Defining PCB Editor Display Preferences for Altium Designer

The PCB Editor - Display page of the Preferences dialog.

Summary

As its name suggests, the PCB Editor – Display page of the Preferences dialog provides numerous controls relating to the functionality of the Display feature within the PCB workspace.

Access

The PCB Editor – Display page is part of the main Preferences dialog (DXP » Preferences) and is accessed by clicking the Display entry under the PCB Editor folder, in the left hand pane of the dialog. Alternatively, right-click the PCB Editor, then select Options » Display from the context menu.

Options/Controls

Display Options

• Use Flyover Zoom - Check this option to enable Flyover Zoom functionality.
• Use Ordered Blending in 3D - Check this option to use ordered blending in 3D.
  • Use Full Brightness When Blending - Check this option to use full brightness when blending.
• Use Alpha Blending - Check this option to use Alpha Blending. Alpha blending is the process of combining an image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency.
• Draw Shadows in 3D - Enable to apply a shadow effect to objects when viewing in 3D mode.

• Antialiasing Quality - Use the scroll bar to adjust the antialiasing degree in 3D 

Highlighting Options 

• Highlight In Full - Enable to have selected objects completely highlighted in the current selection color. If this option is disabled, selected objects are only outlined in the current selection color.
• Use Transparent Mode When Masking - Enable to turn transparency on when objects are masked. That is, you can see through them to objects on layers underneath the mask.
• Show All Primitives In Highlighted Nets - Enable to display all primitives on hidden layers (when in single layer mode) and those primitives on the current layer for the highlighted nets. Disable this option and only all primitives of the current layer (when in single layer mode) appear or all primitives on all layers (when in multi layer mode) appear for the highlighted nets.
• Apply Mask During Interactive Editing - Enable to mask non-selected objects during interactive editing. Masking makes it easier to focus on the objects being edited as non-selected objected objects are 'faded'. Use the Mask Level button at the bottom right of the main editing window to control the level of masking.
• Apply Highlight During Editing - Enable if you want to have objects highlighted (which uses the system highlight color in View Configurations dialog) when you are in interactive editing mode. 

Default PCB View Configurations

• PCB 2D - Shows the current 2D mode view configuration to apply whenever you open a PCB document that does not have a specific view configuration, or when you create a new PCB document. Click to view and select a default view configuration from the list.
• PCB 3D - Shows the current 3D mode view configuration to apply whenever you open a PCB document that does not have a specific view configuration, or when you create a new PCB document. Click to view and select a default view configuration from the list.

Default PCB Library View Configurations

• PCB LIB 2D - Shows the current 2D mode view configuration to apply whenever you open a PCB library document that does not have a specific view configuration, or when you create a new PCB library document. Click to view and select a default view configuration from the list.
• PCB LIB 3D - Shows the current 3D mode view configuration to apply whenever you open a PCB library document that does not have a specific view configuration, or when you create a new PCB library document. Click to view and select a default view configuration from the list.

3D Bodies 

• Show Simple 3D Bodies - Enable to display simple 3D bodies such as Extruded
• Show Generic Models - Enable to display generic models in PCB editor.

Other

• Layer Drawing Order - Click to open the Layer Drawing Order dialog, which allows you to set the order in which layers are redrawn on the screen. The order that the layers appear in the list is the order in which they will be redrawn. The layer at the top of the list is the layer which will appear on top of all other layers on the screen. Use the buttons in the Layer Drawing Order dialog to alter the layer order.