PADS 9.
4 Release Highlights
February 2012
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Introduction
Once again, the PADS® user community has been very active submitting product improvement
suggestions on the Mentor® Ideas website. Several enhancements for PADS 9.4 came directly
from these suggestions. Many thanks to all those who posted ideas, voted on others' ideas, and
added comments or suggestions to help other users. Your feedback gave the PADS team a clear
idea of what was important to you.
New Features
The following new features are available in this release:
DFM Analysis
DFM Analysis (powered by Valor DFM Analysis solution) is a new option available that
helps identify manufacturing issues in PCB design before going to fabrication and assembly
with your board. This new feature allows DFM analysis to be completed earlier than ever
on your design, identifies issues that could cause re-spins due to manufacturing issues, and
allows the error to be corrected in the PCB database by the designer, not in manufacturing.
Analyzing the board from a manufacturing perspective at the design stage allows you to
significantly reduce cost and overall time from engineering to final build. DFMA is
available in PADS Layout via – Tools menu > DFM Analysis.
Advanced ODB++ Export Options
ODB++ generation now supports viewing the generated ODB++ database immediately
after it was generated. What’s more important – it allows you to compare the generated
ODB++ database with your CAM files and assure proper quality before going to
manufacturing. To fully use the CAM Compare feature – you need to generate CAM files
before exporting ODB++.
Associated Nets
PADS 9.4 now supports creating associated nets, assigning rules to them, and having PADS
AutoRouter HSD and Router HSD route to those rules. Associated nets allow one design
rule to be assigned to several nets that are connected by components such as a series resistor
or a resistor pack. Design rules that can be set include length and differential pair rules.
Associated Nets may be defined automatically through a number of different methods, or
manually.
PADS 9.4 Release Highlights 1
February 2012
The length of the discrete component that associates or “combines” the nets can be included
in the associated net length calculation. The Associated Net feature is tied to the Advanced
Rule Set option.
Follow Route (Mentor Idea D146)
Follow Route is a new feature of PADS Router. The follow command is available in the
popup menu while in Interactive Route mode. In this mode you can select some other trace,
copper, board outline or trace keepout to follow or “hug”. Simply “touch” the obstacle and
click to start at the desired point. The selected shape becomes “sticky” and the trace being
created stays as close to this shape as allowed by the clearance rules defined in the design.
Follow mode ends with another click. The Use Arcs option (enabled by default) is available
in the popup menu while in Follow mode. If this option is turned off, straight lines will be
used instead of arcs.
Updated Altium Design to PADS Layout Import
The Altium Designer to PADS Layout Import functionality has been updated to support
Altium Designer version 7.1 (Summer 08) and older. Design objects that can now be
updated include: full stacks, slotted/square holes, rounded rectangle pads, and traces
connected to coppers and copper pours.
2D Line Snap (Mentor Ideas D1720, D3873, D334)
While creating or modifying drafting shapes in PADS Layout, you can snap the cursor to
selected types of points of drafting objects. Different types of points are recognized
including corners, midpoints, centers of arcs and circles, intersections of lines and circle
quadrants, component origin, pin, and via. You can turn individual snapping to each type of
point on and off in the Option dialog box. Some other commands in PADS Layout (like
Quick Measure and Set Origin commands) are also enhanced to support this cursor
snapping. Snapping also works while adding or moving components and vias. If Snapping
is enabled, snapping to design points takes priority over snapping to the grid within the
snapping radius defined in Options.
2D Line Styles (Mentor Idea D160)
PADS 9.4 adds support for new line styles in 2D Line drafting objects in PADS Layout
(full support) and PADS Router (display only). You can set the style of a 2D line to one of
5 predefined styles. PADS native libraries also support all new line styles.
2 PADS 9.4 Release Highlights
February 2012
Find in PADS Router (Mentor Idea D126)
A new dialog was added to PADS Router under File menu > Find similar to the already
existing feature in PADS Layout. It allows you to find various objects in the design and call
on the actions like Select, Highlight, Unhighlight, Rotate 90, Flip Side and Move
Sequential. Rotate, Flip and Move actions work only for components, and for each
component the action is applied separately – for example, each component is rotated or
flipped separately around its own origin.
Advanced PADS Licensing – License Suite configuration
PADS Layout, Logic and Router now offer suite licensing selection at the program start and
in the Installed Options dialog to better handle a mixed licensing environment – for
example, where you have bundle and atomic licenses. Currently it is very easy to consume
two composite licenses and there is no way to change the licenses on the client side. The
new licensing mechanism allows selecting which suite license to check-out and it will not
consume any additional suite licenses.
To configure the Suite Licenses go to Help > Installed Options… and click on the Suite
Configuration button. Select the “Control suite license checkout and select from the
following list” check box and select the appropriate license suite for consumption to enable
this functionality.
For more details and a demonstration, refer to TechNote MG246270.
Break corner command
The Break command, first introduced in PADS 9.3.1, has been updated based on user
feedback. You may now break a drafting shape in a selected corner. If the entire shape is
selected, the Break command “explodes” the complete shape, which is the previous
behavior.
Display Color Setup - changes in table applied immediately (Mentor
ideas D7433, D2562, D1448)
A new “Apply immediately” check box was added to the Color setup dialogs in PADS
Layout and Router. When you select this check box, any change in colors or visibility of
objects is immediately applied as though you clicked the Apply button. This allows you to
operate in this dialog in “one-click” or “live” mode and makes working with color setup
much faster and easier.
PADS 9.4 Release Highlights 3
February 2012
Selecting language in Customization options
PADS is available in Japanese and, new for PADS 9.4, Brazilian Portuguese. A new
dropdown was added to the Options tab of the Customize dialog to allow you to select the
interface language – there is no need to do it in the registry anymore. A restart is required
after the language change. Currently available: English, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese.
PADS Logic – Change Part Type for multiple selected parts (Mentor
Ideas D425 and D2283)
In PADS Logic you can now change the Part Type for multiple selected parts or gates. This
is available from the Part Properties and Part Type Label Properties dialogs – the Change
Type button is no longer grayed out for multi-selection. The Change Part Type dialog was
modified to allow Selected Gates and Selected Parts options in the “Apply Update To”
group box.
Authorization Codes
No changes to authorization codes (license file) are required for this release. However, the
exact access date has increased to 2011.11. For more information about the exact access date,
please see the following SupportNet page:
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Service Request on SupportNet:
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For additional information on licensing, refer to the Licensing Mentor Graphics Software
manual.
Installation Information
PADS 9.4 is a completely separate installation from previous PADS releases and uses new
installation methods to create an easier installation experience. Database and ASCII formats for
Layout and Router designs have been updated. The PADS library format has not changed.
PADS Logic ASCII and database format are the same as PADS 9.x. The Installation path for
PADS 9.4 is still C:\MentorGraphics, but installs using a new folder to prevent overwriting an
4 PADS 9.4 Release Highlights
February 2012
existing software installation. While PADS 9.4 installs the unique
C:\MentorGraphics\9.4PADS folder and does not overwrite previous PADS installations, you
should back up your existing PADS installation, designs and libraries prior to installing PADS
9.4. If you have been part of the PADS 9.4 beta program uninstall beta software before
installing the released version of PADS 9.4.
For additional information on installation, refer to:
• PADS Installation Instructions (PADS_9.4_install.pdf), available from the
release_documents directory at the top level of the DVD or download image.
• Managing Mentor Graphics Systems Software (manage_sw_pads.pdf) manual,
available from the release_documents directory at the top level of the DVD or
download image.
• Help system within the installation software.
Support Information
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PADS 9.4 Release Highlights 5
February 2012
