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The Altium Labs are a collective testing area for future Altium Designer features that have not officially been released into the software. Think of a series of laboratories, each one concentrating on the development of a particular new feature, and you'll get the picture. These are features that have not been deemed ready for release. They are provided as a 'sneak preview' of what is coming on the horizon to Altium Designer.
So go on, have a play and remember – although these features are not officially ready for use, all feedback gained through user-experiences will help to make these great 'future features' even greater, come actual release time!
Accessing the Labs
The Altium Labs are accessed solely through Altium Designer's Home page. Access the Home page using the View»Home command (shortcut: V, H), or by clicking the 
button on the Navigation toolbar.
A dedicated Altium Labs pane is provided, listing all of the features currently resident in the labs.
To 'activate' the functionality of an Altium Labs feature within your current installation of Altium Designer, simply enable the check box next to the feature's entry in the list. All commands, dialogs and controls associated with the feature will be made 'live' for you to use. To 'deactivate' a feature, just uncheck its check box.
you can enable and test-drive as-yet-unreleased
Altium Designer features.
To activate / deactivate features in the Altium Labs you must be signed in to your Altium account, through the secure Altium portal. There is a Sign in link in the My Account section of the Home page.
Currently in the Altium Labs...
Visual Designer for Embedded GUI (R10)Create an interactive graphical user interface for your embedded design, using easy-to-use, drag and drop form design features. | Visualization of the Route Tool Path (R10)Routing, or milling is a common technique used to extract a board from a fabrication or assembly panel. Examine the route paths in 3D with this feature. |
3D Body Object Conversion to Generic STEP Model (R10)Need to tilt or rotate that 3D Body object in the component model you're creating? You can, by converting it to a STEP model. | Mentor Expedition Importer (R10)Import a PCB or a PCB library from Mentor Expedition into Altium Designer. |
Extended C-to-Hardware Features (S09)Access I/O ports, Wishbone devices and memory, or call C functions outside of the code block being implemented in FPGA hardware. | Automatic Route to Mouse Modes (S09)Automatically route to the current cursor position on the same or another layer using these new route to mouse modes. |
2 Comments
Hide/Show CommentsJul 17, 2009
Craig Wiper
I tried these modes. Can't seem to notice the difference with or without them checked, as far as interactive routing goes. Maybe I'm missing something.
Jun 25, 2010
Tony Karavidas
Is there info on the new lab features?