New in CoDesigner

Note

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. Compare features included in the various levels of Altium Designer Software Subscription and functionality delivered through applications provided by the Altium 365 platform.

If you don’t see a discussed feature in your software, contact Altium Sales to find out more.

 

Altium's MCAD CoDesigner technology connects the mechanical and electrical design domains, allowing the mechanical and electronic engineers to pass the loaded PCB back and forth between the two domains.

In your Altium design software, this is achieved through an extension that loads and extracts board and component data from the PCB editor, the MCAD CoDesigner extension. In the MCAD software the Altium CoDesigner Add-in performs the same function, loading and extracting board and component data from the MCAD software.

The ECAD and the MCAD software pass design changes through an Altium Workspace, which can be hosted in the cloud on Altium 365, or on your company network using an Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server. The Workspace acts as a bridge, with both the ECAD and MCAD software connecting to it. The Workspace holds the board and component data, allowing the ECAD and MCAD engineers to continue to work autonomously, Pulling and Pushing their changes when they are ready.

  • The updates are listed in reverse order on this page - you'll find the latest updates at the top of the page.

  • The videos on this page demonstrate CoDesigner features using Altium Designer. The process of CoDesigning between other Altium design clients and your MCAD software is essentially the same.

  • For the latest announcements and engaging conversation, head on over to the MCAD CoDesigner forum.

  • Refer to the Note in the right-hand pane for information on which features will be available in your installation of MCAD CoDesigner.

Supported Versions Copy Link Copied

CoDesigner is under continuous development, this page outlines the changes made in each version. Because the CoDesigner extension and Add-ins can be updated separately from the update cycle of your Altium design software, this page also includes information about supported versions of Altium software, as well as the supported versions of MCAD software.

Download and install the version of the Add-in you require for your MCAD software from the MCAD CoDesigner Plugins section on the Altium Downloads page.


New in CoDesigner 3.11.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 11 March 2025 – Version 3.11.0

Feature Highlights

Rigid-Flex Support for Siemens NX

This release of MCAD CoDesigner adds support for transferring rigid-flex designs between Altium Designer and Siemens NX. Altium Designer offers two modes of rigid-flex design, CoDesigner for Siemens NX supports the Advanced Rigid-Flex (or RF2) mode.

Key features include:

  • Any number of rigid and flex regions.

  • Flex regions with different thicknesses.

  • Separate flexible regions that overlap each other.

  • Representation of the copper and silkscreen on the rigid regions in MCAD.

  • A local bend (a bend that is localized to a flex region that is within a cutout in a larger flex region).

Learn more about rigid-flex CoDesign with Siemens NX.

A rigid-flex design can now be Pushed back and forth between Siemens NX and Altium Designer.A rigid-flex design can now be Pushed back and forth between Siemens NX and Altium Designer.

Note that CoDesigner for Siemens NX supports the Advanced Rigid-Flex (RF2) mode. It does not support Pushing designs from MCAD that were created in the Standard Rigid-Flex (RF1) mode.

Multi-board Synchronization with Autodesk Inventor

The process of assembling the PCBs into the enclosure is best performed in MCAD. But the PCBs will be designed in ECAD, and the ECAD engineer may also need to perform electro-mechanical checks like component-to-enclosure clearances, as well as checking the access to the human interface elements, such as indicators and displays, buttons, and connectors. There are numerous advantages to being able to synchronize the entire device assembly between the MCAD and ECAD domains, so that the current state of the assembled device can be quickly verified by both the mechanical and electronic design teams.

This release of Altium MCAD CoDesigner brings support for synchronizing a multi-board assembly between Autodesk Inventor and Altium Designer.

The PCBs have been positioned and the enclosure placed in Autodesk Inventor, these changes are ready to Push to ECAD.

The ECAD engineer receives a message that the assembly has been modified in MCAD, there are changes ready to apply.

The board location changes and the enclosure parts are Pulled into ECAD.

Learn more about Synchronizing a Multi-board Assembly.

MCAD Support for Embedded Component Cavities

The ever-increasing demand for smaller and more integrated electronic products, combined with the higher frequency signals within these devices, drives the ongoing research into better ways to fabricate and assemble a circuit. One technique that delivers both higher density and improved support for higher signal frequencies, is to embed components within the layers of the printed circuit board structure.

This update to MCAD CoDesigner sees the introduction of support for transferring board designs that include embedded components, along with their associated cavities, from ECAD to MCAD.

In ECAD, the region object that defines the shape of the cavity includes a Cavity Height property, this defines the height of the cutout required in the dielectric layer. The ECAD PCB editor then automatically extends this height through the dielectric layer that the cavity is being created in, up to the next copper layer in the layer stack, to give the actual Total Cavity Height.

In MCAD, the cavity shape is defined as an extruded sketch on the board part, with the extruded height set to the Total Cavity Height. Note that embedded component location changes are synchronized from MCAD to ECAD, but cavity edits are not. If an embedded component is relocated in MCAD, there is no need to relocate the cavity. Positional changes to the cavity are automatically resolved when the affected component's location is synchronized from MCAD-to-ECAD-to-MCAD.

Each cavity is formed as an extruded sketch on the board part.

A cavity can create an opening in the board surface, or be completely internal.

In ECAD the cavity is defined from the layer the component is placed on, through to the next copper layer.

Learn more about Designing a PCB with Embedded Components.

Versions Supported by CoDesigner 3.11.0

  • Altium Designer 24.8 (or higher) with MCAD CoDesigner extension version 3.11.0.2380

  • CoDesigner 3.3 is the latest version available for Altium NEXUS Client.

  • CoDesigner 2.10 is the latest version available for Altium CircuitMaker.

This update has been tested on the following MCAD platforms and Add-in versions:

MCAD Version MCAD Add-In Version
Autodesk Fusion 360® (Note 1) 3.11.0.9
Autodesk Inventor Professional® - version 2024 3.11.0.13
Autodesk Inventor Professional® - version 2025 3.11.0.12
Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS® - versions 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 3.11.0.10
PTC Creo Parametric® - 8.X, 9.X, 10.X, 11.X 3.11.0.8
Siemens NX® - version 2212 (Note 2) 3.11.0.13
Siemens NX® - version 2312, 2412 (Note 2) 3.11.0.14

Notes:

  1. Altium CircuitMaker only supports Autodesk Fusion 360.

  2. Siemens NX is only available to designers as part of an Altium Enterprise Solution. From MCAD CoDesigner 3.8 onwards, there are multiple versions of the installer for MCAD CoDesigner for Siemens NX, to suit different versions of the Siemens NX software. These installers all install identical versions of MCAD CoDesigner, they differ only in their detection of the currently installed version of Siemens NX. For MCAD CoDesigner 3.7 and older there is a single installer, and after installation of MCAD CoDesigner Siemens NX may show a warning when launched that the difference between the current version and the signed version is too great. This warning can be ignored, your installation of MCAD CoDesigner will function correctly. Alternatively, the Show Warning when Loading option in the Customer Defaults dialog in Siemens NX, can be disabled ().


New in CoDesigner 3.10.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 4 December 2024 – Version 3.10.0 Hot Fix for SOLIDWORKS
Released: 6 November 2024 – Version 3.10.0


New in CoDesigner 3.9.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 21 August 2024 – Version 3.9.0 Hot Fix (MCAD CoDesigner extension change to version 3.9.0.2208)
Released: 8 August 2024 – Version 3.9.0 Hot Fix for Autodesk Inventor

Released: 24 July 2024 – Version 3.9.0


New in CoDesigner 3.8.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 18 April 2024 – Version 3.8.0


New in CoDesigner 3.7.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 7 February 2024 – Version 3.7.0 Hot Fix for Autodesk Fusion 360
Released: 26 January 2024 – Version 3.7.0 Hot Fix (MCAD CoDesigner extension change to version 3.7.0.2033)
Released: 17 January 2024 – Version 3.7.0


New in CoDesigner 3.6.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 2 November 2023 – Version 3.6.0


New in CoDesigner 3.5.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 17 August 2023 – Version 3.5.0 – Hot Fix (no change to Altium Designer CoD extension)
Released: 27 July 2023 – Version 3.5.0


New in CoDesigner 3.4.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 29 May 2023 – Version 3.4.0.1859 – Hot Fix for GovCloud
Released: 10 April 2023 – Version 3.4.0.1792 – Hot Fix

Released: 23 March 2023 – Version 3.4.0


New in CoDesigner 3.3.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 21 December 2022 – Version 3.3.0

There are no new features included in this release.


New in CoDesigner 3.2.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 17 November 2022 – Version 3.2.0


New in CoDesigner 3.1.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 4 October 2022 – Version 3.1.0


New in CoDesigner 3.0.0 Copy Link Copied

Released: 18 July 2022 – Version 3.0.0


New in CoDesigner 2.x Copy Link Copied

Released: 22 May 2020 (Version 2.0.3) – 25 May 2022 (Version 2.10.0)

Learn more about the updates in the MCAD CoDesigner 2.x releases.

 

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Note

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. Compare features included in the various levels of Altium Designer Software Subscription and functionality delivered through applications provided by the Altium 365 platform.

If you don’t see a discussed feature in your software, contact Altium Sales to find out more.

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