Altium Wiki

Information and resources for electronic product designers

Getting Started with Altium Designer


Your new best friends...

Within Altium Designer, the F1 and Shift+F1 shortcuts are definitely worth getting acquainted with.

Hover the mouse over anything inside Altium Designer - a button, command, panel, or design object, and press F1 for info about it.

And if your running a command, say you're placing a component and you're not sure how to rotate it, press Shift+F1 for a list of command-dependent shortcuts.

Altium Designer supports all aspects of electronic product development, so there's plenty to learn!

You'll find the links on this page clustered into groups, each about a different area of the design process. Take a moment to skim through them all, then head off and explore. Each link will take you to a Wiki article or a training video. Since this Wiki is still shiny and new, not all of the knowledge about Altium Designer has been wiki-fied yet - so don't be shocked if the link you're chasing turns out to open a PDF.

Need more support?

As well all the articles and videos listed below, there are a number of other resources you'll find invaluable to help you build your proficiency in Altium Designer.

  • Visit the SUPPORTcenter - to search the solutions database and ask Altium's technical experts a question. (Log in required, follow the instructions to create a new account)
  • Join a User Forum - and talk with your industry peers, including Altium Designer power users. (Log in required, follow the instructions to create a new account)
  • Watch the on-demand demo video - it lasts for 30 minutes, and you can skip straight to to any of the focused, short sections with a click of the mouse.
  • Visit the TRAININGcenter - where you can browse more than 100 training videos, each a short and snappy coffee-break entertainer.
  • Visit the DEMOcenter - where you can enjoy a huge range of short videos that showcase Altium Designer's capabilities.
  • Speak to an Altium expert - contact your local Altium Sales office or reseller, and get the low-down on how you solve that tricky challenge.

Installation & Licensing

License setup, installation and activation
Altium Designer Licensing System
Using an On-Demand License
Using a Standalone License
Using a Private Server License
Upgrading a Private License Server
Creating a Soft Design License
Altium Account Manager

Custom Board Design

Schematic Editing Essentials
Quickstart - Schematic Capture
Quickstart - PCB Layout
Preparing the Board for Design Transfer
PCB Design Rules
Getting ready to route

Multi-Sheet Design

Multi-sheet design
Connectivity and Multi-Sheet Design
Multi-Channel Design Concepts
Design reuse with Device Sheets

Basic Design Tutorials

Getting Started with PCB Design
Getting Started with FPGA Design
Getting Started with Embedded Software
Getting Started with Scripting
Getting Started with the Innovation Station
Defining & running Circuit Simulation analyses
 
 

Soft Design

What is Soft Design?
Quickstart - Soft Design, software
Quickstart - Soft Design, hardware
Design capture using OpenBus
Introduction to the Software Platform
Tutorial - Getting Started with the Software Platform Builder
Processor-based FPGA Design
Tutorial - Implementing a 32-bit Processor-based Design in an FPGA
Developing the Application
Introduction to C-to-Hardware Compilation Technology in Altium Designer
Getting Started with the C-to-Hardware Compiler
Testing and Debugging

The Altium Designer Environment, and Projects

The Altium Designer Environment
Quickstart - the Environment & Projects
Altium Designer and the Innovation Station
Project Management
Types of Projects in Altium Designer
Moving from another Design Tool
An Overview of Electronic Product Development in Altium Designer
Shortcut Keys

Components & Libraries

Component, Model and Library Concepts
Creating Library Components
Quickstart - Creating Components

The Design Implementation Platform

NanoBoard 3000 Series
NanoBoard NB2
Daughter Boards
Peripheral Boards
USB JTAG Adapter
 
 
 

Interfacing in-to and out-of Altium Designer

Design to Manufacturing
Generating a Custom Bill of Materials
Using Components Directly from Your Company Database
Tutorial - Integrating MCAD Objects and PCB Designs
Interfacing to Altium Designer from SolidWorks





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