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Strange pattersn appearing in Altium designer PCB view
gyuunyuu1989 , 05-28-2023, 07:19 PM
I have come across two type of patterns that occur in the PCB view. The first consists of multiple rows and columns of circles with X inside. The other seems to be something like a checkerboard patters.
I believe that when we have green circles with X inside, it means that there is some design rule violation. We should see that by right click or, holding mouse on the component or maybe in the HUD display. But what does the checkerboard pattern mean? Also, are there any other type of patterns that can appear in the Altium designer that I need to be aware about?
robertferanec , 05-28-2023, 11:27 PM
one is showing violation, the other one is just green net color.
you can set patterns in Preferences -> PCB Editor -> Board Insight Color Overrides
gyuunyuu1989 , 05-29-2023, 03:25 PM
The image on the right shows different colored check box patterns, what is the meaning of a checker board pattern in Altium?
WhoKnewKnows , 06-02-2023, 01:42 PM
The left image shows violations. The right image shows how the colors of layers can be overridden with per-net colors. You can control this using board insight color overrides as Robert suggests.
gyuunyuu1989 , 06-05-2023, 03:43 PM
I did not understand at all what Rober is talking about until I read this:
This page acts as a checklist to help you work out if your board is ready for routing, including how to find nets on the board, making sure relevant design rules are defined, and setting up the routing layers
So it seems that we can assign a custom pattern to a net in the PCB view. Is the purpose here only to make it easier to see the net? I had earlier assumed that a pattern like checkerbox pattern, means that something is wrong. Is this really not the case then?
So a checkerboard pattern will appear only when we assign a custom color to a net, is this correct?
gyuunyuu1989 , 06-05-2023, 03:48 PM
Also, I just did right-click net -> Net Actions -> Properties -> Connection color. I am choosing color here but the actual PCB track on the PCB remains red which is the top layer color.
How do I actually apply that checkerboard color pattern? It seems that using right-click net -> Net Actions -> Properties -> Connection color, does not achieve what I expect.
robertferanec , 06-12-2023, 11:38 PM
You also need to be sure color override is enabled. Use F5 to switch between enable / disable color override.
PS: The error pattern has X in it. Other patterns are just colors. There are options for different patters, because when you are routing on multiple layers, you would like to see what tracks are on what layers - so you may not want to apply 100% color on tracks and pads. Use the patter you like the most.
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