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Newbie
Posts: 26
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7/08/2008 10:46 PM
Hi All, Is there a function in Allegro Editor to duplicate the placement, fan-out and clines connection, if I have 2 groups of identical circuits and I have already placed and connected one of them? Lets say I finished placement of one group. I want the second group to be placed and connected exactly the same as the first group. Both groups have same parts and circuit. Thanks, Newbie

bluecad
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7/08/2008 11:06 PM
Hi, You are talking about sub-drawing. Yu will find detailed explanation. http://www.cdnusers.org/Forums/tabid/52/forumid/5/postid/8903/view/topic/Default.aspx Regards, FERHAT YALDIZ

Newbie
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7/08/2008 11:25 PM
Hello Ferhat, Thanks. But I meant that the function should read in the placement and clines and vias from group one. Then automatically place the second groups exactly as I've placed the first group (using the schematic logic to determine which part goes where) and also copy the clines and vias. regards, Newbie

annoonan
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7/09/2008 9:47 AM
Newbie, For many of us, this is the Holy Grail of Allegro, and fortunately for some, there are Skill and Perl programmers who have made the effort to write add-on programs to do this very task. It's true that Allegro already HAS the capability to use modules, and these can be used to automate placement/fanout/route to some extent, but use of modules requires much upfront planning. Wish there were an easy answer to this. The added tool would be a huge time-saver for designers who do step and repeat for complex clusters. Andrew

RingerPA
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7/10/2008 6:17 AM
I would recommend for you to look at a tool DesignAdvance Systems has developed called CircuitSpace. CircuitSpace does what you are asking about and much more. http://www.designadvance.com/category/products/circuitspace

RingerPA
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7/10/2008 6:17 AM
I would recommend for you to look at a tool DesignAdvance Systems has developed called CircuitSpace. CircuitSpace does what you are asking about and much more. http://www.designadvance.com/category/products/circuitspace David

redwire
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7/10/2008 4:43 PM
Ok, I am missing something here as it is so obvious. Copy does exactly what you describe.... just select the items you want copied (vias, clines, etc..). Find the delta between two reference points such as pin 1 of two components -- then move the copy group exactly that far. Now, if you have not placed the items in the second, third, etc... group then you can either: copy the symbols and manually exchange them for the ones in the netlist. Or, you can figure out some way to tag the items and use some simple tricks in Allegro to autoplace those components... I do lots of boards with exact copies of 8-16 modules on a board and it takes less than a minute to instantiate all of the copper and symbols and routing once I have sweated over the critical routing and placement of the first group. You don't need to buy any fancy software or write any SKILL programs to accomplish this.

RingerPA
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7/11/2008 4:47 AM
redwire, I agree if you want to manually assign the refdes or have your schematic setup to instantiate an Allegro Module. However, if you want to replicate a circuit within a design or from a different design, change the stackup, or possibly have to make additional ECO changes to this circuit that can be propagated to all of them, or have a single net difference in the circuits, your proposed method will not work.

Newbie
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7/13/2008 10:57 PM
Hi All, Currently I'm manually copying the traces,vias, shapes etc.. then placing the components. Using grids allow me to place exactly, and with the help of the ratnest, its actually quite easy and fast. However some of my other collegues was asking if there is any function that does this automatically. If there isnt any free skill program that does this.. I'm thinking of writing one. Thanks all, newbie

redwire
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7/15/2008 11:32 PM
Again, it's so simple you'd laugh. Unfortunately I will not give out the solution but once you figure out how to tag the items in the schematic and layout (extremely simple!!! -- look into user properties) this becomes a snap. Like I said, it takes seconds to do. Another hint: File-Import-Placement RingerPA -- my method works fine for your suggested issues -- would be best if we discussed openly at a conference. Even if there were a simple re-route it would still only take seconds with my method -- not sure why you were thinking otherwise.

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