Friday, September 3, 2010

Liquid PCB different from other PCB programs

Liquid PCB was designed from the point of view of the user. I think that the computer should take as much work from the user as possible, while still giving them the freedom to produce an excellent design. It should be possible to navigate the interface using as few mouse clicks as possible.
Liquid PCB actually uses the immense power of your computer’s CPU and GPU to help you. Rather than sitting idle, waiting for a mouse click, Liquid PCB constantly enforces your design rules, and optimises your track, component and via placement. You are not confined to straight tracks at 45° angles, nor to components at 90° angles. Drag tracks wherever you want, even squeeze them into small gaps, and let Liquid PCB sort it out.

Liquid PCB also has a user interface which has been designed specifically to reduce the amount of clicking and fiddling you have to do. Many functions can be accessed with only one, or sometimes zero clicks.

LiquidPCB is aware of the flow of information into and out of your PCB project. For example, a typical PCB will use a netlist, generated from a schematic capture package. It may also use a 3D model file from a CAD package. These are the inputs Rather than simply importing these files into LiquidPCB, you create a dependency on them. So, if any of those files are modified, LiquidPCB will automatically inform you, and give you the option to update.
Likewise, Output files generated from the PCB (Gerber, engineering drawings, BOMs, etc.) will be automatically updated when the PCB changes.

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