Data Sheet

PCB Layout
129
Panning and Zooming
While placing a track you can use the middle mouse wheel (or F6 & F7 keys) to zoom in and out
during routing. Panning will happen seamlessly when the mouse is at the edge of the Editing
window during routing.
Placing Anchors
The follow me routing algorithm will move the track being placed according to the way you move
the mouse. If you want a track to follow a particular path then you need to help by left clicking
whenever you change direction. This places an anchor or commits the route up to the mouse
pointer such that the follow me router will not change it. You will see this happening as the
outline track becomes solid.
Getting Stuck / Re-routing while routing
Since the manual routing system obeys the design rules for the board you don't need to worry
about clearances while placing routes. You can however route to a place where you are blocked
(the routing icon will change to a no-go sign at this point). Often you just place a via and
continue on but sometimes it is better to rewind and try another path across the current layer.
Moving the mouse backwards over the route being placed will rub out that portion of track so to
rewind and change direction just move the mouse back to the last good point - anything you had
placed from that point onwards will be removed.
On densely packed boards in particular, speed of mouse movement is an issue.
Remember that you are guiding the placement so moving slowly through tight
spaces will work far better than ripping the mouse from source to destination. Use
the SHIFT key to neck down and back up - this will get you through tight spaces.
Placing Vias
If you double click during placement you will place a via at the point the mouse is at and can
then continue routing on the associated layer. If you press the spacebar you will float a via on
the end of the mouse and can then position the via manually before placing with a left click.
Using the spacebar has the advantage of snapping to legal objects (e.g. via under SMT).
In either case the placement of the via is also design rule aware and Proteus will not let you
drop a via in an illegal spot. If you use the floating via method (with the spacebar) the layout will
attempt move the via to the nearest legal spot. This can be extremely useful on busy boards or
when you want to butt a via tightly against another object.
Layers used for vias are defined in the Layers Pairs dialogue on the Technology Menu.
Examples of routing with vias and discussion on layer pairs follows further in the tutorial.