FAQs

You can evaluate the software with a free 30-day trial license. To request your free trial, click Free Trial on the CircuitStudio website page.

When you're ready to purchase the software, all of your sales and support needs are handled directly through element14. The following product offerings are available:

• CircuitStudio - Standalone License Plus 1st Year Subscription
• CircuitStudio - Subscription 12 Months

For more detailed information, see the CircuitStudio Product Page on the element14 community site.

CircuitStudio includes a streamlined licensing system that enables you to get licensed and up-and-running with your CircuitStudio Software in a timely and efficient manner. Client-side license acquisition is managed by the user through use of a standalone licensing file (*.alf). This file can be saved, copied and backed-up as required. The .alf file is reusable on a home computer (in accordance with the EULA) by copying the file to a specific folder on that computer then adding the file as part of Standalone License Configuration.

With a Standalone license, the only time you need to sign in to your CircuitStudio account (through the Altium portal) is when:

• You are activating the license for the first time.
•  You are reactivating the license (required, for example, when you have deleted the license and do not have a backup of the license file).

All communication with the Altium portal is secure over https.

The software can be set to check for new updates on the System - General Settings page of the Preferences dialog. Use the drop-down associated with the Check frequency field in the Automatic updates region of the page to specify how often a check is made. Choose from Never, On Start-up,  Every day, Every 3 days, Every week, Every 2 weeks, and Every month. The default checking frequency is Every 3 days.

Alternatively, access the Extensions and Updates area by selecting Extensions and Updates from the My Account drop-down menu on CircuitStudio's Home page (View | Start). Once there, click the Updates tab to access the Updates page. When a new version of the platform is available, a notification will be present at the top-right of the Platform region.

CircuitStudio offers the following component management methodologies to meet your preferred approach to working with the components used in your designs:

• Standard Component Libraries - Schematic Symbol (*.SchLib) and PCB 2D/3D Component Model (*.PcbLib) libraries
• Integrated Components
• Vault Components

Standard schematic libraries allow you to attach PCB footprint models to components. Usually, each model link references a file (PCB library file) somewhere outside of the schematic library. Therefore, the schematic library saves a link, i.e. instructions on where to find the model you attach.

Periodically, CircuitStudio will need to locate these models. When you run a board update, for example, the linking instructions will be followed for all current footprints in your design. The search sequence for matching models starts with libraries in the current project, installed PCB libraries, then any files found on the project search path. The management of these separate source libraries is left entirely in your hands, meaning that CircuitStudio cannot offer any guarantees that your models will find matches. These links in schematic libraries are brittle and easily broken by everyday management tasks, such as renaming folders on a hard drive or reassigning labels to a central server.

CircuitStudio has a solution - the Integrated Library. The integrated library includes not only the schematic library (or libraries), it also has all the associated model libraries bundled in. If a component came from an integrated library, CircuitStudio is guaranteed to find the right model if it can locate the integrated library from which it came.

Because the components and models are entirely contained within a single .IntLib file, these libraries offer portability to designers who divide their work among different workstations, or who want to share their designs with others. Simply installing the same, single file in the Libraries panel of any PC running CircuitStudio will mean that component-to-model links will remain secure (assuming, again, that components were placed in the design from that integrated library).

These libraries are also checked for integrity when they are compiled. That means they are not only checked for availability but also for correct pin mappings. Even designers who want to stay with discrete library files should compile their schematics in an integrated library package if only to ensure that the source components will map correctly to the target models. Once satisfied, they can ignore the integrated library they created and keep placing directly from their schematic libraries.

A significant advantage of using Altium Vault-based components is that they are managed for you so you can be confident that they are up-to-date, available and correctly implemented. Making use of vault components also avoids the need to create and manage large collections of local component libraries.

Not at all. Vault components for use in your CircuitStudio designs are available solely from Altium's own vault - the Altium Content Vault. There is no additional installation of vault technology. Connect to the Altium Content Vault then you are able to browse and place its content directly into your designs through the Vaults panel.

CircuitStudio's unified design environment consists of various Servers plugged into a core platform. Together with the core platform itself, these servers provide the resources of the software – its features and functionality. These are delivered in the form of commands, dialogs, panels, and the like. These resources are documented and collated by server. Use the following methods to locate information on a particular resource:

• Within the software, hover over a Ribbon button, menu command, dialog, panel, or design object then press F1.
• Within the documentation, either:
  • Use the pop-up navigation tree to the left of this text (accessed by clicking the  button at the top-left of a page) to browse for the resource required across the various servers (under the Resource Reference section of the tree).
  • Use the Search field at the top-right.

CircuitStudio accommodates importers for EAGLE (v6 and above), OrCAD (V7 through V16.2), and PADS PowerPCB, facilitating streamlined migration of designs created in these other tools.

CircuitStudio can output Gerber (RS-274X) and ODB++ CAM formats.

CircuitStudio supports Altium Designer PCB Projects (*.PrjPcb) and will open any Altium schematic (*.SchDoc) so it can also be used as a front end for Altium Designer and other Altium products.

CircuitStudio supports:

• Unlimited components
• Unlimited nets

While there are no 'hard limits' per se, the software has been engineered to make it impractical for use with large designs. To this end, the PCB Editor will start to exhibit performance degradation when editing designs containing 5000 pads, becoming virtually unusable with designs containing 50,000 pads. Degradation itself takes the form of progressive slow-down in PCB editing functions (such as routing, placing components, polygon pours, etc.).