Each layout consists of several, mostly independent, objects. This chapter gives an overview of the object types and their relationship to each other. For a complete description of how to use Pcb, refer to Getting Started. The layout is generated on-screen on a grid that can have its origin at any desired location. The X coordinate increases to the right, Y increases down to the bottom. All distances and sizes in Pcb are measured in mils (0.001 inch). One unit on the coordinate display is one mil in distance on the board. The grid may be set on a metric pitch, but is only correct to within the nearest +/- 0.01 mil because Pcb stores all dimensions as integer multiples of 1/100 of a mil or 0.00001 inch.
The sections in this chapter are sorted by the order of appearance of the objects within a layout file.
Symbol Objects: Information about fonts and symbols
Via Objects: Vias and pins connect layers
Element Objects: Element, the basic type of circuits
Layer Objects: A ‘container’ for lines, text...
Line Objects: Tracks on the board
Arc Objects: Curved tracks
Polygon Objects: Planes and such
Text Objects: Objects to add symbols to your board
Net Objects: Describes the desired connections on the board.
