Grids and Units
The Grids and Units commands are accessed from the PCB and PCB Library editors by choosing Home | Grids and Units from the main menus.
PCB editor
PCB library editor
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Snap Grid/Grids - use the drop-down to set a desired interval size for the grid. The Snap Grid pulls the cursor to the nearest point on its defined grid.
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Properties - choose the Properties command in the PCB editor and Properties in the Grids drop-down in the PCBLIB editor to open the Grid Editor dialog, which allows you to view and modify properties for the grid.
The Step X/Step Y controls are used to define the distance between grid lines in the X or Y plane. Enter the required step size or select from a range of common sizes available in the drop-down. Note that by default, the two fields are linked as indicated by the continuous chain depicted on the button to the right of the fields. In this state, whatever you specify for the Step X field will be copied and used for the Step Y field. To break this link and enter step sizes individually, click the chain link. The link will display a broken chain and the Step Y field is available for editing.
Use the Set Step/Set Both Steps controls to define the X and/or Y step sizes in the design space. In each case, you will be taken to the design space to specify two 'calculating' locations and the resulting step size will be calculated accordingly. Note that when Step Y is following Step X (with the chain "linked"), only the Set Step X in PCB View and Set Step X from Delta X controls are available.
- References - from the drop-down, set the reference location in the design space. This option is only available in the PCB library editor.
- Origin - click to access options to set the relative origin. This option is only available in the PCB editor.
- Set - use to define a location in the design space as the new (relative) origin and sets its coordinates to (0,0).
- Reset - use to reset the defined origin and coordinates.
- Absolute Origin - use to set the relative origin back to the default absolute origin at the extreme lower-left of the document space.
- Current Origin - use to set the relative origin back to the default absolute origin at the extreme upper-left of the document space.
- New Location - use to open the Jump To Location dialog (described in the Jump option below).
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Jump - click to access options to jump to the absolute or current origin. You can also use the New Location command to open the Jump To Location dialog, which allows you to quickly jump to a location within the design space by specifying required coordinates. This option is only available in the PCB library editor.
- Metric/Imperial - use to set units to the metric or Imperial measurement system.
Snap Grid (1..1000) Dialog
The Snap Grid dialog allows you to quickly set a different interval size for the Snap Grid. Depending on how the dialog is accessed, the required value can be applied to both Step X and Step Y, or just Step X, or just Step Y.
The dialog can be accessed from both the PCB Editor and PCB Library Editor in the following ways, depending on how the Snap grid is to be changed:
- Change both Step X and Step Y - right-click in the design space, and use the Snap Grid » Set Snap Grid command from the context menu. Alternatively, use the Shift+Ctrl+G keyboard shortcut.
- Change Step X only - right-click in the design space, and use the Snap Grid » Snap Grid X » Set Snap Grid command from the context menu.
- Change Step Y only - right-click in the design space, and use the Snap Grid » Snap Grid Y » Set Snap Grid command from the context menu.
Use the field in this dialog to set the grid interval as required.