This documentation is now considered legacy and only remains useful to those who already have the extension as part of their installation. If required,
contact SOLIDWORKS
for information about the SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector. To learn about Altium's latest CoDesign technology, use the link in the feature box below.
Altium continues to develop MCAD-to-ECAD CoDesign capabilities. Now available as an add-in for SOLIDWORKS version 2018 and higher, the new CoDesigner supports: bi-directional transfer of complex board shapes with cutouts; bi-directional transfer of placed components as 3D models; MCAD to ECAD transfer of native components; and support for rigid-flex PCBs.
The third component required to successfully setup for collaboration between Altium Designer and SOLIDWORKS®, is the
Altium Designer-SOLIDWORKS Collaboration
add-in. This adds collaboration functionality and the requisite
Altium Designer Collaboration
panel into SOLIDWORKS.
The wizard also provides the ability - post installation - to optionally initialize your ECAD-MCAD Project Collaboration Server/Altium Vault. This involves:
Creating
ecad
and
mcad
users in the server/vault, to cater for server/vault access (to 'get at' the collaborative projects) by the two sides.
Adding example designs (managed design projects), to a default
Examples
repository, created for the server/vault.
Installation of the add-in is both intuitive and expedient, courtesy of the
Altium Designer - SOLIDWORKS Collaboration Setup
wizard.
Since installation adds collaboration capabilities to SOLIDWORKS, the add-in must be installed on the same computer on which SOLIDWORKS itself is installed.
Once the installation is complete, click
Finish
to exit the wizard.
Keep the
Run initialization wizard
option enabled to automatically initialize your Collaboration Server/Altium Vault in readiness for collaboration (see the next section for what this entails).
If you are using an existing Altium Vault that is already well established, and you would prefer not to add example design projects, and/or to set up the required vault users yourself in manual fashion, ensure you disable the
Run initialization wizard
option
before
clicking
Finish
.
Use the
SW Collaboration Setup
dialog to configure initialization of your
Collaboration Server/Altium Vault in preparation for collaboration.
Use the
Vault Address
field to specify the address of your ECAD-MCAD Project Collaboration Server/Altium Vault. Enter the name of the computer (e.g.
jhowiehome:9780
), or its IP address (e.g.
192.168.0.1:9780
).
The following additional options are available:
Create MCAD User (mcad/123)
- enable this option to create a user in the server/vault (with name
mcad
and password
123
) that can be used by the SOLIDWORKS user.
Create ECAD User (ecad/123)
- enable this option to create a user in the server/vault (with name
ecad
and password
123
) that can be used by the Altium Designer user.
Add Sample PCB Projects
- enable this option to create a repository for the server/vault, called
Examples
. Two example design projects are added to this repository (
TouchDimmer
and
StereoEQ
).
With the desired options enabled, click
OK
- connection to the server/vault will be made (provided the address for the server/vault is correct) and the chosen elements implemented. A confirmation dialog will inform you that setup has successfully completed.
