse clicks snap to grid, if you have a component misaligned
relative to the grid (for instance, if you have changed the grid to
a funny number) it can be tricky to move it where you want. Click,
move, click leaves it still misaligned by the same amount, since
both clicks were grid-relative.

Instead, type
move d1
then click where you want it. The component is selected by its
origin point, then dropped exactly at the grid snap point.
Combined with suitably chosen grid, that may get you some of what
you want.
 
Top