label: PCB design,printed circuit board,PCB tool
In my previous blog, A Guide to Low Cost PCB Tools, I listed a handful of free to low-cost PCB tool options along with a set of criteria of things that I felt were necessary to have a usable PCB tool that meets my needs. I also promised to share my experiences with each program as I used it. This is the first installment of that effort -- a review of DipTrace by Novarm. As mentioned in my earlier post, there were six features that I consider to be necessities as follows:
Windows compatibility
Includes native schematic tool
Includes footprint wizard
Multi-layer capable (at least 2 layers)
Includes autorouter capability
Includes 3D preview capability
DipTrace has a free offering for non-commercial use as well as several levels of paid versions intended for commercial purposes. The full unlimited version costs $895. When using the free offering, you are limited to 300 pins and two layers. This free version can be extended under the "non-profit lite license" to 500 pins, though still limited to only two layers (paid versions support more layers).
For the purposes of this review I have chosen to evaluate the basic, free version of the program. This limits me to 300 pins and two signal layers. I have implemented a handful of projects using the DipTrace design package. Let's see how it meets my outlined criteria...
Windows compatibility
DipTrace offers full Windows compatibility, including having installers for both 32- and 64-bit systems. It is stated to have windows compatibility from Windows 2000 all the way through Windows 8. I personally have run it on Windows 7-64 Pro without any issues. Despite my preference for Windows, Mac OS X users will be happy to know that there is a version for them. The stated Mac compatibility is from Leopard through Mountain Lion (it appears you may require specific versions of the DipTrace installer for the various releases of OS X).
Native schematic tool
To start DipTrace, you use the DipTrace Launcher as shown below. This is the launcher for each element of the program. Each element is tied to one another, though, somewhat loosely.
Despite all these great features, there are some small items that would be nice improvements. One thing that is noticeably missing is the native ability to save your schematics to a PDF file (in order to achieve this currently, you would have to install a "Print to PDF" application). I also would like to see the file management options of "Import" and "Export" be contained under the "Open" and "Save As" menus. This would simplify the interface. These are just some small things, but they would smooth the interface.
Assuming all the parts you need are in the standard component library (rather extensive at 100,000+ parts), you can jump right into designing your circuit in the schematic capture tool. The Schematic Capture tool is relatively intuitive, allowing a first-time user to leap in without any real need to go through tutorials. If you do get stuck, there is a set of both video tutorials as well as a 221-page PDF tutorial that gives an overview of the program. The Schematic Capture tool supports such things as hierarchical blocks, busses, and net ports. There is also the ability to import and export schematics in various file formats, though I did not have a chance to evaluate this feature. Multi-sheet schematics are also supported. Once the schematic is created, it allows for all the parts and their connections to be pushed to the PCB Layout tool.
Footprint wizard
For those times when the part that you need is not in the standard library, DipTrace has a wonderful -- yet deceptively simple -- Footprint Wizard. With this wizard, I never had a need to go out and look for a part library on the Internet. It is very fast to create a custom part that you know will meet your needs. This feature is broken up into two parts. The first part is the Pattern Editor and the second part is the Component Editor. Starting in the pattern editor, you have a number of predefined shapes that are available to the user with various sizing options.
Using the Pattern Editor you can define an initial pattern of pads and pad shapes. You are not constrained by standard round, oval, or square pads; you can import pad shapes from a DXF file. It is here that you would also add any silkscreen markings to the pattern that you desire. If your part does not meet any of the standard shapes, you can place pads in any fashion you desire to meet your unique requirements.
Once you have your footprint defined, you move over into the Component Editor. Here you define the pins of your part by tying the pins and their definitions to the pattern that you created in the previous step.
Once again, this is wonderfully useful and easy, but there are some things that need improvement. When I was just learning this tool, I decided on a particular layout for a component but then found an option that better suited my needs. After having labeled 30 pins, I switched the layout and lost the previous pin labels. This is not a show-stopper by any means, but it is frustrating the first time it happens.
Multi-layer capable
DipTrace meets this requirement for all versions that are available. The free version supports 2-layer boards. To get to 4-layer support, you need to pay at a minimum $125. In the full version of the program, unlimited layers are supported.
Autorouter
DipTrace has an internal autorouter. For small projects this works well to assist in the routing of non-critical traces. To use the autorouter, there are a handful of design rules that need to be set up. It does not support advanced features such as impedance matching or trace length matching, but this should not be an issue for a hobbyist or someone who is not working with high-speed routing.
One thing that could be improved is the consolidation of where to find all of the settings that control the autorouter. Currently there are about three different places you need to go to fully configure this tool. This is not a huge issue, though you have to be aware that in order to achieve the desired result, you may have to hunt around for the location of the option that needs to be changed. Also, be sure to have the "Redraw Traces while Autorouting" option turned off. This, as could be expected, greatly increases (by an order of magnitude or two) the time required to perform the autorouting.
3D Preview
I stress again how much I love having the ability to review my designs in 3D. Here DipTrace works at a very basic level. It will give you a 3D preview, but the program frequently loses association with the 3D models. Despite the lack of features, the 3D preview option does allow you to get a sense of clearances between parts to ensure that you will be able to have sufficient clearance to solder the components. It will also let you know if you have an interference problem with other parts. It is much better to find these errors here than when you have your first prototype in hand and you cannot get it to work.
There are a couple areas that really need to be improved in order for me to recommend DipTrace's 3D preview option. One is the integration of STEP214 file compatibility in both import and export. The reason for this is that the STEP file type is the standard, universal geometry file for all other MCAD programs. Unfortunately, DipTrace only supports an XML-based export file type. XML-based 3D geometry might be nice for the web, but is mostly useless in engineering. I would also like to see improvements in the 3D viewing options. Currently, manipulating the view is a little difficult and the part can only be rendered in a perspective view.
Miscellaneous Items
I would be remiss if I failed to mention one feature that I really love about DipTrace. This feature involves the way in which you can miter, or chamfer, a corner. In order to do this, you simply grab the node of a corner and pull it at an angle to the corner. The GIF below shows how simple this really is. I have experimented with a few different PCB design programs, and all of them require you to either activate a tool function or double-click on the node to be able to perform the miter. These extra mouse operations required by other programs take time and degrade something that should be intuitive to the process.
Despite all of its great features, I do feel that DipTrace has one glaring flaw that (a) would keep me from using it professionally, and (b) makes me cautious about using it in home projects. This flaw is the difficulty of getting changes to propagate throughout the system. In the current version, this is a very tedious process that could cause problems.
To me, once I make a change in any one element of the program, that change should be automatically propagated to all other elements of the program. An example of this is if you change the footprint of a part. This may be a simple change in the way Pin 1 is marked in the silkscreen. Currently, to get this to propagate through the design, you must open your design in each of the modules of the program and update each instance of the component. If you forget to update one of the instances, you can have a board that ends up with both the old and new footprint.
I think that if the program were not as loosely coupled as it is, then this would help. If it was more of a project approach, then this would allow you to easily have various configurations of the project. I do not think that I need to belabor this point; suffice it to say that this could cause some major issues that would be hard to debug later.
Conclusion
DipTrace is a very decent entry-level product. It is very easy to get comfortable using this program. Its strengths lie in the fact that a new user can figure out the basics in an hour and have a small board ready for manufacture in just a few hours. This should not be underestimated and it makes this software very attractive. In fact, it has made it hard for me to go out and look for a product that might be better in the areas where DipTrace is lacking.
Other than the design change propagation issue, none of the other issues are show stoppers. At its current level, I give it a "C" rating. If the design propagation issue were fixed, I would give DipTrace a "B" in the area of an entry-level PCB creation tool.
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A Guide to Low-Cost PCB Tools
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