OutputJob Editor Reference

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OutputJob Editor Reference

Completing the Schematic Design and PCB layout is only the first part of the process that culminates in the fabrication and assembly of your PCB. The link between your design and the finished board are the Schematic and PCB Prints, Gerber and NC Drill fabrication files, as well as the Bill of Materials (BOM), Test Point Report, and Pick and Place Assembly files.

If you intend to use the services of a plotting bureau or PCB manufacturer, take the time to consult with them before you start generating artwork. Bureaus and manufacturers often have specific requirements that must be reflected in the files or artwork that you submit.

In some instances, the fabrication facility will prefer to work directly with “raw” Gerber files (or even PCB files) rather than panelized Gerbers. Understanding these requirements will

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The following sections detail the function of Altium Designer’s OutputJob Editor and how you can finalize your design process.

Summary This reference provides information on the OutputJob Editor which is used to configure various output types including Assembly Outputs, BOMs, Gerber, NC Drill, Netlists, Printouts and Reports. Create Print, PDF and File Generation media in the Output Job Editor containing your various output types to finalize your design process.

help you to plan the entire design process for efficient and trouble-free completion.

The OutputJob Editor is a central location for you to configure and save your publicatiooutputs. You can choose to publish selected outputs to PDF, print selected outputs or generate files and add them to your project. The same Outjob can have any n

publications configured, ready for re-use every time you update your project.

Figure 1. The OutputJob Editor.

Function

The OutputJob Editor allows you to define and manage Output Job Configuration files (*.OutJob). The purpose of the OutputJob Editor is to provide a means to process source documents, allowing you to extract a specific set of information for

separate assembly-based output from fabrication-based output or you can configure one OutJob file to

Media such as Print, PDF or File Generation. Each OutJob can have a number of Output Media to suit your publishing needs.

your project. Each OutJob file created in the Editor has the potential to contain any number of purpose driven outputs.

Choose from Assembly, Documentation, Fabrication, Netlist and Reports outputs. Each output can be configured individually, exactly as you require all in the one convenient and portable document. You can choose to create multiple OutJob files in one project, for example, tosuit all of your needs. Link your outputs to a chosen Output

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Given their portable nature, an OutJob file can be defined once and used in multiple projects so you can use your favorite output configurations quickly and easily, removing the need to set up individual outputs repeatedly.

Content and Use

The OutputJob Editor becomes active when the active document is an *.OutJob file. Create a new file of this type for the active project by either: • Using the File » New » Output Job File command

• Right-clicking on the project name in the Projects panel and choosing Add New to Project » Output Job File from the pop-up menu that appears.

Output Job files, when added to a project, appear in the Projects panel under the Settings\Output Job Files sub-folder.

The Output Job file is divided into five functional categories, each having a number of different output generators.

Assembly Outputs • Assembly Drawings

• Generates pick and place files

Documentation Outputs • Composite Drawing

• Logic Analyzer Prints

• OpenBus Prints

• PCB 3D Prints

• PCB Prints

• Schematic Prints

• SimView Prints

• Wave Prints (Wave Editor)

• WaveSim Prints (WaveSim Editor)

Fabrication Outputs • Composite Drill Guides

• Drill Drawings

• Final Artwork Prints

• Gerber Files

• Solder/Paste Mask Prints

• NC Drill Files

• ODB++ Files

• Power-Plane Prints

• Test Point Report

Netlist Outputs • Cadnetix

• Calay

• EDIF for PCB

• EESof

• Intergraph

• Mentor BoardStation

• MultiWire

• OrCad/PCB2

• PADS

• Pcad for PCB

• PCAD

• PCADnlt

• Protel2

• Protel

• Racal

• RINF

• SciCards

• SIMetrix

• SIMPLIS

• Tango

• Telesis

• Verilog File

• VHDL File

• Wirelist

• XSpice

Report Outputs • Bill of Materials

• Component Cross Reference

• Report Project Hierarchy

• Simple BOM

• Report Single Pin Nets

The Output Job File has an Output Media column, which can be configured to print, publish to PDF and/or generate any number of your output generators.

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Adding Output Generators

When you create a new Output Job file, only the relevant output generators are added to the file and configured using default setups. To quickly clear these output generators and start with a 'blank canvas', press CTRL + A, followed by DELETE. A dialog will appear whenever you delete an output generator, prompting for confirmation of the deletion.

Figure 2. A blank canvas – all output generators have been deleted

A new output generator can be added in one of two ways: • Click on the Add New entry in the category and choose the required output generator from the pop-up menu that appears.

Note that only the available output generators with their respective data source are highlighted.

• Alternatively, use the relevant Edit » Add Outputs menu items to choose the required output generator.

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Whichever method you choose to employ, the resulting output generator will appear listed under its corresponding output category, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Addition of an Output Generator.

For each output generator added to the file, the following information is displayed in the Editor's main window:

Name

This field allows you to give the output generator a meaningful name. The ability to customize the name is especially important when multiple output generators of the same type are added. When an output generator is initially added, this field is identical to the Output Description field but is focused, ready for renaming. To change the name of an Output Generator at any time, click once on the field to focus it, then click on the field again (or press F2) to access in-place editing.

In addition, you can use this field to specify a sub-folder and a filename for your output generator, including a file extension. This gives you greater control over the location and names of your outputs. The format is FOLDER\FILENAME.extension.

Figure 4. Setting a custom folder, filename and file extension.

For more information on using custom folders and names, refer to the PDF Setup and Generated Files Setup sections of this document.

Data Source

When you add an output generator, you are required to choose the data source. To modify the source from which to generate the output, click once to focus, then again to access the drop-down of data sources. Only applicable data sources are available for each output generator, leaving less room for error. Note that the color of the text in the Data Source column changes to red if the Data Source has been removed or if the filename has changed.

Output Description

This field displays Output Generator type. This field is non-editable so if you add multiple Output Generators of the same type, it is best practice to provide a meaningful Name to distinguish between them and their intended use.

Variant

When generating Assembly and/or Report-based output and your project includes one or more Assembly Variants, this field allows you to specify which variant to use when generating the required output. Note that the color of the text in the Variant column changes to red if the variant has been removed or if the variant name has changed. Ensure the correct selection for your project has been made by choosing a valid variant from the drop down list.

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Enabled

This field allows you to control whether or not a particular output generator is included (option enabled) or excluded (option disabled) in your Output Medium. This option is disabled by default for each newly-added output generator. Once enabled for a particular Output Medium, a green line will connect each output generator to its associated Output Medium. The same output generator can be included in many Output Media.

Manipulating Output Generators

Using commands accessed from the main Edit menu or right-click menu, you can copy, cut, paste and delete output generators as required. You can use these commands to quickly populate OutJob file based on content already existing in another OutJob file. The Duplicate command enables you to make an identical copy (duplicate) of a selected Output Generator. This allows you to quickly define a new Output Generator that may differ only slightly from an existing one - saving you from setting up all options from scratch. The duplicate Output Generator will be created and added to the associated output list. It will appear above the original and with the name Copy of Name of Original. Edit the name and configuration of this new Output Generator as required.

Figure 5. Duplicating an existing Output Generator.

Configuring Output Generators

Depending on the specific output type, options may be available for you to configure the associated output generator, providing more control over the generated output. Where configuration options are available, they can be accessed in one of the following ways: • Selecting the required Output Generator and choosing the Configure command from the Edit menu

• Right-clicking on the required Output Generator and choosing the Configure command from the pop-up menu that appears

• Selecting the required Output Generator and using the keyboard shortcut, Alt+Enter • Double-clicking directly within the row for the required Output Generator.

If multiple output generators are selected, the configuration dialog will appear for the output generator that was selected last.

The following list of output generators all have unique dialogs to configure precisely what gets generated when the output is run. Click on an entry to access its corresponding configuration document.

• Generates Pick and Place Files (Assembly Outputs)

• Gerber Files (Fabrication Outputs)

• NC Drill Files (Fabrication Outputs)

• ODB++ Files (Fabrication Outputs)

• Publish to PDF (Documentation Outputs)

• Test Point Report (Fabrication Outputs)

• Verilog File (Netlist Outputs)

• VHDL File (Netlist Outputs)

• XSpice Netlist (Netlist Outputs)

In the Report Outputs category, both the Bill of Materials and Component Cross Reference Report Output Generators are configured using the Report Manager. For more detailed information, refer to the Generating a Custom Bill of Materials tutorial.

After configuring output generators in associated configuration dialogs, definitions are saved in the OutJob file. Clicking OK in a setup dialog commits the configuration but does not proceed with generation. Generation of output is performed using the Output Media functionality which is outlined below.

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Creating Output Media

Once output generators have been added and configured, you can create one or many types of output media including Print, Publish to PDF and File Generation which can each include a number of output generators.

The availability of output generators for selection is dependent on the type of output media chosen. For example, if you are creating a new Publish to PDF medium, the output generators which can be included in your PDF have their Enabled field visible, the ones that cannot be included have their Enabled field grayed out.

The following sections detail how to create and edit your Output Media.

Add New Output Medium

Select the Add New Output Medium option from the Output Media column. You can choose from the available printers for a Print medium, or choose to Publish to PDF or Generate Files. Your selection will depend on personal preference and the type of output generators you are publishing.

Figure 6. Creating a new Output Medium

Once you have created your output medium, you can add output generators using one of the methods described below.

Figure 7. Creating a new Output Medium

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop output generators onto the Add New Output Medium option in the Output Media column to create a new Output Medium. You can drag one output generator at a time or use standard multi-select features (Ctrl+click or Shift+click).

Once you release your mouse on the Add New Output Medium option, a list of available media types will appear based on your selected output generator. In this case, a Schematic Print was selected so you can choose to create a Print Job or a PDF Publisher. If for instance you select a Bill of Materials and drag it onto Add New Output Medium, you will be presented with all of the output media types: Create Print Job, Create PDF Publisher and Create File Generator.

Figure 8. Creating a new Output Medium based on your selection

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You may also choose to drag and drop your output generator onto an existing Output Medium as shown below.

Figure 9. Drag and drop single or multiple Output Generators onto an existing Output Medium.

Copy and Paste

Copy and paste output generators onto the Output Media column to create a new Output Medium. You can paste one or many output generators at a time. Your paste options are dependent on your selection, for example, if you copy a netlist, your paste option in the Output Media column will be Paste as File Generator.

Figure 10. Copy and paste single or multiple Output Generators onto Output Media column to create a new Output Medium.

Check the Enabled flag

Select your Output Medium and then check the Enabled flag for each of your desired output generators.

Figure 11. Check the Enabled flag to add one or many Output Generators to an existing Output Medium.

If the Enabled flag is not available, the output generator is not supported for your selected Output Medium.

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Copy and Paste Existing Output Media

Figure 12. Copy and paste existing Output Media

You can copy and paste existing Output Media in the Output Media column. This is useful if you would like to have output media but with different printers, for example, one color and one black and white. You can also paste a PDF publisher as a print job and vice versa. You can copy and paste a File Generator as a different type of medium providing the generated outputs can also be printed or published to PDF.

Regardless of your chosen method to create and populate your Output Media, the result is the same. You will notice a green line linking output generators to your Output Medium, providing you with a quick visual reference.

Figure 13. A Print medium with a number of output generators selected.

Customizing Output Media

Setting the Order of Outputs

You can set the order in which your outputs appear within each Output Medium. As you enable your outputs, they are numbered consecutively. If you remove one of the outputs from your Output Medium, the numbers are re-ordered accordingly. To change the order of your enabled outputs, double click on the number and select a number from the drop-down or alternatively, re-select each output in order.

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Custom Names for your Output Media

Figure 14. Output Media with custom names

You can create multiple Print, PDF and File Generation Output Media in the one OutJob file. To distinguish between them, you can specify a meaningful name in the Output Media column. Click once on your Output Medium to focus it, then click again (or press F2) to access in-place editing.

Figure 14 shows Output Media with custom names. Note that the button also displays the name of the Output Medium selected.

Configuring your Output Media

To configure Print, PDF or File Generation Settings, right-click on your Output Medium and choose from either PDF Setup, Generated Files Setup or Printer Setup depending on your selection. You can also configure Printer Setup and Page Setup for output generators with a printer icon adjacent to their name as well as the Bill of Materials and Component Information.

PDF Setup

Running this command launches the Publish to PDF Settings dialog where you can configure a number of options for your PDF Setup. Access this command by selecting a PDF medium, right clicking and selecting PDF Setup from the pop up menu that appears.

Publish to PDF Settings allow you to configure your Output File Path, set your Zoom Levels, set Page Size and Orientation and Additional Bookmarks.

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Note that the option, Generate a separate PDF file for each output works in conjunction with the Name field in your OutJob file. Check this field to create one PDF for each of the selected outputs and also to use the custom filename and custom folder, if specified.

Figure 15. Custom folders and filenames for your Documentation Outputs.

For example, if your output generators are set up as per Figure 15 and the Generate a separate PDF file for each output option is checked, your output would be generated as per Figure 16.

Figure 16.Resultant Custom folders and filenames for your Documentation Outputs.

For more information on PDF Setup, refer to the Publish to PDF document.

Generated Files Setup

Running this command launches the Generated Files Settings dialog. Access this command by selecting a File Generator, right clicking and selecting Generated Files Setup from the pop up menu that appears.

Figure 17. Generated Files Settings dialog where you can set the Output Folder and Output Options

Output Folder Use this field to specify the Output Folder and filename for your PDF. You can browse to locate your preferred Output Folder.

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Output Options • Open generated outputs – enable the checkbox to open your outputs after generation • Add generated files to project – enable this checkbox to add the generated files to your project. They will appear in the

Projects panel under the Generated sub-folder. • Timestamp folder – enable this option to create a Timestamp folder. The folder name is in the format Folder Name Date

Time where the Folder Name is specified in the Output Folder field, Date and Time is in the same format as your System settings.

• Use separate folder for each output type – enable this option to create a separate folder for each output type selected. Folder names are: Pick Place Output, Gerber Output, NC Drill Output, Test Point Output, Netlists and Reports. If you have opted to create a Timestamp folder, separate folders will be created under the Timestamp folder.

• Use the Output Name as the file name instead of the default – enable this option to use details in the Name field in your OutJob file. You can specify a folder, filename and file extension in the format FOLDER\FILENAME.extension. This gives you greater control over the filename, file extension and location of your generated files.

• Note: Output Name as the file name instead of the default is not supported for Verilog Netlists.

Printer Setup

Running this command provides access to the Printer Configuration dialog (Figure 18), here can you determine what is printed and to which printing device the print medium is sent. The printer configuration options defined are with respect to the active Output Job Configuration file only. Select a Print medium from the Output Media column and right click to access this command.

Figure 18. Configuration of print options.

Click the Properties button to open the standard Document Properties dialog for the selected printer (Figure 19). From this dialog you can define the paper source, layout and gain access to advanced property settings for the printer.

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Figure 19. Accessing Advanced Options for the target print device.

Page Setup

Running this command will access a dialog for defining the page properties for the selected output generator. The dialog is the same in each case - the header changing to reflect the purpose of the output generator. Figure 20, shows the dialog when accessed for Schematic Prints. Access this command by right clicking on your output generator or through File » Page Setup.

Figure 20. Schematic Print Properties

The Print button invokes the Printer Configuration dialog where you can define what is printed and to which printing device the medium is sent. The Preview button shows the Print Previewer, with the document(s) loaded in accordance with the Data Source and page setup options you have defined. The Print Previewer allows you to view how the output will look when printed. The Advanced button provides access to the Schematic Print Properties dialog, allowing you to configure the Output Generator in terms of printout(s).

All page setup properties defined for each print-based Output Generator are stored with the Output Job Configuration file.

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Print Preview Running this command will load the selected output generators for the Print medium into the Print Previewer (Figure 21). The Print Preview can be launched from the Page Setup dialog, from Tools menu or by right clicking on the Print medium in the Output Media column.

The source document will be loaded in accordance with the options you have defined in the Page Setup dialog.

Figure 21. Previewing a print-based document using the Print Preview.

The left hand region contains thumbnails of all pages contained within the document. Click on a thumbnail to jump to that page in the Previewer's main display area. The current page is denoted by a red border.

Buttons located at the bottom of the window allow you to manipulate the view, including the ability to zoom to a required level by entering a value in the % field and pressing Enter ( ).

Figure 23. Right-click preview commands.

Figure 22

Various commands are provided in a right-click menu which can be accessed from anywhere within the Previewer.

These commands allow you to:

• Change the view of a page

• Access dialogs for page setup, printer setup and source document configuration

• Print the documentation

• Show features such as print region, page numbers, grid and margin

• Copy a page to the Windows clipboard or export the page as a Windows Metafile.

Figure 22. Using display controls to interrogate the intended print.

Navigation within the Previewer is achieved in a variety of ways:

• Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars

• Use the available browse controls at the bottom of the window . The controls

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allow you to jump to the first, previous, next and last pages in the document respectively. Alternatively, you can enter the page number directly and press Enter

• Right-click, hold and drag within the main display area (especially useful when the current document page is zoomed).

Print Launch this command from the Page Setup dialog, the Tools menu or by right clicking on the Print medium in the Output Media column. This command is used to generate output from the currently selected Print medium. Printing from the Print Previewer will launch the Printer Configuration dialog.

Running your Output Media

To run your selected Output Medium, first select the required Output Medium and then you can either:

• Click on the button at the top of the Output Media column. It becomes active and displays your selected Output Media name and the appropriate icon when you select a valid output medium

• Select the relevant option from the Tools menu (Print, Publish to PDF or Run)

• Right click and select the relevant option (Print, Publish to PDF or Run)

• Press keyboard shortcut F9.

By default, both your PDFs and Generated Files will be saved to the output path specified in the Options tab of your Project Options (Project » Project Options). If you have setup alternate options in your PDF Setup or Generated Files Setup, your output will be generated accordingly.

After generation, outputs may be added to the project and appear in the Projects panel under the Generated folder. If you have used a separate folder for each output type, then corresponding Generated folders will be added to the Projects panel.

Auto-loading Fabrication Output into the CAM Editor

When generating Gerber, ODB++, NC Drill or IPC-356-D output, you can specify that one or more of these types of output be automatically imported into a new CAM Editor document (*.cam). This is performed using the Output Job Options dialog ( ), accessed from the OutputJob Editor's Tools menu. Figure 24

Enable the corresponding options for the outputs you wish to auto-load upon generation. Although you can enable one output type - e.g. Gerber - and run just the associated output generator, typically you would enable NC Drill, IPC-356-D and either Gerber or ODB++ and then run the associated Output Generators as a batch process.

Figure 24 Configuring CAM auto-load options

Once these options are defined they will persist. This means that the next time you run the Output Generators, the resulting output would be loaded into another new CAM Editor document. If you wish to be able to update just the existing CAM document, enable the Reset auto-load options after generation option. This results in the clearance (disabling) of all auto-load options after the initial generation. You can then gain access to the CAM Editor's Rescan and Reload commands (from the CAM panel), which perform time-stamp comparison of generated and existing (imported) files and loading of data into existing layers respectively.

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Notes

• For detailed information about the available options in a dialog, use that dialog's 'What's This Help' feature. Click the '?' button at the top right of the dialog and then click over a field or option to pop-up information specific to that field or option.

• Assembly and Fabrication output can also be generated directly from within the active PCB document using the File » Assembly Outputs and File » Fabrication Outputs sub-menus respectively. Depending on the type of output to be generated - printouts or files - you will either be presented with the Print Previewer window, with the relevant print-set for the active PCB design already loaded, or a setup dialog in which to configure options prior to generating output files.

• Netlist output can also be generated directly from within the active schematic document using the Design » Netlist For Document and Design » Netlist For Project sub-menus - for single document or project level netlisting respectively.

• Report output can also be generated directly from within the active Schematic or PCB document, using the corresponding commands available from the Reports menu.

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Revision History

Date Version No. Revision

24-Jan-2005 1.0 Initial release

04-May-2005 1.1 Updated for SP3

20-May-2005 1.2 Updated for SP4

04-Jul-2005 1.3 Updated Configuring Report-based Output Options area.

22-Aug-2005 1.4 Minor Modifications and Image Enhancements

22-Sep-2005 1.5 Update to Smart PDF information

2-Nov-2005 1.6 Removed individual output generators, renamed document

20-Jan-2006 1.7 Image enhancements. Minor modifications to text and layout. Added links to additional reference documents.

28-Aug-2007 1.8 Updated for Altium Designer 6.8 with references to the new Publish to PDF feature. Minor modifications to text.

18-Oct-2007 1.9 Minor updates including PCB 3D Printing for 6.8

17-Mar-2008 2.0 Updated Page Size to A4.

26-Mar-2008 2.1 Minor update to remove CAMtastic® references.

21-May-2008 2.2 Updated for Altium Designer Summer 08

16-Mar-2011 - Updated template.

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